THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — Andy Roddick defeated James Blake 7-6(8) Sunday to not only win the PowerShares Series season-ending SoCal Honda Dealers Helpful Cup at the Sherwood Country Club, but with it, edged Blake to win the season-long points title on the North American tennis circuit for champion tennis players over the age of 30.
Roddick earned 400 ranking points for the tournament victory, his fourth on the year, giving him a total of 1800 ranking points for the season, counting a player’s best five results during the year. Blake, who trailed Roddick by only 100 points entering the final event, needed to beat Roddick in the final to overtake him in the rankings and win the points title. He earned 200 ranking points with the runner-up showing to finish the season with 1600 total points.
With the singles final between the two former U.S. Davis Cup teammates in the last match on the 10-city PowerShares Series determining the season-long points title, Roddick quipped that he felt nervous on a tennis court “for about the first time in half a decade.” Roddick did not face a match point in the final against Blake.
“I was just trying to survive,” said Roddick of the final against Blake. “I think it was just a matter of James executing, honestly. I was just putting the ball in play, and he was either winning the points or losing them. Thankfully, I just kind of got away with it there.”
Earlier this year, Blake, the former world No. 4 and former U.S. Davis Cup star, won PowerShares Series titles in Charleston, S.C., Winston-Salem, N.C. and on Monday in Lynchburg, Va., beating Roddick in the semifinals that prevented him from then clinching the season-long points title. Roddick, the 2003 U.S. Open champion and world No. 1, also has won three PowerShares Series titles on the season entering the final event, winning in Birmingham, Ala., Chicago and Lincoln, Neb. Both Roddick and Blake also split their four head-to-head meetings during the season entering the final event of the Series.
To advance into the final on Sunday, Roddick defeated 2004 Olympic silver medalist Mardy Fish 6-3, while Blake beat 1989 French Open champion Michael Chang 6-3. Each PowerShares Series event features two one-set semifinal matches and a one-set championship match and, for the third year, players make their own line calls with assistance of electronic line-calling.
Fish finished in third place in the season-long rankings with 1100 points followed by John McEnroe in fourth place with 900 points. Mark Philippoussis finished No. 5 with 800 points, followed by Chang with 500 points and Jim Courier with 300 points.
In 2016, Mark Philippoussis won the PowerShares Series points title with 1600 points and tournament titles in Memphis, Tulsa, Newport, Winston-Salem and New Haven. Roddick finished in second place, also earning 1600 points but losing the head-to-head tiebreaker with Philippoussis 5-2, while winning titles in Charleston, St. Louis, Los Angeles and Orlando. James Blake finished in third place with 1100 points and tournament titles in Chicago, Portland and Brooklyn.
In 2015, Andy Roddick won the PowerShares Series points title in his second year of competing on the series with 1,600 points. Roddick won a record eight events Los Angeles, Lincoln, Chicago, Austin, Little Rock, Dallas, Richmond and Minneapolis. Blake finished second in the points rankings with 1,200 points, winning events in Boston and Cincinnati. Mark Philippoussis finished in third with 1,100 points, winning titles in Salt Lake City and Vancouver. The year before in 2014, McEnroe won the points title for the first time in the nine-year history of Champions Series tennis by winning events in Kansas City, Indianapolis, Nashville and Charlotte.
Results from the 2017 season are as follows:
March 30 – Toronto – F: Mark Philippoussis def. Andy Roddick 7-6(5); SF: Philippoussis def. John McEnroe 7-5, Roddick def. Mardy Fish 6-3
April 1 – Charleston, S.C. – F: James Blake def. Mark Philippoussis 7-6 (10-8); SF: Blake def. McEnroe 6-4, Philippoussis def. Roddick 6-4
April 28 – Birmingham, Ala. – F: Andy Roddick def. John McEnroe 6-4; SF: Roddick def. Mardy Fish 7-6(4), McEnroe def. Jim Courier 6-4
May 17 – Chicago – F: Andy Roddick def. John McEnroe 7-5; SF: Roddick def. Mark Philippoussis 7-6 (7), McEnroe def. Jim Courier 7-6(4)
July 23 – Newport, RI – F: Mardy Fish def. Andy Roddick 7-5; SF: Fish def. Courier 6-2, Roddick def. James Blake 6-2
August 20 – Winston-Salem, N.C. – F: James Blake def. Andy Roddick 6-4; SF: Blake def. Mardy Fish 6-3, Roddick def. Michael Chang 6-2
August 24-25 – New Haven, CT – F: Mardy Fish def. James Blake 6-4, SF: Fish def. Mark Philippoussis 6-4, Blake def. Michael Chang 7-5
October 6 – Lincoln, Neb. – F: Andy Roddick def. John McEnroe 6-3, SF: Andy Roddick def. James Blake 6-1, John McEnroe def. Michael Chang 6-2
October 16 – Lynchburg, Va. – F: James Blake def. John McEnroe 6-3, SF: James Blake def. Andy Roddick 6-3, John McEnroe def. Michael Chang 7-5
October 22 – Los Angeles, Calif. F: Andy Roddick def. James Blake 7-6(8), SF: Andy Roddick def. Mardy Fish 6-3, James Blake def. Michael Chang 6-3