Black Tennis Pros

Herald Sun (Australia) - Former world No. 4 James Blake today continued his tennis revival, fighting from three match points down to grab a quarter-final berth at the Brisbane International.

Blake, who finished out of the year-end top 25 for the first time in five years, escaped with a 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (10-8) win over France's Marc Gicquel in a second round match at Pat Rafter Arena.

The American will play another Frenchman for a place in the semi-finals, either third seed Gael Monfils or Florent Serra.

Blake, who is currently ranked 40 places lower than his career best, kept the match points against him in the third set tiebreak tight and Gicquel made errors on each of the three points.

Then the Frenchman made another groundstroke error when trying to keep the ball in play on Blake's first match point at 9-8.

"I was not going to let him beat me," Blake said afterwards. "You play your best when you have a clear mindset. I would prefer to win in two and two but it is good to get some tough match-ups in the lead up to a Grand Slam."




BRISBANE - Third seeded Frenchman Gael Monfils overcame a shoulder injury and a tenacious Florent Serra to make his way into the quarter-finals of the Brisbane International on Wednesday.

Serra played some inspired tennis to push Monfils right to the limit, before appearing to tire in the decider and allow his higher-ranked countryman to run away with the match 6-7 (5/7), 7-6 (7/5), 6-1.

Monfils was forced to call for the trainer at the end of the first set and had his shoulder heavily strapped during the time-out.

The injury seemed to take its toll as Serra opened up a 3-0 lead at the start of the second, but Monfils fought back and took the set to a tiebreak, before running away with the third.

"I pulled my muscle a bit last week," he said of his shoulder injury.

"Last week I did a lot of weights and it's been hurting me for some time.

"I decided today to come on the court without tape and I think that was a mistake."

Monfils said he was happy with how he had served despite the pain.

"Two, three shots after the serve it hurt a little bit," he said.

"I will take some anti-inflammatories or painkillers, work on it, ice it, and hopefully tomorrow it will be much better.

He will now play American James Blake in the quarter-finals after the veteran American outlasted another Frenchman, Marc Gicquel, earlier in the day.

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Well, well, well now... Happy New Year to Frenchman Gael Monfils, American James Blake and Moroccan Younes El Aynaoui (whom I am very happy to see again) as all three kick off the 2010 ATP calender with first round wins as world class tennis returned to Brisbane for the first time since 1994, with the state capital of Queensland hosting the combined men's and women's event in the opening week of the 2009 season.

Monfils and Blake opened their seasons in Brisbane, while El Aynaoui found fortune in Doha, Qatar at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open, one of two ATP World Tour events held in the Middle East.

At the Queensland Tennis Center, paired against American Taylor Dent, Monfils survived a tight match scoring 7-6 (7-1), 6-7 (5-7), 6-2.

There is no reason for me to rehash Blake's 2009 season, we all know it and are still smarting from it; so, moving right along with some potentially good news. While Blake got off to a slow start, losing the first set to fellow American Sam Querrey 4-6; in what I hope will be his standard mode of operation for 2010, Blake was able to press on and overtake Querrey winning the remaining two sets 6-3, 6-4.

In the first round match of what will reportedly be his 'swan song' tournament, El Aynaoui defeated American Ryler Deheart 7-6³, 7-6⁴.

Up next for the three victors will be Monfils taking on Frenchman Florent Serra and Blake up against another Frenchman, Marc Giquel, while El Aynaoui will meet Belgium's Steve Darcis.

The Gulf Times is reporting that El Ayanoui will announce his retirement at the end of this tournament - "El Aynaoui's Final Fling."

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A wonderfully resurgent James Blake has found his footing and a seemingly new attitude - actually his old one - in Estoril, Portugal at the Estoril Open. Blake knocked Frenchman Florent Serra out of the tournament 6-4, 6-1.

With very little fanfare after quite a few recent early round loses, Blake has moved through this tournament as if previous court failings did not exist. It can't be easy to suffer so many loses and maintain the fortitude that originally took him to the top ten.

Whatever has or has not occurred, Blake is an exciting player that lifts the heat level of any tournament when he plays like he has this week. It is a pleasure to see.

