Black Tennis Pros

SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA (TICKER) - At The SAP Open Blake injured his ankle on Friday in a quarterfinal win over Sam Querrey. The injury affected his effort against Fish. Fish defeated Blake 6-3, 6-2.

“I had no idea his ankle was that bad,” Fish said. “It’s just a testament to James. He’s never defaulted in a match in his career.”

Blake was down 1-2 in the first set when he asked for a trainer and had his ankle retaped. He had the process repeated at the end of the first set, but to no avail.

“It affected me more than I thought it would have when I did it,” Blake said. “I just iced it a few times yesterday and taped it up. I thought I’d be ready to go.”

The trainer told Blake that he would not do any more damage, so the third seed played on.

“I thought if I wasn’t going to hurt it any more, I could suck up the pain for 20 minutes, 30 minutes and make it a little better for the fans, hopefully, and better for Mardy to feel like he earned a victory, which he did,” Blake said.

PARIS (AP)— Elena Dementieva advanced to the final of the Open GDF Suez after top-ranked Serena Williams withdrew with a knee injury.

Williams said she hurt her right knee during Friday’s win against Emilie Loit and was in too much pain to play.

“My left knee always hurts, but this time it’s my right knee,” Williams said. “When I woke up this morning, it wasn’t feeling good. I wasn’t moving well at all in practice.

“Today I don’t feel like I could have gotten there. I wanted to make the fans extremely happy. It wouldn’t have been a good showing for me at all.”

"My knees have been really good, and I'm really optimistic. I think they'll continue to be really good," said Williams who is due to play in Dubai next week.

"I just have been playing a lot of tennis, so maybe it's just a sign that I'll need to take a day or two off and get ready for the next event."

Monfils, who struggled with illness in his quarter-final win over Julien Benneteau at the ABN AMRO World Tournament, cut a lethargic figure as he returned to court after an off-court medical time-out at the end of the first set and punishingly long rallies with World No. 1 Rafael Nadal. The 22-year-old Monfils showed great character as he continued to fight and produced some of his best tennis towards the end of the second set, when he forced break point opportunities in successive Nadal service games. However, the left-handed Nadal dominated on the important points to snuff out Monfils’ chances and confidently served out the victory to love at 5-4. He now improves to a 13-1 match record on the season.

Monfils was defeated 6-4, 6-4.

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PARIS (AP) — Top-ranked Serena Williams defeated Emilie Loit 6-4, 6-1 to set up a semifinal with Elena Dementieva for the third straight tournament at the Open GDF Suez on Friday.

Loit, only the second qualifier in tournament history to make the quarterfinals, broke Williams when she was serving for the first set at 5-3. Williams threw her racket on the ground but broke right back and cruised the rest of the way.

"Definitely a tricky match," said Williams, the Australian Open champion. "Definitely good to get through, you know? I don't play too many lefties.

"I definitely don't feel at my best," Williams added, "but I feel like I'm getting there."

Dementieva gave Williams her only loss of the year in the Sydney semifinals, but Williams avenged that in the Australian Open semifinals en route to her 10th Grand Slam singles title.


SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — James Blake beat fellow American Sam Querrey 7-6 (9), 6-3 on Friday to advance to the semifinals of the SAP Open, setting up an intriguing meeting with doubles teammate Mardy Fish.

Blake hung on to win despite rolling his ankle with two points to go. He reached the semis shortly after Fish, his close friend and teammate, beat Argentina's Juan Martin del Potro 6-3, 6-4, upsetting the world's seventh-ranked player.

After Fish and Blake meet in a semifinal match Saturday afternoon, they'll team up for a doubles match late that night. They won the doubles title at San Jose in 2004, and both say their games improve when they're working together.

"There won't be any hard feelings," Blake said with a grin. "There better not be any hard feelings, or there might be a serve to the back of the head. ... Hopefully, we can go out to dinner tonight, play each other tomorrow, and then go out to dinner again."

Frenchman Gael Monfils defeated fellow Frenchman Julien Benneteau 7-6(4), 6-1 in an all-French quarter-final at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Next up for Monfils is World No. 1 Rafael Nadal. Monfils handed Nadal his only loss thus far of the 2009 ATP World Tour tennis season, posting a quarter-final win at the ATP World Tour 250 tennis tournament in Doha in the first week of the year. The Spaniard had won their first three meetings in straight sets.



Although Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga hit 26 aces, that's right count 'em 26 at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, he was still not able to topple Spaniard Rafael Nadal. Tsonga was defeated 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-4.

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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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The third-seeded Blake needed only 50 minutes to dispatch Spadea 6-3, 6-4, a convincing win that had to feel good given Spadea's autobiography.

In 2006, Spadea published a book in which he criticized Blake for questionable character because he allegedly "trash-talked" during a match. Spadea also chastised Blake for stealing ladies' attentions at a party.

The world's No. 11 player had 13 aces to two double faults, won 83 percent of his first serves and was never broken, pleasing the night session's 4,956 fans at HP Pavilion. It was a dominating effort considering Blake was forced to pull out of Monday's scheduled exhibition against Pete Sampras because of a strained back.

"I feel bad for the other players, because I've been monopolizing the trainer's time," Blake said. "It's done wonders for me."

James Blake didn't address the elephant in the room, but his play indicated that Wednesday night's SAP Open first-round match against Vincent Spadea might have been a little personal.

