"I know the top 10 guys are tough and last year I was really close in a lot of matches," the Spaniard told reporters after clinching his fourth title and second on American soil.

"But of course this win will give me a lot of confidence beating Andy in his country. It's special."   The 11th-ranked Verdasco also broke a seven match-losing streak to Roddick, who was bidding for his fourth San Jose title after winning in Brisbane and making the quarterfinals of the Australian Open.

World No. 7 Roddick started strongly, adeptly mixing up his attack to break the Spaniard twice and win the first set.

But the irritable American then struggled to find enough pace on his shots in the last two sets, and after being broken early in the second, received a code violation for belting a ball way up into the stands when he missed a passing shot.

He fought off two set points at 5-4, but the left-handed Verdasco sealed the second set with an ace.

The two went it at tooth and nail in the third set, but Roddick couldn't contend with Verdasco's powerful first serves and was less powerful off the ground.

The Spaniard broke to lead 5-4 after threading a low backhand pass, then served out the match with another thumping ace.

"I served very well and I don't think Andy served his best today," said Verdasco, who notched 15 aces to Roddick's 10.

"I tried to be aggressive, change the rhythm and play with confidence to go for the title."

In Costa do Sauipe, Brazil, top-seeded Juan Carlos Ferrero beat Lukasz Kobut of Poland 6-1, 6-0, to win the Brazil Open on Sunday.

The former No. 1 ranked player needed only one hour to become the third Spaniard in a row to win the clay-court event. Nicolas Almagro won the title in 2008 and Tommy Robredo was last year's champion.

Kobut repeatedly missed his first serve, giving Ferrero too much help. The Spanish player was 5-0 up in the second set and broke Kubot's serve to clinch the title.

It was Ferrero's 13th ATP title, and it came just two days after turning 30.

"You never expect to play a one-sided final like this," Ferrero said.

"One is always nervous in the beginning of a final, and it wasn't different today. I thought I played well from the beginning and with two breaks of serve ahead quite early in the match I never looked back." It was a welcome victory for Ferrero, who lost in opening round matches in his first two tournaments of the season - the Heineken Open in New Zealand and the Australian Open.

It was Kubot's second ATP singles final, and his second loss.

"It is very unfortunate I couldn't play my best tennis today," Kubot said. "Juan Carlos played a great match and didn't give me any chances."

Meanwhile, India's Sania Mirza crashed out of the first round of the $2 million Dubai Tennis Championships with a 3-6, 4-6 loss to Spain's Anabel Medina Garrigues here Monday.

This was Sania's fourth straight first-round loss, meeting similar fate at Hobart, the Australian Open and last week at Pattaya Open.

Sania was also treated during the match for her troublesome right wrist that kept her off the circuit for the most part of 2008.

The two players exchanged breaks twice in the first set before World No. 33 Anabel held her serve in the fifth game to go up 3-2. Sania too held hers albeit with a struggle before Anabel reeled off three games to be a set-up.

In the second set, Sania was broken thrice to lose the match in one hour and 35 minutes.

The 77th-ranked Hyderabadi was quoted as saying her painful wrist played on her mind during the match.

"I think a lot is mental," Sania said. "You know, when something that was a career-threatening injury, and it starts to come back, you obviously start having a lot of thoughts in the middle of the match.

"So, yeah, I started to think. And it was swollen, and the doctor came and she said she can't do anything except tape it. So she just taped it, and you know, I took a few anti-inflammatories for the pain."

In the doubles, Sania is seeded seventh with Spaniard Virginia Ruano Pascual. They play Jie Zheng of China and Yung-Jan Chan of Chinese Taipei.

Israeli Shahar Peer marked her tournament debut at the Barclays Tennis Championships Monday with a 3-6, 6-2, 7-5 upset win over US Open semifinalist Yanina Wickmayer.

The 13th-seeded Belgian went down in a shade under two hours as Peer took her place in the field after being denied a visa a year ago.

Israel and the UAE have no diplomatic ties and the 2009 incident sparked an uproar. Dubai organizers had to give guarantees that Peer and any other WTA player would be assured of entry to the Gulf emirate.

Peer, ranked 22nd and the winner of five titles, boasts a final at Hobart, Tasmania, last month. She now stands 12-4 on the season after handing Wickmayer her third defeat of 2010.

Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia advanced over Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan 6-4, 6-4 to face top seed and US Open finalist Caroline Wozniacki, playing the event for the first time.

Holder Venus Williams takes the third seeding behind Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova.