Blake Falls, Serena Continues To Roll

Congratulations to Serena Williams for capturing her third straight WTA Tour title on Sunday with a 6-4 3-6 6-3 victory over Vera Zvonareva at the Family Circle Cup in Charleston.  What a great effort for the American star; she showed extreme heart to defend her Miami title, and now this proves that she can thrive on a slower clay court surface.

James Blake was less fortunate, as he was upset in the finals of Houston's US Clay Court Championship.  Spaniard Marcel Granollers, the No. 7 seed, clinched his first career ATP title as he defeated top seeded Blake 6-4, 1-6, 7-5.  It's Marcel's first ever match/win against a top 10 ranked player; what a way to win in his 8th career tournament, and first direct entry into an ATP draw.  Rumor is that Marcel celebrated by jumping in a pool with all of his tennis attire still on.  Here's what the men had to say after the match:

Granollers: “When I made 3-2, I come back very, very good, with more power. At 5-4 with my serve [it] was difficult game because I missed easy volley, but I come back good and finally I can win the match.”

Blake: “I started playing well (in the second set). It seemed like it was tougher and tougher to put balls away after that. I stopped really moving forward as much. I felt like I was trying to hit winners at the baseline instead of setting up the points and getting forward and ending them at the net. It’s tough to do against a guy who plays such good defense and moves the balls as he does. It would’ve made it tougher and tougher for me to execute what I was trying to do.” 

“It’s really tough. Right now I’m very upset about it. Very disappointed. But hopefully in a day or two I’ll think about the fact that at least I made the finals of my first clay court tournament and had chances to win it, really know I can succeed hopefully on European clay. Hopefully I’ll look at it as a good week. I’ve been much better about that in my later years on tour, and not beat myself up for too long. I’ll beat myself up right now until I get on the plane. Then hopefully Houston will be behind me, this tournament will be behind me and I’ll think about it being a positive experience.”

“I’m really happy for him. It’s now the second time this year that I’ve made the younger player’s day. It’s tough being on the receiving end of it. I know how that feels when I was young and I got to beat Agassi and win my first title against Srichaphan. It’s an exciting feeling, really it is. It definitely feels like the sky is the limit at that point, and I’m sure he’s feeling that excited right now, and I’m happy for him, but obviously I would like to thwart that and continued my successful play. He played well, fought hard, competed very well all week, and seemed to do it with good sportsmanship.”