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Blake hoping to avoid the chop

Tennis supporters watch play between Martina Hingis of Switzerland and Alla Kudryavtseva from Russia during their second round singles match at the Australian Open in Melbourne yesterday. Hingis defeated Kudryavtseva 6-2, 6-2. PHOTO: AFP

James Blake hopes his beard is big and bushy by the end of next week.

The superstitious Blake, who doesn't shave as long as he's still alive in a tournament, advanced to the third round of the Australian Open by beating hitting partner Alex Kuznetsov 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 yesterday.

Now he faces another buddy, Robby Ginepri, who beat German qualifier Mischa Zverev 6-4, 7-5, 6-1.

Two other friends -- Kim Clijsters and Martina Hingis -- raced to see who could finish their match first and took another step toward a possible quarter-final showdown.

None of them was as fast as Maria Sharapova. The top women's seed, who endured three hours of broiling heat in her first-round match on Tuesday, needed only 58 minutes to beat fellow Russian Anastassia Rodionova 6-0, 6-3.

"My brain cells were restored today," said Sharapova, who described herself as delusional in her last match. "It was nice to get a quick one in there today."

Men's No. 2 seed Rafael Nadal and No. 3 seed Nikolay Davydenko had later matches.

James Blake of the US reacts while playing compatriot Alex Kuznetsov in their second round match at the Australian Open in Melbourne yesterday. PHOTO: AP

There were no surprises when the fifth-seeded Blake faced off against the 216th-ranked Kuznetsov, who was playing with a titanium rod in his right leg -- the result of a car accident less than two years ago.

"It's not like him playing somebody he doesn't know or doesn't know the pace," Blake said. "He knows how well I can move, he knows the things I can do. It's almost a little frustrating. I probably don't get that kind of respect or anything like that because he knows he can beat me."

For three games, it looked like an upset could happen. Blake came out a little flat while Kuznetsov, who survived three rounds of qualifying and a five-set first-rounder that didn't end until 2am on Wednesday, was hot.

"Alex played great," Blake said. "He was cracking returns."

Kuznetsov, who was born in the Ukraine and moved to the US with his family when he was three, took two quick service breaks before Blake, refusing to panic, pulled himself together and started ripping winners.

"I think maybe at that point he started realizing what he was doing, what court he was on and kind of the arena that he was in," Blake said. "That's something I hopefully have going for me now, is a little bit of experience, and to ride that storm that Alex was kind of bringing to me."

From 2-4, he ran off the last four games of the first set, dropping only four points. Suddenly, Kuznetsov was pressing and overhitting.

At one point Blake showed his athleticism by leaping high to smash an overhead winner. A fan shouted, "Let's go 23," referring to Michael Jordan's old uniform number.

"James just turned it up a notch -- he's playing awesome," Kuznetsov said. "He was just playing too good."

Blake, who won five titles last year and finished last year with a run to the Masters Cup final, had only 13 unforced errors to go with 26 winners.

Clijsters extended the winning start to her farewell tour, beating Akiko Morigami 6-3, 6-0 in 59 minutes.

"I've always enjoyed coming here, but this year it's even more special than in the past," Clijsters said.

Joking that she and Clijsters were racing to finish their matches, Hingis continued to build momentum in her comeback after three years away with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Russian Alla Kudryavtseva.

The 23-year-old Clijsters, who has announced she is retiring at the end of this season to start a family, recovered from an inconsistent opening set to run through the second.

"I won in two pretty easy sets, so I'm not complaining," she said.

She finished nine minutes faster than Hingis, who lost a little time when she was broken while serving for the match at 5-1.

Sixth-seeded Hingis won three straight Australian titles from 1997 and then lost three consecutive finals before quitting the tour because of nagging foot and ankle problems.

Her comeback to the Australian Open last year ended in a quarter-final loss to Clijsters.
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