Marcel Granollers-Pujol will arrive at this week's XL Bermuda Open full of confidence after beating James Blake 6-4, 1-6, 7-5 in the US Men's Clay Court Championships for his first tour title.

The seventh-seeded Spaniard came back from 3-0 down in the third set in Houston yesterday, turning back the American who at one point won 18 of 19 points.

But Granollers-Pujol, number 84 in the world, would not go away and Blake, the world's eighth-ranked player, missed a chance to win his first clay court title. He lost in the quarter-finals two years ago, the semi-finals last year and reached the final this year.

The Spaniard won it when Blake hit a backhand long. Granollers-Pujol is ranked seventh in this week's tournament and begins his bid to win the title against Argentine Diego Hartfield.

Granollers-Pujol is in the bottom half of the draw for the XL Open, and will have to fight his way past the likes of Oscar Hernandez, and big American John Isner if he is to make the later stages of the event.

Full XL Open coverage - see Page 23