Lleyton Hewitt fired a Wimbledon warning to Roger Federer by claiming his first ATP Tour title in 17 months with victory over James Blake at the Stella Artois Championships.

Hewitt brushed aside Blake 6-4 6-4 in 67 minutes for his fourth Queen's Club title, and believes he is now playing as well as he was when he clinched the All England Club crown four years ago.

Hewitt said: "The way I've played in the last couple of matches, my ball striking has been the same as when I won here three times before and I feel I have turned it around now.

"Obviously Federer is going to be the guy to beat at Wimbledon but Grand Slams are funny things. If you put yourself in a position for the second week a lot of strange things can happen.

"I felt like I came awfully close to knocking Roger off in the semis of the US Open last year. But I just haven't been able to put a string of matches together due to niggling injuries."

While Federer was equalling Bjorn Borg's 41-match unbeaten run on grass by winning in Halle at the same time, Hewitt was simply glad to be back on track after slowly slipping out of the world top 10.

His tight semi-final win over Tim Henman was a major breakthrough and in the final Hewitt got off to a dream start by breaking world number seven Blake in the first game of the match.

"As my ankle has got better and I have started feeling I could move 100 per cent out there, it has made life a lot easier," added Hewitt. "I felt like I played pretty flawless tennis out there."

Hewitt dropped only one point in his opening three service games - a double-fault - as he asserted his control with his trademark groundstrokes.

Only in the latter half of the set did Blake appear to get comfortable with the conditions and his own powerful forehands were enough to give Hewitt cause for concern.

While his athleticism and spirit was making him a firm favourite with the crowd, Blake was not enjoying the same success with his forehand swipes as he did against Andy Roddick in their semi-final.

And it was Blake who cracked again in the seventh game of the set when he hit a forehand long on break point to hand Hewitt the advantage at 4-3.

Blake said: "Lleyton served really great and didn't give me any freebies. To beat him you have to be able to control points but I was not able to attack him.

"But I definitely feel I have been playing better this week and it has been a huge boost. I am understanding how to play on grass and that will help me for Wimbledon."

Blake refused to give in and went 0-30 up when Hewitt was serving for the match. But the favourite recovered his poise and a big service winner secured his first Queen's Club title since 2002.

Hewitt added: "This is a special tournament for me and it is one of the biggest outside the Grand Slams so hopefully it will lead to good preparation for a week's time.

"From my first match in this tournament to today, it has been a big step up and I really felt on home out there on the court. It was pretty much the way I have played in the past here."