Top-Seeded Davydenko Ousted, Blake Wins at ATP New Haven

Posted on August 25, 2005

Six seeds exited the draw Wednesday at the ATP stop in New Haven, with upsets orchestrated by Argentina's Juan Ignacio Chela (d. (1) Davydenko), Russian Igor Andreev (d. (8) O.Rochus in two tiebreaks), American wildcard entrant James Blake (d. (10) Volandri), German Philip Kohlschreiber (d. (11) Melzer), France's Fabrice Santoro (d. countryman (13) Mathieu), and Austrian Stefan Koubek (d. (16) Monfils from a set down).

"Today, it was my mistake because we had different balls (than Montreal and Cincinnati)," Davydenko said. "I tried to make it different, my tension for strings was harder here and I tried to make no mistakes because the tension was hard and I had more control. I tried to come back but at 6-5 broke my string. I took my old racket and I lost in the tiebreak. I played really slow, Chela played good today and tried to make winners, and for me, if I play slow I can beat nobody."

Blake, who appears near the top of his game this summer, dropped only fours games against the No. 10-seeded Volandri to set up a meeting with former No. 2 Tommy Haas.

"It was one of those days where everything was going in," Blake said. "I felt like I was able to dictate. He didn't get many free points on his serve, but I was able to get some on mine."

Seeded winners avoiding the upsets were (2) Fernando Gonzalez (d. (WC) Gimelstob in three), (3) Dave Ferrer (d. Zib), (6) Tommy Haas (d. C.Rochus 6-0 in the third), (7) Nicolas Massu (d. A.Ram in three), and (12) Vince Spadea (d. Seppi).

"I had match points in the second set but I played very badly, and I pretty much gave him that second set," Massu said after outlasting the doubles specialist Ram. "I could have ended this match sooner than I did but this is how tennis is, things can turn around really quickly. In the end the most important thing is the result. I am very happy I was able to come through 7-5 in the third today."

Scheduled for Thursday are (5) Feliciano "F-Lo" Lopez vs. (12) Spadea, (WC) Blake vs. (6) Haas, Fernando "Hot Sauce" Verdasco vs. (2) Fernando "Gonzo" Gonzalez in a slap-fest, (15) Paradorn "The Thai Fighter" Srichaphan vs. (3) Ferrer, Andreev vs. Kohlschreiber, Chela vs. Santoro, (4) Robredo vs. Koubek, and Hanescu vs. (7) Massu.