Blake Pounds Ljubicic for 4th 2006 Title
Posted on October 2, 2006Third-seeded American James Blake captured his fourth title of season with a 6-3, 6-1 win over No 1. 1 seed Ivan Ljubicic in the final at Bangkok Sunday.
"It was one of those days where everything was going my way, and everything was going against him," Blake said after the 58-minute affair. "It happens to everyone at some point, where everything you hit seems to go in. It?s great to do it against a champion like Ivan and to beat him for the first time."
Blake broke the big-serving Ljubicic five times during the contest, and the Croat won just 27 percent of his second-serve points (7-26).
Blake, who was making his Bangkok debut this week, improved his record in finals this year to 4-2. He also took home the trophies from Sydney in January (d. Andreev), Las Vegas in March (d. Hewitt) and Indianapolis in July (d. Roddick). With Sunday's win, Blake pushed his career record in finals above .500, to 7-6. He has played in nine finals since August 2005 and won six of them.
Ljubicic is now 2-2 in ATP finals this year with titles at Chennai in January (d. Moya) and at Zagreb in February (d. Koubek).
"He was playing great, and I wasn't playing as well as I did the rest of the week," said Ljubicic. "So this is the result. I tried to fight, but I was never there from the first point. It's still very positive."
"It was one of those days where everything was going my way, and everything was going against him," Blake said after the 58-minute affair. "It happens to everyone at some point, where everything you hit seems to go in. It?s great to do it against a champion like Ivan and to beat him for the first time."
Blake broke the big-serving Ljubicic five times during the contest, and the Croat won just 27 percent of his second-serve points (7-26).
Blake, who was making his Bangkok debut this week, improved his record in finals this year to 4-2. He also took home the trophies from Sydney in January (d. Andreev), Las Vegas in March (d. Hewitt) and Indianapolis in July (d. Roddick). With Sunday's win, Blake pushed his career record in finals above .500, to 7-6. He has played in nine finals since August 2005 and won six of them.
Ljubicic is now 2-2 in ATP finals this year with titles at Chennai in January (d. Moya) and at Zagreb in February (d. Koubek).
"He was playing great, and I wasn't playing as well as I did the rest of the week," said Ljubicic. "So this is the result. I tried to fight, but I was never there from the first point. It's still very positive."