Blake Brothers Storm Rolex

In a tournament in which family was literally the name of the game, Harvard's brother tandem of Tom and James Blake made sure that their stock was well represented.

In dominating fashion, the Blake brothers stormed through the competition at the Rolex Eastern Intercollegiate Championships at Philadelphia, P.A. to earn not only the doubles crown, but also a chance to meet each other in the final round of the singles tournament.

"We are always joking around and I tell him that I could take one from him," James said. "And I'm sure we would have had a good match, but he is probably a little more experienced than me at this point."

Even though they grew up playing stroke for stroke in the backyard, the two brothers had only played doubles once before and that was just recently at the U.S. Open Qualifier. But considering that Tom was a national quarterfinalist in doubles last year and James is considered one of the most talented freshmen in the country, it was no surprise that the pair entered the Rolex Championships with the No. 1 seed.

The duo held true to their ranking as they cruised through the first four rounds with identical 8-4 scores. Straight-set victories continued to color the Crimson trail as the Blakes disposed first Miami (7-6, 6-1) and then finally Dartmouth (7-6, 6-1) in the semifinals.

That set the stage for the toughest challenge yet in the form of the Marchetti brothers from Virginia Tech.

The Marchetti duo had already downed Harvard's second doubles team--juniors Kunj Majmudar and Eilliot Weiss--in the semis. After a slight falter in the first few games, however, the Blakes took command through the next two sets en route to a 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 victory and their first doubles title together.

"The primary significance of the win is that they were down a set," said Assistant Coach Peter Mandeau. "But they still found a way to turn the energy around and crank it up to the next level to win nine of the next 10 games to clinch the match."

Immediately following the doubles final, the singles title was to be decided. And although the battle lines were drawn for that final matchup, the familial duel would have to wait. Due to a hematoba in his heel, Tom was forced to default and thus James was handed the singles trophy in a walkover.

"I would've liked to have played. It would have been fun since we never played in a tournament against each other before," Tom said. "But it did make the decision not to play easier knowing it was him and letting him have the win."

In a tournament which features players from over 40 Division I programs, Tom entered the tournament solidified in the No. 1 singles spot. Proving the seeding committee wise, Tom had very little trouble reaching the semifinal round.

It was there where he met his toughest challenge to date--Adam Marchetti. In a brutal three set match in which Tom continually battled his injured foot, the elder Blake eventually prevailed with a 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 victory.

"I just couldn't move very well," Tom said. "And I couldn't push off of it as well."

On the other side of the draw, James was plowing through his opposition as well, dropping only one set along the way. He too would find his biggest opposition to be a Marchetti--except this time it was the No. 2 seed, Aaron.

Just like his brother, however, James sent Aaron home packing in straight sets, 7-6, 6-4.

"I expected that each match would be difficult because the level is so high here," James said. "I just went into every match hoping to play my best and at this tournament that turned out to be good enough."

Then there were two.

Although the ultimate brother battle did not occur, there is no sadness, for few players--brothers or not--could have dominated the tournament the way in which Tom and James did.

"A lot of the success of doubles teams comes from the bond between players," Mandeau said. "Two great individual doubles players don't necessarily make a great doubles team. And certainly being brothers can create that type of bond between the team."

Just for making the finals, both players are now automatically qualified for the Rolex Intercollegiate National Indoor Championships which will be held in February.

"The main purpose was to qualify for nationals," James said. "It would have been fun because we haven't played each other in a tournament since we were nine, but maybe sometime down the road we'll get another chance."

Considering their performance this past weekend, there is no doubt that these two players are on a collision course come future tournaments.

Brother vs. brother, mano en mano. The Blake brothers have shown that's the only way to go.