Stepanek serve earns high praise from Blake

Tournament favourite James Blake paid tribute to Radek Stepanek's serving after being upset by the unseeded Czech in the Los Angeles Classic final on Sunday.

"He served great, especially in the third set," the second-seeded American told reporters after losing 7-6 5-7 6-2.

"It seemed like he wasn't missing first serves at all. Every time I had a look, it was on a first serve.

"I just couldn't quite come up with the shots at the right times. He came up with great shots in that tiebreaker to save set points and he served great in the third set. So I can't hang my head too low about that."

Stepanek breezed through the final set in just 30 minutes after twice breaking Blake, winning 92 per cent of his first serve points.

Although Blake was denied a 10th ATP title and his second hardcourt crown this season, he felt his defeat was more a refection of the quality of Stepanek's all-round game.

"I think a lot of people would look at this as a loss to a player maybe I should have beaten," the 27-year-old said.

"But if you don't watch the tennis, you don't see how well I was playing and how much these guys are really fighting to beat me.

"These guys are hungry to beat the second seed, the guy who is expected to win. I felt like I fought pretty hard and did a pretty good job of handling all their advances.

"I just need to go on to next week and hopefully continue playing good tennis, maybe serve a little better and just keep doing better and better as we head toward the US Open."

Stepanek, a former world number eight, was ranked 101st at the start of last week, having been sidelined for six months last year because of a neck injury.

Blake ended 2006 as the American number one and ranked in the world's top five.