American eighth seed James Blake battled back from the brink of defeat to capture the Sydney International title with a 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 victory over unseeded Russian Igor Andreev in Sydney 0on Saturday.

The 26-year-old world number 23 broke his opponent in the 12th game of the deciding set when Andreev was serving for the match to send the contest into a tiebreak, which the American won by a 7-3 margin.

Blake's victory serves as an ideal warm-up for the Australian Open starting in Melbourne on Monday, where he is due to play Argentine Jose Acasuso in the first round.

Clay court specialist Andreev opens his campaign against Spain's Nicolas Almagro.