Fish-Knowles Triumph In Tight Contest To Claim Title

© Getty ImagesMark Knowles and Mardy Fish celebrate after winning their second ATP World Tour team title.

Mardy Fish and Mark Knowles won a nail-biting finale on Sunday at the Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington D.C., to win their second ATP World Tour title together with a 4-6, 7-6(7), 10-7 victory over Czech pairing Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek.

The American-Bahamian duo saved one match point in the second set tie-break before coming through a tense Match Tie-break as they added to the ATP World Tour trophy they won in Memphis (d. Parrott-Polasek) in February 2009. They collected 500 ATP World Tour ranking points and $76,950 in prize money.

"Mardy is a phenomenal doubles player and a phenomenal singles player, so it’s big to find the right partner,"said Knowles. "He’s a great partner. We get along well and we understand the nature of the business."

Playing against the Czech Republic’s No. 1 and No. 2 singles players, Fish and Knowles quickly found themselves down 0-4 in the first set and, despite recouping one of the service breaks to pull the score back to 3-4, were unable to prevent their opponents from securing a one-set lead.

The Czechs looked to be well on the way to winning their first ATP World Tour doubles title together when they broke Knowles’ serve to open up a 4-2 lead in the second set. However, they immediately relinquished their advantage as Berdych double faulted to lose serve and the set went to a tie-break.

After rallying from a 2-6 deficit in the tie-break, saving four set points, Berdych and Stepanek had the chance to clinch victory when they led 7-6. They could not convert, though, as Fish and Knowles won the next three points to force a deciding Match Tie-break.

Fish and Knowles made a strong start to the Match Tie-break, opening up a 3-0 lead, and maintained their advantage before sealing victory in one hour and 39 minutes.

"I still enjoy playing," said Knowles. "I still enjoy competing. It’s a challenge playing against these guys. I’ve seen the game evolve from when I first started. It still gives you a high to compete at this level and to win at this level."

The 28-year-old Fish, also a winner in San Jose earlier this year with Sam Querrey, improved to an 8-1 mark in ATP World Tour doubles finals. The 38-year-old Knowles won his 53rd tour-level doubles title (53-43 mark in finals); he won an ATP World Tour doubles title for the 11th straight year. The right-hander was contesting his second final of the season, after finishing runner-up in Barcelona with Lleyton Hewitt.

Berdych and Stepanek, who surprised top seeds and World No. 1 pairing Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic in the first round this week, slipped to a 15-8 lifetime record together, since first teaming up in Sydney in 2005.