Tennis: Blake beats Korean Lee to reach LA final

Los Angeles, July 22: Second-seeded James Blake, hunting his first ATP title in six months, booked his place in the Los Angeles Classic final with a 6-3 4-6 6-3 victory over South Korea's Lee Hyung-taik.

The shaven-headed American, competing in his fourth semi-final of the year, survived an erratic spell during the second set before sealing the win in one hour 48 minutes.

Blake, who fired down 10 aces in searing heat, will meet either Czech Radek Stepanek or German wildcard Nicolas Kiefer in yesterday's final at the Los Angeles Tennis Center.

''It's a great feeling and hopefully the start of good things this summer,'' Blake told reporters after reaching his third final of the year.

''Last year I made finals early on in the season but didn't have such good summer up until the US Open when I was playing a little better.'' The 27-year-old New Yorker, who piled up five ATP titles last year, said fitness had been no problem for him in hot conditions this week, despite being taken to three sets in two of his last three matches.

Although the American was broken in the fourth game of the opening set, he immediately hit back by breaking Lee in the fifth after the Korean made an unforced error on game point.

That sparked a run of five successive games won by the American whose forehand was in blistering form as he also broke Lee in the seventh and ninth games to clinch the set.

The Asian number one, hitting his groundstrokes crisply and with precision, broke Blake at the start of the second set and both players comfortably held serve until the sixth game when Lee came back from 0-40 down to stretch his lead to 4-2.

Blake produced a Houdini-like escape of his own in the ninth, twice going advantage down to the Korean before a brilliant backhand pass earned him the game after a marathon 18-point rally.

But Lee, playing in his first ATP semi-final of the year, then held serve to level the match at one set all.

In the final set, Lee was broken after netting a backhand volley while advancing toward the net. Blake, 5-3 ahead, served out for victory after Lee hit a backhand into the net after saving one matchpoint.

Reuters

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