James Blake captured his 10th career singles title on Saturday with a 7-5 6-4 victory over Mardy Fish in the final of the Pilot Pen tournament.

While Blake and compatriot Fish are good friends off the court, there was little love lost during their first meeting in a final as they battled for 78 minutes until the latter sent a shot beyond the baseline to give Blake his second win at the event in three years.

Fish also had treatment on a sore right arm between sets but even fully fit it would have been a difficult task to overcome Blake, who has been playing his best tennis leading up to the US Open.

The 27-year-old gained the upper hand in the opening set when he broke Fish to claim a 6-5 advantage.

Moments later, Blake clinched the set when Fish ended a lengthy rally with a shot that sailed beyond the baseline.

After holding serve to open the second set, Fish looked to have little left in the tank as the third seed reeled off the next four games.

But with hopes of a third career title fading, Fish battled back to 5-4 but Blake held serve to close out the match and claim his second title this season.

The world number six has enjoyed a profitable summer hardcourt season as he was a finalist at Los Angeles in early July and runner-up last week in Cincinnati, where he was beaten by world number one Roger Federer.