Black Tennis Pros

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This is one loss that American James Blake can take with a grain of salt. We literally watched a man without a plan come into the Estoril Open and establish and execute a grand plan.

After his semifinal match was suspended on Saturday because of rain, darkness and who knows what else, Blake came back on Sunday and finished the job, defeating Davydenko 6-7(3), 7-6(2), 6-3.

Not long thereafter Blake had to return to the court to play the final against Spainard Albert Montanes. Montanes saved two match points at 4-5 in the second set and came back to beat 5-7, 7-6(6), 6-0 just over two hours.

Yeah well, he didn't have to play two matches either (sour grapes). Congratulations to Montanes and to Blake. Blake had an absolutely fabulous run and made my tennis for the year thus far.



“Tennis is a game of inches,” said Blake. “If he missed the line by one inch on one of the match points, I would have won. It didn’t and he gained confidence. It happens to every player. Today, it happened to me in the final. With the exception of one bad set I played some high-level tennis all week.

“Of course I’m disappointed in a loss. But I’m going to try and look back in the next couple of days and think about it positively. I came in here with very little confidence on clay, having lost my last two matches. At least now I won my last four matches and put myself in a position to win a clay-court tournament. I couldn’t take advantage of it, but I will go onto next week’s tournament with a lot more confidence and try and duplicate the results.”

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MADRID (AFP) — American James Blake continued his fine form on clay by reaching the first European clay final of his career with a 6-7 (3/7), 7-6 (7/2), 6-3 win over Nikolay Davydenko at the Estoril Open on Sunday.

Blake, who had never advanced beyond the quarter-finals on the continent before, won a rain-delayed semi-final over two days and now faces a last test in the title match later on Sunday.

The fourth seed will face experienced clay campaigner Alberto Montanes, the Spanish seventh seed, who booked his spot in the final on Saturday.

Blake trailed by a set to 2003 winner Davydenko but took a 4-2 lead in the second before darkness on Saturday finally forced the contest off court after a frustrating afternoon of rain.

Davydenko, who lost the 2008 final to Roger Federer at the Estadio Nacional, levelled at 4-4 upon their return as the Russian's vast experience on the surface looked like paying off.

But the newly confident Blake fought through a second-set tiebreaker, sweeping into a third set after the Russian put a backhand wide.

Blake consolidated in the third set, sewing up his personal best performance on the surface in two and a half hours.

The American and Montanes have never met, while the 28-year-old Spaniard tries to improve a 13-13 season record and bids for a second title from a sixth career final.

Blake holds a 10-12 career record in finals as he plays only his second on clay after losing last year in Houston.

Blake becomes the second American to reach an Estoril final since Todd Martin in 1999.

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American James Blake and Russian Nikolay Davydenko are going through it in their semifinal match at the Estoril Open in Estoril, Portugal. Rain caused the first suspension and darkness the second.

The match is currently suspended in the second set with Blake up 4-2. Davydenko took the first set 7-6(3).

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Americans Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigail Spears won their first Sony Ericsson WTA Tour team title at the Estoril Open on Saturday, when the third-seeded Americans beat Sharon Fichman of Canada and Hungarian Katalin Marosi 2-6, 6-3, 10-5 (Match TB) in 74 minutes.

Kops-Jones and Spears, who has previously made a run to the quarter-final in Miami (l. to Peschke-Raymond) this year, won just eight points on return of serve in the first set but managed to turn around their 13th match of the season.

In the Match Tie-break, Kops-Jones and Spears won three points against serve to open up an 8-4 lead which they coolly converted into their eighth win of the year.

The American duo had fought back from a one-set and 5-0 deficit in Friday’s semi-finals against Julie Coin and Marie-Eve Pelletier for a 3-6, 7-5, 10-3 (Match TB) win.

For Kops-Jones it was her second Sony Ericsson WTA Tour title after partnering Christina Fusano in Quebec City (d. Dubois-Varacova) in November 2007.

Spears has now four tour-level trophies, including 2003 Auckland (w/Ashley), 2004 Vancouver (w/Mattek), 2005 Cincinnati (w/Granville). She also finished runner-up at 2005 Memphis (w/Granville).

