Black Tennis Pros

American Davis Cup teammates James Blake and Andy Roddick advanced to the doubles semifinal round of the Brisbane International after defeating the Brazilian doubles team of Marcelo Melo and Bruno Soares 7-6(3), 6-4.

Blake and Roddick will now face Frenchmen Jeremy Chardy and Marc Giquel for a shot at the final.

Big Davis Cup news on theses two here...

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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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