Jávea's David Ferrer nets first title in 20 months – the only non-Swede to win Bastad Open three times

The Jávea-born 35-year-old last won a tournament in Vienna in October 2015, and the victory in Bastad is the 27^th of his long career.

Seven match points, three aces, four break points out of five saved and just an hour and 26 minutes were enough for Ferrer to net the SkiStar Swedish Open for the third time – something he seems to achieve once every five years, with a win against his compatriot Nicolás Almagro in 2007 and again in 2012 – making him the only non-Swede to achieve a Bastad hat-trick.

Magnus Gustafsson still holds the record with four titles in his home country tournament, whilst Mats Wilander and Björn Börg have each matched Ferrer's three.

This season is proving to be the second in the Open Era that at least four players closer to age 40 than 30 have won major titles, as Feliciano López and Víctor Estrella Burgos have also netted ATP victories, along with Switzerland's Roger Federer who scooped up the Wimbledon crown recently.

Ferrer, who has a main seafront esplanade named after him in his native Alicante-province town, is not overly confident of getting back to his personal best of ATP world number three because of his age, or even into the top 10 again, but says he is still having fun trying and fully expects to still be on the circuit next year, at 36.

Meanwhile, he soars from world number 46 – which he dropped down to after over a year and a half without winning any titles – up to world number 33, having leapfrogged 13 places with his Bastad victory.

Ferrer told reporters in Sweden that he was 'really happy for this win', although admitting he had been 'a little nervous up to 5-1' in the first set and had been 'thinking too much' when he 'had all those match points'.

The player, who married last year in the Jávea area and had its mayor José Chulvi (PSOE) among the guests of honour, was said to be on the verge of tears as he was handed his trophy, overcome with the emotion of the moment.