INDIAN WELLS, California, 21 March 2006 — Roger Federer impresses even himself sometimes.
The Swiss star stumbled early, then came roaring back for a 7-5, 6-3, 6-0 victory Sunday over James Blake and win the Pacific Life Open for an unprecedented third consecutive year.
Blake broke Federer’s serve twice to take a 4-1 lead in the first set, but then Federer began taking over the match - just as he is dominating the ATP Tour these days.
“He really got the better of me in the beginning, so I had to react and not panic. I did a good job there,” the genial Federer said, speaking with candor but no arrogance.
“In the end, I played fantastic tennis, with some great shots once again. To pull them off in a final, it’s always a nice feeling. The form is excellent right now.” The top-ranked Federer, his all-around skill a cut above anyone else’s now, thought Blake’s play to start the match looked familiar.
“He played aggressively, took the ball early, put away his forehands when he could, didn’t miss on the backhand, made me run around,” Federer said. “That’s usually what I do. He gave me a little bit of my own medicine.” Only a small dose, though.
Blake, who had been dictating the pace, suddenly found himself on the defensive as Federer’s powerful, accurate groundstrokes sent the American chasing around the court.
Blake, who came in at No. 14 and assured himself his first top-10 spot in the rankings, said Federer simply turned it on after he fell behind.
“Along with a couple of mistakes by me at the end of that first set, he really picked his level up and played unbelievably, put pressure on all my service games, was kind of cruising on his,” Blake said.
“Instead of making him come up with a great passing shot, I went for too much, ended up missing, gave him freebies.
You can’t do that against the No. 1 player in the world.” Even Blake was smiling when the match ended, shaking Federer’s hand and giving him a pat on the back.
The championship signaled that Federer is back in top form following his lone loss of the year, to Rafael Nadal in Dubai this month. Blake upset No. 2 Nadal in the semifinals at Indian Wells.
Federer won for the 25th time in his 36 tournaments dating to the start of 2004. He’s 22-1 this year and his three titles include the Australian Open, his seventh Grand Slam championship.
Blake was up 5-4 and serving for the first set, but he double-faulted two times in row to make it 5-5. Federer took clear command of the match after that. The 26-year-old Blake, a former Harvard star, is off to his best start this year, with titles at Sydney and Las Vegas and the straight-set victory over Nadal on his way to the Indian Wells final.
“It’s been a great week,” Blake said. “I moved up in the rankings or whatever, played some great tennis, had some fun out there. I feel like I’ve hopefully proven that I can be a contender for some of these kinds of titles.” Blake, who also won both his matches in the United States’ first-round Davis Cup victory over Romania last month, is 19-5 this year.
