American James Blake captured the first title of his career outside of the United States and second in his last three tournaments with a 6-1 7-6 (8/6) triumph over Thailand's Paradorn Srichaphan in Sunday's final of the Stockholm Open.

Prior to this week, the sixth-seeded Blake had failed to reach a semi-final in an ATP Tour event in Europe. In his first appearance in Stockholm, Blake received his biggest scare in the second round when he started the match down a set and break to Belgium's Christophe Rochus.

In his seventh career final, Blake took advantage of a slow start by Srichaphan to jump out to a 4-0 lead before taking the first set. Although he faced a tougher challenge in the second, the 25-year-old American held on to improve to 4-1 all-time versus Srichaphan and claim his second career title.

Blake, who has won 20 of his last 23 matches excluding the Davis Cup, is just the third US player to win here since 1990.

Todd Martin captured a title in 1998 while Mardy Fish won in 2003.

Andre Agassi reached the final here last year before losing to Swede Thomas Johansson.