Blake stuns Agassi

Rios was hampered by a knee injury against Srichaphan

Saturday's results

James Blake produced a major shock to deny top seed Andre Agassi the chance to go for a sixth Washington title.

Sixth seed Blake sealed a comfortable 6-3 6-4 victory to set up a meeting with Thailand's Paradorn Srichaphan in the final of the Legg Mason Classic.

"He played a great match," admitted Agassi. "I had plenty of fight. I just didn't deliver."

I wasn't expecting to be in the final

Paradorn Srichaphan

Blake took advantage of what he called an 'off-day' for Agassi, who had struggled on Friday to beat Sweden's Thomas Enqvist in three sets.

He returned the ball fast and hard, breaking Agassi's serve three times in the second set.

"When I left here (last night) Thomas was up a set and a break," Blake said.

"As soon as I got back from dinner I got a phone call that said I was playing Agassi.

"That's all I wanted to know, I didn't want to know exactly what happened.

"That's always a possibility with him if you let him get a second life. There's that possibility of him tearing through somebody and luckily I didn't let him do that tonight."

Srichaphan booked his place in the final with a surprise win over fifth seed Marcelo Rios.

The 14th seed recovered after dropping the first set to triumph 3-6 6-2 6-2.

Srichaphan committed 18 unforced errors in the first set but broke Rios twice in the second and three times in the third to reach his first final in the United States.

Rios later revealed that he had been struggling physically.

"I got a little tired after the first set and I was struggling with my knee," he said.

---

Legg Mason Tennis Classic results:

Paradorn Srichaphan (Tha, 14) bt Marcelo Rios (Chi, 5) 3-6 6-2 6-2
James Blake (USA, 6) bt Andre Agassi (USA, 1) 6-3 6-4

Back to top