LONDON (AP) _ Lleyton Hewitt defeated American James Blake 6-4, 6-4 Sunday to win the grass-court championships at the Queen's Club tournament.

The eighth-seeded Australian, who won three straight at the Wimbledon warmup from 2000-2002, joined John McEnroe and Boris Becker as four-time winners.

``This is fantastic. It's just great to get back in the winners' circle,'' said Hewitt, who earned his first title since winning the Sydney event in January 2005.

``I lost a tough match to James in the final of Las Vegas earlier this year and I knew I was going to have to step it up even another notch from how I played yesterday against Tim (Henman), and I was able to do that.

``The year I won Wimbledon I won here as well, and it just gives you a lot of confidence going into Wimbledon. Hopefully I can take my game and play some good tennis as I've done this week.''

Blake began slowly, dropping his serve in the opening game when the umpire ruled that he had put a backhand wide on Hewitt's second break point. After twice holding serve to love, Hewitt broke a second time to lead 4-1 with a low backhand volley.

It was not until he was trailing 1-5 that Blake began to look more positive, firing two aces in the next game.

He broke to love as Hewitt attempted to serve out the set at 5-2, and came within two points of levelling at 5-5 before the relieved Australian took the set at his second opportunity.

In the second set, Blake held off a break point with a winning forehand at 1-1, but then made a forehand error to give Hewitt a decisive break for 4-3.

``He played great,'' said Blake, who lost his only previous grass-court final, to Taylor Dent at Newport in 2002. ``He served great, didn't make a lot of mistakes. There's a reason he's a four-time champion.

``I learned a lot about grass-court tennis this week, and more today, and I hope I can take this into Wimbledon.''