Other than loads of heating cream under his shirt, there was little indication that Blake was ailing. He dived on the hard surface for a volley and broke Spadea's serve in the fourth game of the first set and the first game of the second.

Blake served well and worked mostly from the baseline, using aggressive forehands that were deep and flat to advance to the second round to play France's Florent Serra (No. 57).

Spadea, the oldest player (34 years, 7 months) in the tournament, had no answers. Credited with overcoming the longest losing streak (21 matches) in the history of professional tennis, Spadea looked more like that slumping player than the one who rose to No. 18 in the world in 2005.

"He's been on tour for so long and has lost a little bit of mobility, so he knows he has to go after his shots and take chances if he's going to win," Blake said. "That's a good way of adapting for a player that is getting up there in years."

Photo by AP

Source

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It had more of a Harlem Globetrotters feel than a high-level match, but the crowd at HP Pavilion on Monday night didn't seem all that disappointed.

Not even news that James Blake, Sampras' scheduled opponent, couldn't play because of a bad back dampened the spirit. For the second consecutive year, Tommy Haas pinch hit for an injured player (Marat Safin withdrew last year) and this time got the better of the tennis legend.

Sampras, 37, called Haas a "class act" for "saving the night for the guys here." Haas had played his first-round match an hour earlier, defeating fellow German Lars Poerschke in straight sets.

"A lot of people came to see Pete tonight, so I don't think it was really about who he was going to play," Haas said. "I played him here last year, so I thought maybe I could give him a better show, a better match this time."

Blake, who suffered back spasms during a doubles match Monday, hasn't ruled out being ready for his first-round singles match Wednesday night against Vince Spadea. Shortly before Monday's exhibition, Blake walked onto the court with tournament director Bill Rapp and broke the news to the crowd.

"I'm sorry," Blake said. "I just can't go out there and give it my best. I'm going to go back and visit the trainer. I hope to be out there Wednesday."

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In an interview Blake said, "Monday's going to be a lot of fun. I did an exhibition with him last year, and we had a really good match. He's obviously one of the great champions we've ever had in the sport if not the greatest. It's a lot of fun being around someone like that, a great tennis mind. Someone who can still teach you plenty.

You know, it's not really pressure packed, we're just having fun. He still obviously has the game that he can compete, you know, for one match or two matches at a time. I think what's gotten him the most is he wasn't able to do the grind all year, playing three out of five sets every other day and playing match after match and getting on the practice court and putting in the time. But on a given day, he can put up a pretty good fight."

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Americans James Blake and Robby Ginepri went head to head in the quarterfinals at the SAP Open in San Jose, California on Friday. Ginepri defeated Blake 6-2, 6-2.

Last Week in Delray Beach, Florida the long-time friends were opponents in the semifinals, Blake defeated Ginepri in straight sets 6-4, 6-4.

"That was probably one of the best matches I've ever played in my career," Ginepri said. "From start to finish the whole night was just explosive. I attacked the whole entire match. ... When you feel that good out there it's a lot easier to go for your shots and take some chances and risks. The whole night I felt comfortable out there. You wait for matches like this."

Ginepri played a great game, but Blake helped him out throughout the match with his error filled game. In addition to consistently over hitting, Blake had a hard time holding serve and was broken in his first three service games.

"He looked a little off," Ginepri said. "I kept putting so much pressure on him. I don't think he had an answer for it. It's extremely frustrating out there when you don't feel you can do anything."

"I don't really enjoy matches like that when I just can't seem to find anything," Blake said. "Usually I'm able to find some sort of saving grace, either I'm serving well or I'm putting a lot of returns in the court or playing defence well or something. I couldn't find anything that was working for me tonight."

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American James Blake is doing what he needs to do to win and he's also sharing a lot of photo time with his fans.

Blake, the No. 2 seed, defeated wildcard Jesse Levine 6-3, 6-4 in the first of the evening matches.

Blake is scheduled to play good buddy Robby Ginepri in the next round.

"I have the benefit of knowing just how good Robby is," Blake said. "Some people might look at his ranking or his results in the last year or so and think that it might not be a tough match. But I know how tough it's going to be. I know how well he's playing again. I've practiced with him a ton of times. He's a very dangerous player, a guy who can play at a top-five level."

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American James Blake made easy work of fellow American Sam Warburg at the SAP Open on Tuesday. Blake defeated Warburg 6-3, 6-1, in as little as 55 minutes.

Blake will meet another American, Jesse Levine, in the next round.



Nice photo of Blake and little tennis fan.










American Donald Young, playing in the same event, was defeated in the first round by fellow American Wayne Odesnik 6-1, 5-7, 6-4.

Young was originally scheduled to play Korean Hyung-Taik Lee. Lee withdrew from the event prior to the match with a back injury.

Wayne Odesnik slid in as a "lucky loser."

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Round 1 - Singles

James Blake, USA vs. Sam Warburg, USA

Donald Young, USA vs. Hyunk-Taik Lee, KOR


Round 1 - Doubles

Donald Young, USA and John Isner, USA
vs.
Mardy Fish, USA and Jurgen Melzer, AUT


Qualifying Rounds

American Scoville Jenkins was eliminated in round 2 of the singles by American Tim Smyczek 6-4, 6-1.



Round 1 - Doubles

Jeff Coetzee, RSA and Wesley Moodie, RSA
vs.
Jonathan Erlich, ISR and Andy Ram, ISR

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