ANDY Roddick became the joint most successful player in the history of the Artois Championships by beating Nicolas Mahut to win his fourth Queen's title.
The American second seed came from a set down against the unseeded Mahut to clinch a 4-6 7-6 7-6 triumph in two hours and 16 minutes and match the achievements of Boris Becker, John McEnroe and Lleyton Hewitt in capturing the tournament four times.
Mahut had already beaten Rafael Nadal earlier in the week and squandered a match point in the second-set tie-break, but Roddick's greater experience saw him prevail with an ace on the first of his four match points.
Roddick will be one of the men expected to challenge reigning champion Roger Federer at Wimbledon later this month, and the Nebraskan admitted his build up could not have been better.
The 24-year-old said: "In terms of preparation for Wimbledon, I could not have asked for any more.
"But Nicolas made me dig really deep. He was outplaying me for most of the match, I had to keep fighting.
"If he keeps playing like that, he will be up there (near the top of the rankings) in no time."
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