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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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After today's victory over Radwanska, Venus Williams said in an interview with Ubaldo Scanagatta's Tennis (UBI Tennis) that she deals with FOMO (Fear of Missing Out).

Q. You had a comfortable win today. How do you assess your performance, also comparing to previous matches which were longer and tougher?
VENUS WILLIAMS: Yeah, you know, it's just, like I said when I came the other day, it's just important to play a lot points and to hit a lot of balls and to find a rhythm.

Of course, I'm still playing my aggressive game, but I'm also patient, more patient than the other matches. Just learning from my mistakes. You know, talk to my coaches after, and then trying to apply after the match, you know, apply it in the next match.

So, you know, when I play a match and it's not exactly how I want it, I stop getting crazy about it and realize I know how to play and I just have to play, try the next time to play better.
So that's what I'm doing.

Q. The problem was the clay? It was to move well on clay? It was light? Or it was because it was cold? Which was it?
VENUS WILLIAMS: Yesterday?

Q. Yesterday.
VENUS WILLIAMS: You know, I think I'm moving better every match. You know, it helps when you feel good physically. I really am feeling good.

You know, I've had time to think about mistakes I made and try to correct them.

Q. The mistake was how you was moving?
VENUS WILLIAMS: Because I was moving better today.

Q. But the biggest mistake was?
VENUS WILLIAMS: There were a lot of mistakes. You know, my toss on my serve; footwork; rushing; a lot of things.
So just try to play one shot at a time, especially for an aggressive player like me, because I can mistake a lot happen. It's not always necessary to make so much happen. Just slowing down. It's important to slow down.

Q. How much is difficult to don't be too much upset about yourself when you're not able to play good?
VENUS WILLIAMS: You know, I've always been like a pretty calm player, so for me naturally usually I don't get too upset.

Sometimes I do because I expect a lot from myself, but I try to leave the past in the past. Not always easy, but I try to.

Q. Now you can feel very confident for tomorrow?
VENUS WILLIAMS: Yeah. Obviously to have a great match in the quarterfinals and going into the semifinals, I mean, do feel great about tomorrow. So I'll do more of the same thing as today. Just really keep trying to be better and keep trying to come in and really work on my game.
Really just, you know, swing freely, just to feel free on the court.

Q. In the past you beat Dinara in two matches, but on another surface. Do you think tomorrow will change anything on the clay?
VENUS WILLIAMS: Yeah, it's always great to play players on different surfaces and use different strategies. So, you know, like I said, tomorrow I'll be controlling on my side of the court and playing my shots.

Whoever is across the net, for me, it's not about that. It's about really like getting my game together at this point.

Q. What of those elements that you were talking about earlier, being aggressive and also patient, going into a match with a player like Safina, will you go in playing very aggressively? Will be you patient at first?
VENUS WILLIAMS: I play the ball. So the ball lands short, I come in. If the ball goes deep, I move back. So doesn't matter who I play, I'm going to play the ball.
If the ball says play aggressive, I play aggressive.

Q. You and Kuznetsova maybe have the same attitude. Does not depends about your opponent, depends most of what is in your mind, if you are in the right mood or not. Do you an agree that Kuznetsova is the biggest opponent you can have in general after Serena?
VENUS WILLIAMS: I don't think so much about my opponents. I really never thought about her like that, to be honest. I mean, for this tournament, I mean, we could meet in the final if we can play well tomorrow. That would be great.

I mean, I don't have like have like moods and stuff. I don't know what she has. She never told me. (Laughter.) So, yeah.

Q. How did you assess your clay court preparation at this point? Are you at the point where you want it to be?
VENUS WILLIAMS: Yeah. Who is where they want to be? No one. So I can always can ask for more. What's happening now is okay, so it's important sometimes not to ask for too much.

Q. What do you at 11:00 in the night now in Rome?
VENUS WILLIAMS: Well, you see, I have this thing called FOMO, and it's called fear of missing out. I hate going to bed. I feel like I'm missing out. I need to read and I need to get a lot of things done. I can organize my room.

I don't like to go to bed, so I have to focus on going to sleep. It's hard, because I feel like I'm going miss out on something.

So I'm going to try really hard to go to sleep. (Laughter.) FOMO is a really big problem for a lot of people.

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