Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov won his second career title by edging South Africa’s Kevin Anderson in a third-set tiebreaker on Sunday to claim the Mexican Open.

In the women’s, top seed and Australian Open runner-up Dominika Cibulkova beat American Christina McHale in three sets.

Dimitrov, the fourth seed, needed three hours to hold off Anderson 7-6 (7-1) 3-6 7-6 (7-5) and win his first title since Stockholm last year.

“It’s been a tremendous week for me,” said Dimitrov. “It’s been a great journey; the sun always comes out when you work hard.”

With the win, the 22-year-old will move up to around 16th in the world rankings.

Anderson lost his second consecutive final, having been beaten last week at Delray Beach.

Slovakian Cibulkova won her fourth career title and first since Stanford in 2013 with a hard-fought 7-6 (7-3) 4-6 6-4 result over McHale.

“It was tough match. I’m really tired; I had to dig deep physically and mentally”, Cibulkova said. “She was very aggressive and kept coming back but it’s a final and, thanks to my experience, I was able to do it.”

The 21-year-old McHale, ranked 70th in the world, reached her first tour title decider. Previously, her best results where two semi-finals in Quebec, in 2010 and 2011.

“I’m a little bit sad because I didn’t win but, at the same time, I know that Dominika is a very good player and I fought until the end,” McHale said.

“I learned that I have the capacity to go far in tournaments, that I’m capable of playing against the best so I’m going to keep working every day to get better.”

McHale is one of six Americans aged under 25 and ranked from 18-70, along with Lauren Davies (64), Alison Riske (46), Madison Keys (38), Jamie Hampton (31) and Sloane Stephens (18), and they represent the next generation of US talent as the Williams sisters come towards the end of their careers.

“There are several Americans going up in the rankings. We are pushing each other to be better,” McHale said.