James Blake must snap a career drought against ATP World No. 1 Roger Federer in order to win his first ATP Masters Series title at the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters in Cincinnati on Sunday. Blake is 0-6 lifetime against the all-conquering Swiss but earned another shot against Federer by clipping Russian Nikolay Davydenko 6-4, 6-2 in Saturday night's semifinals to reach his second career Masters Series final (Indian Wells 2006, l. Federer).

Blake, who by reaching the final is guaranteed to jump two places in the ATP Rankings to No. 6 (his highest ranking since March), came into the tournament under an injury cloud, having pulled out of his second-round meeting with Lleyton Hewitt in Montreal with an abdominal injury.

But after going down 0-2, Blake won four straight games against Davydenko during an explosive shotmaking battle from the baseline to seemingly bust open the first set. But Davydenko broke back to level the set at 4-4, forcing Blake to break a third time at 6-5 to take the set.

Blake broke for 3-1 in the second set and later sealed the match with his fifth break with a spectacular crosscourt passing shot on the dead run to improve his unbeaten record against Davydenko to 6-0.

Blake said: "I think the biggest thing is we both take time away from the opponents. Both of us kind of stand on the baseline and kind of hurt guys by moving forward and taking away their time. Somehow in all the matches I've played with him I've kind of just been able to step it up a little bit more and get on top of him and take a little bit more of his time away and make him more uncomfortable.

"I don't know exactly what the reasoning is, I've just happened to play some of my best tennis against him. I don't know if it's just being physically stronger. I think it's a little bit of the confidence I've gotten from winning so many matches against him, and hopefully it'll continue."

Looking ahead to his final with Federer, Blake said: "Right now I'm going to try to concentrate on how well I played this match. Once I get up tomorrow I'll probably start thinking about what I need to do tomorrow. I know Roger's game. We've all watched him many, many times in many finals, so I know what he's going to do and how impressive he can be.

"But I feel like I'm playing as well as I have in a long time, and this court seems to suit me. I was here early getting ready for it and I feel good and my stomach is feeling healthy and I'm going to go out there and take my chances."

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