Blake completes USA win
Monday, 03 Dec 2007 09:01
James Blake's victory sealed a convincing win in Portland, Oregon
James Blake has won the final singles rubber and completed a 4-1 victory for the USA over Russia in the Davis Cup final.
Blake rounded off an excellent weekend for American tennis with a three-set victory over Dmitry Tursunov in Portland, Oregon on Sunday.
It was the United States' first Davis Cup title in 12 years, despite frequently being blessed with some of the world's top-ranked players.
World number 13 Blake beat Tursanov 1-6 6-3 7-5 after Igor Andreev beat doubles specialist Bob Bryan in straight sets earlier in the day to give the Russians their first success of the weekend.
The Bryan brothers gave the US an unassailable lead in the tie on Saturday when they secured a straight-sets victory over Andreev and world number four Nikolay Davydenko.
Immediately after the victory, American captain Patrick McEnroe claimed he was already planning on masterminding the campaign to successfully defend the trophy next year.
"I think the experience that these guys have had over the years was really key towards handling our away matches this year," McEnroe said.
"They also handled the emotion of the home matches really well, so it's not impossible to repeat.
"Look at the Russians - they reached the final this year after winning last year. It's difficult, but not impossible."