 Bob and Mike Bryan and James Blake lift the Davis Cup |
James Blake wrapped up a convincing 4-1 win for the USA in the Davis Cup by beating Russia's Dmitry Tursunov in the last dead rubber in the Portland final. He won 1-6 6-3 7-5 as the USA secured their first Davis Cup title in 12 years, the longest span without an American victory.
They had already clinched the team title with a 3-0 lead after the Bryan brothers won Saturday's doubles.
Igor Andreev won Russia's point by beating Bob Bryan in the singles.
Tursunov breezed through his first set against Blake before the American fought back to claim the second.
A tight third set turned in the 11th game when Blake broke Tursunov and then served out the match.
With the title already decided, Sunday's singles matches were reduced to three sets.
Earlier, Andreev and Bryan had been brought in as late changes for world number 19 Mikhail Youzhny and sixth-ranked Andy Roddick in the line-up for the fourth match.
Bryan said he was not surprised to get the call, given that Roddick's celebrations lasted into the early hours of Sunday morning.
"I left around one because I knew I was probably going to be on the card today," Bryan said. "Some guys probably went a little deeper."
Saturday's party moved from the Memorial Coliseum, the host venue, to the players' hotel to a nightclub.
"Andy's pretty good," Bryan revealed. "He's got Jackson Five moves down. He was dancing. I was dancing. Mike was dancing.
"It was a full dance floor. A lot of people were out of their mind last night. We had a long, drawn-out celebration."
Friday 30 November - opening singles:
Andy Roddick bt Dmitry Tursunov 6-4 6-4 6-2
James Blake bt Mikhail Youzhny 6-3 7-6 (7-4) 6-7 (3-7) 7-6 (7-3)
Saturday, 1 December - doubles
Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan bt Igor Andreev/Nikolay Davydenko 7-6 6-4 6-2
Sunday 2 December - reverse singles:
Igor Andreev bt Bob Bryan 6-3 7-6
James Blake bt Dmitry Tursunov 1-6 6-3 7-5
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