James Blake claimed another victory over good friend Andy Roddick on Sunday, downing the former world No. 1 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7/5) to win the ATP Indianapolis Open.
Blake captured his third title of the season and will move to a career-best five in the world rankings on Monday after following up his defeat of Roddick at Queen's Club in London last month.
The victory in just over two hours nudged Blake to two wins in their head-to-head series after Roddick won their first six encounters.
PHOTO: AFP
"This is one of the best finals I've ever played," said Blake, who also captured titles at Sydney and Las Vegas this year.
"I played my best tennis, it's very satisfying to have done it in the final," he said.
Blake never gave up, despite being swamped in the first set, getting a break in the final game of the second set and saving five break points in the third to eventually take victory in a tiebreaker.
Roddick was unable to make a winning impression despite 17 aces and 41 winners. Blake struck 15 aces while saving 10 break points.
"Today I had to play my best tennis, it's good to know that it's there," said Blake, who now reigns as the top-ranked American.
"It's crazy what confidence will do. Everything seems to be going my way at the moment," he said.
Roddick said that he couldn't have played any better.
"This is the only final besides the 2004 Wimbledon final [a loss to Roger Federer] that I can say I've played my best tennis and lost," he said.
"Sure, I'm disappointed now," added Roddick, who was playing in his first final since he won in Lyon nine months ago. "But I'm sure I will look back at this week as a success. I've got my confidence back, hopefully it's a turning point."
Roddick controlled the 28-minute first set, losing just three points on his own serve.
The No. 2 seed earned his break in the seventh game, with Blake contributing to his own downfall with a double-fault for 0-30. A driving forehand from Roddick produced three break points, and a backhand pass sealed the 4-3 lead.
The pair traded love games before Roddick fired over his fourth ace for set point, which he converted with a service winner.
Roddick got into trouble in the second game of the second set however, as he dropped serve for the first time this week -- a run that had included 45 service games.
With Blake leading 2-0, Roddick turned up the pressure, forcing his compatriot to save three break points to get a 3-0 grip on the set.
Roddick broke back to narrow the gap to 2-3, but he couldn't stop a determined Blake from squaring the match after 70 minutes as he converted on the first of three set points.
Spanish third seed David Ferrer beat Argentine Jose Acasuso in a grueling five sets to win the final of the 545,000-euro (US$690,000) Mercedes Open on Sunday.
Comebacks were the order of the day as the world number 18 emerged the victor 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (3/7), 7-5, 6-4 after the fifth seed blew a number of chances to take the critical fourth set.
The 24-year-old Spaniard, whose sole ATP title to date was against Acasuso in Bucharest in 2002, took 45 minutes to wrap up the first set, breaking through at 4-4.
But a series of unforced errors by Ferrer allowed the Hamburg Masters semi-finalist to equalize in the second set then hit the front in the third.
Playing his first final this season, the Spaniard appeared to be the one struggling most in the heat and called for treatment for leg cramps at one point.
Acasuso bounced back from losing his first service of the fourth set to take five games in a row and seemed in a strong position to claim his fifth career title.
But the world No. 32 cracked under the determination of Ferrer who came back from several match points to take the fourth set with an ace. Then it was Acasuso's turn to seize up with cramp and he seemed close to throwing in the towel as a faster, fresher Ferrer moved quickly to 3-1 in the final set.
The Argentine rallied yet again before folding under Ferrer's final rush to the net to take over the clay-court title from compatriot and world No. 2 Rafael Nadal, who was prevented by a hand injury from defending his crown.
Unseeded Russian Vera Zvonareva captured her second WTA title of the year on Sunday with a straight-set victory over fourth-seeded Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia.
Zvonareva, who vanquished seven-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams in the semi-finals on Saturday, nabbed one more upset for the week with her 6-2, 6-4 victory over Srebotnik.
She turned back a late challenge from the fourth seed, who battled back from 1-3 down to even the second set at 3-all.
The Slovenian saved one match point before succumbing in 56 minutes.
"I was fighting for every point," said Zvonareva, who won their only previous meeting on clay in Croatia in 2002.
"It was a long time since I last played her, and I didn't know what to expect, so I just figured it out on the court. I had a few less errors than her, too," she said.
A former top-10 player who has fallen to 50th in the world, Zvonareva put in an impressive week's work in Cincinnati.
She had beaten seventh-seeded Tatiana Golovin in the first round and fifth-seeded Jelena Jankovic in the quarter-finals before stopping Williams's impressive return from injury with a 6-2, 6-3 semi-final win.
All but one of Zvonareva's matches lasted less than an hour, with her win over Williams taking barely more than that at 66 minutes.
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