Print

Mail

wiki links

James Blake blows opponent away to book quarters spot

James Blake hits a backhand in his match against Evgeny Korolev in Halle, Germany, on Wednesday. Photo: EPA

Third seed James Blake admitted he served as well as he had ever done to beat second-round opponent Russian Evgeny Korolev and book his quarter-final spot at the ATP Halle tournament on Wednesday.

The 27-year-old was rarely tested in his 7-5, 6-1 win and after a close first set, the American breezed through the second putting his opponent under all kinds of pressure.

His service game was immense throughout and he dazzled his opponent with his siege-gun serve which delivered 16 aces — 12 in the first set — to which the Russian had little answer.

"I was very pleased," said the beaming Harvard graduate.

"That was the best I have served in a long time. I had so many aces and I started the serve at the beginning of both sets which got things going and I was pleased to keep him under constant pressure and run with it," Blake said.

Blake will face German No. 1 Philipp Kohlschreiber in the last eight today for a place in the semi-finals and looks to be on a collision course to meet top-seed Russian Nikolay Davydenko in the last four.

Kohlschreiber, who won the ATP tournament in Munich last month, reached the quarter-finals with a comfortable straight sets win over Pakistani qualifier Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi, who knocked out fifth seed Richard Gasquet on Tuesday.

The 23-year-old German wrapped up a 6-4, 6-3 win in impressive fashion against the plucky Pakistani, ranked 270 places below him and who had to have treatment for a back injury at the start of the second set.

"Philipp has got a great serve, he has done well on clay, he's the German No. 1 and the crowd will be willing him into the semi-finals, so it's going to be tough," Blake said.

"There are still some great players left in the tournament, but I am enjoying my tennis and looking forward to the challenges ahead," he said.

Earlier in the day, fourth-seeded Tomas Berdych had to overcome a late fightback by Frenchman Fabrice Santoro to be the first player to reach the quarter-finals at Halle.

The 21-year-old Czech beat Santoro 6-3, 7-6 (7/5) and will now face sixth-seeded Mikhail Youzhny in today's quarter-final after the Russian's 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 win over plucky German Simon Stadler.
This story has been viewed 765 times.