Blake Blows Baby Goran Beating at ATP Hamburg

"I am the kind of person who fights to the end," Ancic told reporters. "When James was serving for the match I still knew I had a chance because No. 1, it was clay, and No. 2, throughout the whole match there had been chances."

The American, who more than not comes out on the short end of tight matches, said he learned a lesson from the never-say-die attitude of the towering 6-foot-5 Croat.

"It was a tough one to lose, especially when I served for it twice," Blake said. "He hung on. Today he taught me a lesson. At some point he could have given in a little, but he continued to play his game...I'm getting tired of losing these amazing matches. I'm hoping that I'm going to be winning some of them soon."

In the final-set tiebreaker, Blake took a 3-1 lead before failing to win another point.

"It's definitely moving forward. Obviously I played better than last week," said Blake, referring to a first-round loss in Rome. "A couple of shots here today and I could have been in the quarterfinal of a very slow claycourt tournament. That's a positive to think about in a few hours after I do some damage to my bag or something. It's definitely something I'll think about tomorrow and the next day and into the French Open."

No. 16 seed David Ferrer was another low seed through to the quarterfinals, advancing easily past confidence-challenged Spanish countryman and former No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-2, 6-4.

"It was a difficult match even if the result doesn't show it," Ferrer said. "There were a lot of long rallies with Ferrero."

Ferrer will next face another countryman in No. 8 seed Tommy Robredo, who moved into the quarters with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu.

Other seeds into the quarters Thursday were (4) Nikolay Davydenko (d. (13) Nieminen) and (15) Radek Stepanek (d. Soderling).

Three unseeded players will make up eight of the Friday quarterfinal contestants after wins by Max "The Beast" Mirnyi (d. (Q) Simon), Argentine Jose Acasuso (d. Grosjean), and Spaniard Fernando "Hot Sauce" Verdasco (d. (7) Gonzalez from a set down).

Friday's quarterfinal match-ups in Hamburg are Mirnyi vs. (15) Stepanek, Verdasco vs. Acasuso, (4) Davydenko vs. (12) Ancic, and the all-Spanish in (16) Ferrer vs. (8) Robredo.