James Blake Cruises to ATP Stockholm Title
Posted on October 17, 2005James Blake won his second title of 2005, the third of his career and his first in Europe Sunday at the ATP stop in Stockholm, with the No. 6 seed defeating unseeded Thai Paradorn Srichaphan 6-1, 7-6(6).
"That first set was definitely not his best tennis and I didn't expect that to continue but sometimes it's tough to pick your game up when someone has such a bad set and then they pick their game up," Blake said. "I really didn't want it to go to three sets because I knew how well he was starting to play and he can really get rolling. It was a great match and a great tiebreaker at the end."
Blake raised his career record to 3-4 in ATP finals, while Srichaphan is 0-2 in 2005, and 5-6 in career finals.
"I think that it was a really slow start for me again today, just like since the quarterfinals," Srichaphan said. "I still believed that I was going to play better in the second set, which I did. His game is really on especially at the moment, so he's tough to play."
In the doubles final, Aussies Arthurs/Hanley defeated Paes/Zimonjic 5-3, 5-3 under the ATP's experimental doubles scoring system for their second title of the year in their fourth consecutive Stockholm final.
"We've been in the final three times now," Hanley said. "I was a little nervous today but we've been playing really well this whole week and it's a great feeling to finally get here and win. It's a great feeling to come back to Stockholm and finally get over the line for once."
"That first set was definitely not his best tennis and I didn't expect that to continue but sometimes it's tough to pick your game up when someone has such a bad set and then they pick their game up," Blake said. "I really didn't want it to go to three sets because I knew how well he was starting to play and he can really get rolling. It was a great match and a great tiebreaker at the end."
Blake raised his career record to 3-4 in ATP finals, while Srichaphan is 0-2 in 2005, and 5-6 in career finals.
"I think that it was a really slow start for me again today, just like since the quarterfinals," Srichaphan said. "I still believed that I was going to play better in the second set, which I did. His game is really on especially at the moment, so he's tough to play."
In the doubles final, Aussies Arthurs/Hanley defeated Paes/Zimonjic 5-3, 5-3 under the ATP's experimental doubles scoring system for their second title of the year in their fourth consecutive Stockholm final.
"We've been in the final three times now," Hanley said. "I was a little nervous today but we've been playing really well this whole week and it's a great feeling to finally get here and win. It's a great feeling to come back to Stockholm and finally get over the line for once."