The 20-year-old Raonic came through in his first career final, becoming the youngest winner on tour since Marin Cilic won in New Haven in 2008 at age 19. The last Canadian to win on tour was Greg Rusedski, who won in Seoul in April 1995.
Raonic fought off four set points in the first-set tiebreaker and then took advantage of the only minibreak in the second-set tiebreaker to win the match. The ending was controversial as Verdasco hit a service return into the net as a fan yelled out.
Verdasco complained but to no avail. He was seeking to become the seventh player to repeat at this tournament and first since Andy Murray in 2006-07.
