Federer Struggles Past Blake in Opener at ATP Cincinnati

Blake failed to capitalize on numerous opportunities in the second set, leading 3-0, then dropping serve leading 5-5, 40-0.

"Maybe I tried a little too much on a few of those breakpoints and he took advantage, and then he never gave up," Blake said. "Being down Love-40 on my service game, he still played a great game from there on out. I felt I should hold every time I'm up 40-Love, but I can't fault myself too much for the way I played the rest of those points -- he really attacked me on every single one."

Blake said he also had an opportunity to catch Federer when he wasn't at the top of his game.

"I really don't think Roger was at his best right now. He hasn't played in a little while, which I don't say as an insult, I say as a compliment," Blake said. "I think he beat me with less than 100 percent tonight, and that's something that guys on the top are able to do -- come up big on breakpoints, come up big in the tiebreaker."

Federer improved to 59-3 on the season, including 33-1 on hardcourts.

"I think I was struggling all the way through," Federer said. "I was disappointed at times where I just couldn't make all the returns I wanted to. I was getting aced quite frequently, which is not normal things. It really just shows how the eye is not quite there like it was maybe in Wimbledon."

No. 5 seed Andy Roddick advanced when Austria's Jurgen "Tuna" Melzer had a Melzer-down after dropping the first set and being broken in his first service game of the second, serenading Cincy fans with his extensive vocabulary of American obscenities in a 6-3, 6-4 loss.

"I felt like I didn't serve great," said Roddick, who lost only three points on serve in the first set. "It was kind of a weird match for me because I was putting a lot of returns in play and once I was in the point I felt like I was getting the better of it. I wasn't serving that well, so it was kind of like a backwards match for me."

Other seeds through to the second round were (9) Guillermo Coria (d. Srichaphan), (11) David Nalbandian (d. Pavel), (12) Tim Henman (d. Massu), and (16) Richard Gasquet (d. F.Lopez 6-1 in the third).

"It's nice to win. It's much more fun winning than losing, don't get me wrong," said Henman who halted a two-match losing streak. "When you've lost two first-round matches, it's not an ideal situation, but I still felt very confident. Because if you're struggling with your game and you can't control the ball or you've got no rhythm on your serve, then it's more cause for concern. But as I said, my game, my game's in good shape."

Two seeds made first-day exits courtesy of the French when No. 15 Radek Stepanek was defeated in straights by teen Gael "Force" Monfils, and No. 14 Ivan Ljubicic was outlasted in three by Fabrice "The Original Magician" Santoro.

Other un-seeds into the second round were former No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero (d. Koubek after getting bageled in the first, setting up a meeting with Roddick), Belgian Olivier Rochus (d. Volandri after dropping the first), Russian Mikhail Youzhny (d. Saulnier 7-6 in the third), Slovak Karol Beck (d. Novak), Croat Mario Ancic (d. Mello), Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela (d. A.Martin who retired with injury), Peruvian Luis Horna (d. C.Rochus, bagel in the second), hot-handed German Nicolas Kiefer (d. (Q) N.Lapentti), and Chile's Fernando Gonzalez (d. Djokovic from a set down).

On tap for Tuesday in Cincy are (10) Puerta vs. (WC) Robby "Baby Courier" Ginepri, Andreev vs. (3) Hewitt, (4) Safin vs. (Q) Hernych, Berdych vs. (2) Rafael "The Prodigy" Nadal, Mathieu vs. Haas, (Q) Tursunov vs. "Grinning" Greg Rusedski, (WC) Murray vs. Taylor "Acci-" Dent, Moya vs. (LL) Xavier "X-Man" Malisse, Robredo vs. (8) Gaudio, Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty vs. (13) T.Johansson, (6) Davydenko vs. Grosjean, (Q) Simon vs. Spadea, (Q) Moodie vs. Ferrer, Max "The Beast" Mirnyi vs. Soderling, and El Aynaoui vs. Acasuso.