This is a high for Blake, getting past the quarterfinal round on European clay. This effort has granted him a meeting with Russian Nikolay Davydenko whom Blake has a winning record against.

Post match Blake said, "This was a good match but I hope to continue that. Davydenko is a great player and he's especially dangerous on clay. But I feel I'm ready for this match."

"My game has gotten better and better all week and I'm really dictating like I want to on court."

In his interview Davydenko said, "Physically I'm not as strong as I can be but mentally I'm very tough. I've never had such a long time away from tennis in my career.

"But since I've come back I've been playing well. Everything's not about tennis anymore for me, I have family and other interests.

"Now, I hardly think about my matches, I just go out and play relaxed. For me, it doesn't matter how you are playing, it's your mental state. It's always in your head."

These two gentlemen set up the makings of what could be a tremendous match, I hope it turns out that way.

American Venus Williams and Russian Dinara Safina

In Rome at the Internazionali BNL D'Italia, American Venus Williams successfully toiled her way to the semifinals where she was defeated today by Russian Dinara Safina 6-7(3), 6-3, 6-4.

Throughout this tournament Venus has shown the tough metal that we have come to know her for over the years. While it wasn't sufficient to pull out the championship in Rome, it should signal that she will be a tough competitor as the clay court season further heats up.

Post match Venus said, "She played well, continued to fight for every point. That's what you have to do on this surface," she said. "I congratulate her on playing good tennis the whole match."

Another aspect of Venus that we've come to know and expect - dignity.

Photos by:
Francisco Leong/AFP/Getty Images (James Blake)
Ryan Pierse/Getty Images (Venus Williams)

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ESTORIL, Portugal (AFP) — America's James Blake booked his first claycourt quarter-final in more than a year with a 7-6 (8/6), 6-2 defeat of France's Marc Gicquel at the Estoril Open on Thursday.

Blake, now 2-2 on the surface which has traditionally been his downfall, claimed his second victory in as many days at the Estadio Nacional as his game springs to life with the French Open approaching in just over a fortnight.

The 29-year-old has not appeared in a last-eight lineup on clay since May last year when he lost in Rome to Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka.

"It's a good feeling, I really like the way I'm playing," said Blake, 11-8 on the season. "I'm now playing my style and it feels great.

"Even if I'd not won two in a row, I would have been satisfied with my game. I was really going for my shots."

The American is playing in his third clay event of the season after losing openers in both Houston and Rome. But his Wednesday first-round win over Portuguese number one Frederico Gil gave him the boost he needed.

Fourth seed Blake overcame nine aces off Gicquel's racquet, producing five of his own and saving the only break point that he faced.

Blake broke twice in the 79-minute contest which puts him into a quarter-final against French eighth seed Florent Serra who defeated Argentine Juan Monaco 6-3, 1-6, 6-3.

"He beat me pretty bad on clay (Rome, 2006)," said the American. "He's a tough competitor and I certainly don't expect him to roll over - but that won't happen with me either.

"I'm confident in my game and I like my chances if I keep playing like this."

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On Thursday No. 3 seed James Blake again used a strong serve to polish off another opponent, setting up an intriguing quarterfinal against fellow American Sam Querrey.

The most noteworthy moment of Blake's 6-4, 6-3 victory over Florent Serra came near the end, when then Frenchman got under Blake's skin by moving around while the American served. The two exchanged words and stares when the match ended. "He was doing whatever he could to win," Blake said. "Sometimes that resorts to a little gamesmanship and things we used to do as juniors. He's too good for that."

Through two rounds, not much has affected Blake. One day after he cruised past Vincent Spadea in 50 minutes, Blake needed just 66 minutes to oust Serra.

Blake might have to work a little longer today. All four of his previous matches against the sixth-seeded Querrey have gone to three sets, the tightest a 7-6 (8-6), 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (7-4) loss two years ago in Indianapolis.

"Every time I've played him, he's improved," Blake said. "When he put it all together that time in Indianapolis, he was serving unbelievable. Then the next time I played him in Cincinnati, I felt like his serve wasn't on but the rest of his game was really effective. When he puts that together, he's going to be really dangerous."

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