American Blake beats Srichaphan

American James Blake came from behind to win the Legg Mason Classic after defeating Thailand's Paradorn Srichaphan 1-6, 7-6, 6-4 on Sunday.

The win was the first for the sixth seeded former Harvard student, who beat five-times champion Andre Agassi in the semi-finals on Saturday.

"I never knew if my first title would ever come," said the 22-year-old American, who was ranked 32 before winning the championship match.

Blake won his first doubles title on the ATP tour last week at the Cincinnati Masters when he teamed up with compatriot Todd Martin.

Buoyed by the cheering Thai fans, Srichaphan sailed through the first set, breaking Blake's serve twice in 26 minutes and moving the American around the hard court.

In the sixth game of the second set, Blake broke Srichaphan's serve but the 14th seeded Thai broke back three games later to eventually set up a tie break, which Blake won 7-5.

"I was really confident in the first set, moving him around," Srichaphan, who defeated Chile's Marcelo Rios in the other semi-final, said.

Ahead 15-40 in the fourth game of the third set, Srichaphan had three break points but was unable to convert any of them.

Then Blake squandered one break point in the next game but eventually achieved the defining break of the match when he hit a forehand down the line to pull ahead 3-2 in the third set.

"He just came back strong in the second set and in the third set," Srichaphan said.