Lleyton Hewitt lifted his second title in three tournaments this season, fighting back to defeat second seed Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-7 (1-7) 7-5 6-4 for victory at the 842,000 euro ($A1.36 million) Rotterdam World Tennis event.

Hewitt, the world No.13 now primed for a move back into the top ten, needed two hours, 40 minutes to earn victory after losing his first and only set of a productive week at the Ahoy stadium.

Hewitt started the year with a trophy at Sydney and suffered his only loss of the season in the fourth round of the Australian Open against world No.1 Roger Federer.

The Australian, who turns 23 on Tuesday, earned 161,000 euro ($A259,217) while Ferrero picked up 85,140 euro ($A137,079).

The match was a re-run of a Davis Cup clash in the final last December, when Hewitt also prevailed against the Spaniard.

Ferrero had done it tough all week, needing to beat three Dutch opponents and playing in five tie-breaks in his first four matches.

Hewitt now stands 5-3 in their career series and joined fiancee Kim Clijsters as a trophy winner after she triumphed in Antwerp just 100 kilometres to the south of this container port city.

Hewitt has now won 21 career titles from 28 finals, including a pair of Grand Slams.

"I'm very pleased with how my game has been improving all week here," said the Australian. "It's great to play in another final and win it.

"Juan Carlos played well and really made me work."

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