Unseeded American Taylor Dent etched his name
into the history books with his father Phil after beating top seed James Blake
6-1 4-6 6-4 to win the Miller Lite Hall of Fame Championships in Newport, Rhode
Island.
The Dents became the only father and son to have won ATP singles titles in the
Open Era.
Phil Dent, an Australian, won two singles and 14 doubles titles during his
career.
Dent Junior had a modest record entering the Newport event, but had gained
confidence from reaching the third round at Wimbledon, where he beat Max Mirnyi
and Jan-Michael Gambill before losing in four tie-break sets to Wayne Arthurs.
Before Wimbledon, Dent had not won a match at ATP level since Memphis in
February, when he beat Robby Ginepri in the first round before falling to Blake
in the second round.
Dent said: "I'm ecstatic. I happier than I thought I would be. I've never won
an ATP title before. I can't describe it in words.
"James is a great competitor, he didn't play his best tennis in the first but
I knew after that he wasn't going to give me anything.
"My game has improved all around since we played in Memphis."
Dent double-faulted at match point in the second set and then lost it but
showed composure to win his first title.
He said: "As I've said all week, I've been working to improve my attitude. I
think I just kept a good attitude going into the third and bounced back.
"My last bad match was in Queen's - I lost to Raemon Sluiter in three
sets."
Blake was appearing in his second ATP final of the year having lost to Andy
Roddick in the Memphis final in February.
He reached the second round of Wimbledon, losing to former champion Richard
Krajicek 11-9 in the fifth set in the second round.
Blake said: "I wanted to go for it on my returns but he was serving so well,
so it was difficult.
"He was just too good today. He kept making me play, dumping balls at my
feet, chipping and charging.
"I think these conditions are great for Taylor and when we played in Memphis,
those were ideal conditions for me."
Blake admitted he was disappointed to not end the Newport jinx, which has
prevented the top seed from winning the title for 26 years.
"I would love to break the jinx; it would have been great to have a New
Englander break it.
"Hopefully, I'll come back next year as the number one seed and break it. I
love to play here, I play well here.
"The crowd treats me great and a lot of my friends come to watch."
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