Blake/Querrey Triumph In Houston; Brown/Hanley Lift Casablanca Trophy

© Nordine AichouriDustin Brown and Paul Hanley won the Casablanca title on their team debut.

James Blake and Sam Querrey captured their first team title on Saturday, edging Treat Conrad Huey and Dominic Inglot 7-6(14), 6-4 in the final of the US Men’s Clay Court Championship in Houston.

After narrowly taking the first set tie-break, Blake and Querrey converted the only break of the second set to claim victory in one hour and 43 minutes.

“The week was great, as I haven't been in the winners' circle in a while,” said Blake. “It's a great feeling to get back in it with a good friend like Sam. I hope it's a stepping stone. I remember when I won my first doubles title, it was a precursor to my first singles title the next weekend. I think it shows I'm starting to play well and getting confidence. I'll take it anywhere I can get it.”

Entering the event, Blake and Querrey were winless in their four previous matches together. Blake celebrated his second triumph at the ATP World Tour 250 event, having previously lifted the title in 2004 with Mardy Fish. Querrey went a step further on his runner-up finish last year with John Isner.

“It's always fun to play with a buddy like James," Querrey said. “We hadn’t won a match before, but once we got one win, we got four. We had a lot of close matches. Hopefully we can play again and win another title.”

Huey dropped to 0-2 in tour-level finals, while Inglot was making his first ATP World Tour final appearance.

Dustin Brown and Paul Hanley defeated fourth seeds Daniele Bracciali and Fabio Fognini 7-5, 6-3 to win the Grand Prix Hassan II in Casablanca.

“I'm really happy. I've played here for a few years now and I finally managed to win the tournament this year,” said Hanley. “That's very nice. I got the monkey off my back. The conditions were tough out there and the sun was pretty strong.”

The unseeded German-Australian duo won 83 per cent of their first serve points and broke the Italians five times to cap off their partnership debut with a 66-minute final victory. The two knocked out three of the four seeded teams at the ATP World Tour 250 event en route to their first team triumph.

“The win against the top seeds Cermak and Polasek in the first round gave us a lot of confidence,” Brown said. “It also helped us figure out what we needed to improve. Yesterday we had a very tight match and today it was also very hard.”

Hanley improved to a 26-21 final record, while Brown lifted his second trophy in three title matches. Bracciali dropped to 5-3 and Fognini fell to 1-3.