Blake, Verdasco Orchestrate Upsets at ATP New Haven

Spain's Fernando Verdasco (d. (2) Gonzalez 7-6 in the third) and American wildcard James Blake (d. (6) Haas from a set down) scored upsets Thursday at the ATP stop in New Haven to advance into the quarterfinals.

"Yeah, he's a very big match, because I lost against him in Monte Carlo this year first round," Verdasco said of defeating the pounding Chilean. "It was clay, but for me it's very important, it's the same, you know, the whether it's clay or hard court, to have more confidence than I have now it's good, to win against him. He is a very tough player, on all the courts, for me it's very important to win this match."

Blake rebounded from a 6-1 beating by Haas in the first set.

"That first set, he steamrolled me," Blake said. "He was hitting the lines. He wasn't missing anything. But I tried not to get too down. I just looked for a little chink in the armor. In the second set, I tried to execute a little better, take it too him because defense was not doing it."

Seeds into the quarters Thursday were (3) Dave Ferrer (d. (15) Srichaphan), (4) Tommy Robredo (d. Koubek), and (5) Feliciano Lopez (d. (12) Spadea from a set down).

"I just wasn't making the shots," said Spadea, who watched 12 aces fly by during the encounter. "My return was off and that was the bottom line. You make him hit a couple more shots and that's the game. I couldn't even get the ball in play. So a couple of them were his aces; a couple of them were my mistakes. That's life when you are not focused and you are not grooved that extra amount, I guess."

Un-seeds into the quarters were Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela (d. Santoro), and Russian Igor Andreev (d. Kohlschreiber).

Scheduled for Friday are (4) Robredo vs. Hanescu, Juan Ignacio "The Spitting Snake" Chela vs. (WC) Blake, (5) Feliciano "F-Lo" Lopez vs. Fernando "Hot Sauce" Verdasco in an all-Spanish, and Andreev vs. (3) Ferrer.