Black Tennis Pros

In the first match of his grass court season, the second seed put on a good performance. After making a few experiments in the first couple of games, he was done testing at 3-3. He upped tempo and put Phau under pressure. It was too much pressure for the German. After gaining the first break of the match to go up 4-3, Blake controlled the remainder of the one-sided issue almost at will. “I did indeed try a few things because I had never played against Bjoern,” the American said afterwards.

While Phau was desperate to get his serve going (“I hit only 35 percent of my first serves, that is deadly on grass”), Blake fired a string of aces. “This was one of my best service performances of all year,” he said. Blake never looked back, breaking Phau in the third game of the second set before finishing the German off after 49 minutes.

Blake is confident to make something happen in Halle this time out. “I am stronger than last year but you have to improve because the whole tour has gotten much stronger,” he added. The 28-year-old looks to further improve his serve even tough it already is one of his strengths. “I am no Andy Roddick yet,” he said. As for Wimbledon, he has high goals. “I want to finally get into the second week.”