Albert Montanes defeated James Blake 5-7, 7-6 (7-6), 6-0 in two hours and 14 minutes to win Estoril Open.

Montanes, the seventh seed, saved two match points at 4-5 in the second set and blitzed the fourth seed in the third.

"It was an incredible match," explained Montanes. "It was very close. James was playing very aggressive and when I saved both match points it gave me some confidence. I had already saved one match point against [Gilles] Simon, so I just kept fighting. In the third set I felt he was tired and I took advantage of that.


"I don't want to think about Madrid yet. I want to think about this moment, winning the title. I feel very confident at the moment."


Blake, who was trying to become the first American to win an ATP title on European clay since Andy Roddick at St Poelten, Austria, in 2003, was forced to complete his 6-7 (3), 7-6 (2), 6-3 victory over Davydenko on Sunday after the previous day's play was suspended because of insufficient light.


“Tennis is a game of inches,” said Blake. “If he missed the line by one inch on one of the match points, I would have won. It didn’t and he gained confidence. It happens to every player. Today, it happened to me in the final. With the exception of one bad set I played some high-level tennis all week.

“Of course I’m disappointed in a loss. But I’m going to try and look back in the next couple of days and think about it positively. I came in here with very little confidence on clay, having lost my last two matches. At least now I won my last four matches and put myself in a position to win a clay-court tournament. I couldn’t take advantage of it, but I will go onto next week’s tournament with a lot more confidence and try and duplicate the results.”


(photo/FRANCISCO LEONG/AFP/Getty Images, AP Photo)

Albert Montanes beats James Blake to win the Estoril Open