Black Tennis Pros

James Blake lifts the winning trophy for his Pilot Pen victory.

In no less than two weeks, James Blake has secured a spot in yet another US Open Series final. After a fairly grueling match against the determined Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu that came down to a tie-break in the third set, Blake eventually prevailed with a score of 6-4, 3-6, 7-6. After Blake and Mathieu swapped sets, it was relatively toe-to-toe in the third. However, the set turned into a bit of a nail biter when Blake served for the match at 5-3 but was broken by Mathieu. Nevertheless, Blake shone through in the tie-break and that's all that matters. He now has an appointment with one of his best buds, Mardy Fish.

So, what's up next in New Haven you ask? Why a Saturday night fish fry of course! I love ya Mardy, but I'll be pulling for Blake tomorrow night.

Two Americans on American soil in a US Open Series final, what a weekend!

It took James Blake a little while to wake up earlier today, nearly to the brink of defeat at the racquet of Agustin Calleri. Blake was a bit sluggish for most of the first two sets of the match, but a bit tension between he and Calleri, his coach and the umpire woke blake up and uh oh. Calleri obviously didn't know good when he had it. At 1 set down and Calleri with three match points,the sleepy Harvard man awakened and once again caught fire moved into a tie-break at the end of the second set. Well it was vitually all over but the shouting at that point. The third set was shear Blake dominance. The final score was 3-6,7-6(2), 6-1.

"I was easily just one first serve away from being out of here and on my way to Flushing Meadows," Blake said. "Now that I'm still in it, I feel great and I feel like I'm kind of lucky to be still at the tournament and still alive." I could have been out of here a while ago," Blake told the crowd following the match. "But I'm excited to be coming back tonight."

During the press conference, when questioned about what was going on between he and Calleri on the court, Blake revealed that he thought that Calleri was receiving coaching from his coach and spoke to the coach about it. He attempted to smooth things out with Calleri at the end of the match but Calleri snatched his racquets, waved his hands, said something and walked off the court. But come on, we know that Blake is guy No. 1, he is definitely not the guy that's going to incite ignorance on the court. Get it together Calleri.

The J-Block was on hand in New Haven today providing big time support for Blake and annoyinig the hell out of Calleri, go for it J-Block!




I'M UP NOW, IT'S ON!: Blake Into Semi-Finals in New Haven

Both James Blake and Fernando Verdasco had tall orders of play today. Due to prior rain delays, they both had two matches to play. The third round and quarter final matches.

The wear and tear of day seems to have taken a greater toll on Verdasco than Blake. Perhaps because Blake rested through much of his first match -- HA! The other key seems to have been Blake winning first serve points. He won the match in straight sets with a score of 6-4, 6-2. Blake served 6 aces and only 1 double fault.

Blake's next opponent will be Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu. Mathieu beat countryman Gilles Simon 6-4, 6-3. He has never played Blake, and knows he will be the underdog.

In tonight's match Donald Young went up against world No. 4 Nikolay Davydenko only to be stopped early in the tournament by a score of 6-2, 4-6, 7-5. As is evident though, the Young one put up a valiant fight to try and reach the third round. As a matter of fact, I'm rather impressed. I definitely did not expect this match to go three sets, nor the games to be so close. At 2-3 in the third set, Young broke Davydenko's serve with some beautiful shots, including a drop shot to go up 4-2. Unfortunately Davydenko broke right back. But good show Donald Young!

We all know that it's going to take some time to develop a consistent winning pattern, and that differs player to player (if at all), but the Young one is clearly sending out a message that he is now on the ATP Tour fellas. The apparent difference in the game was Davydenko's first serve percentage which was 66% over Young's 51%.

When asked what this match does for him, Young stated "it obvisously gives me a lot of confidence. It was awesome."



Gael Monfils Edged Out


First up, Gael Monfils. He found out that all the yelling in the world couldn't save him today. Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland defeated Monfils in a straight sets win by a score of 6-4, 7-6. Monfils had a 52% first serve rate, 6 aces and 0 double faults. With the exception of a modest difference in first serve points won, the stats were pretty even. I really wish that I had seen this game because it's difficult to know what the turning point was. Whatever they were, Monfils is out. He's so good. Monfils has really got to work on his consistency. Talk to Blake.

Yesterday's gloomy weather did not dampen the red hot game of James Blake. In pursuit of holding the New Haven title for a second time, he previously won it in 2005, the No. 3 seed followed a very successful week in Cincinnati by continuing his history of perfection over Arnaud Clement of France. In seven meetings Clement has been defeated every time. Blake won by a score of 6-4, 6-2, within which he hit 6 aces, 2 double faults, and had a 57% first serve rate. He also broke Clement's serve 6 times in a match that lasted only 1 hour 15 minutes.

Next up, Blake's third round opponent will be the winner of the match between American Robby Ginepri and Agustin Calleri of Argentina.



Rainy Day Stops Play

The matches to be played by Gael Monfils and Donald Young were washed out by east coast storms. Both are on tap for play today.

In action at the Pilot Pen Tournament today during the day matches will be American Donald Young vs. Nikolay Davydenko of Russia and Frenchman Gael Monfils vs. Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland. And in the evening singles match, American James Blake vs. Arnaud Clement of France. Fantastic action, can't wait!

Donald Young walked in the newness of life on Sunday, as he defeated Amer Delic in the first round of the Pilot Pen Tournament in New Haven, Connecticut. Young, who recently celebrated his 18th birthday, gave himself a belated birthday gift. This win is his first on the ATP Tour after 12 matches. Young is putting to good use the wildcard that he received into this tournament. He stated that this win is "a big relief."

The arrival of the Young one has been talked about for some time now. He's been coming up through the ranks with quite a bit of hype about his talent being bantered about. Of it, Young says, "I like the talk and the hype, but you don't really like it when it starts going negative. When it's all positive, it's awesome. But you've got to take the good with the bad." Good philosophy son, hold on to it. You'll need it.

Young's win over Delic today came in at 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. And for his reward, what does the Young one get? A second round match up with Nikolay Davydenko. That's cold. But he's in the big leagues now so the battle starts here. Good Luck! I'll be praying for you.



Tsonga Not Able to Sing Same Song as Young

Also in action at the Pilot Pen Tournament on Sunday was Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France. Tsonga was defeated by Juan Martin Del Portro of Argentina by a score of 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. Tsonga served 10 aces but also had 6 double faults and a first serve rate of 54%. Del Portro's first serve percentage wasn't much better at 58%, but it was enough to pull out the win.