Blake Shows Clay Chops, Womens Blowouts at French Open

Posted on June 3, 2006

Blake Pounds Clay Specialist Almagro at French Open

No. 8-seeded American James Blake revealed a fearsome contender as a pretender Friday at the French Open, defeating Spanish break-out player Nicolas Almagro 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-4, 6-4 in a rain-delayed match continued from Thursday.

"I have to prove Brad Gilbert right. He said there's going to be an American in the second week," Blake said. "I got to make sure he's not wrong for the first time ever. I'm doing my best. It's an interesting role 'cause, you know, Andy has played that role for so long, for the last few years. We've had Andre kind of holding down the fort, as well."

Blake will have a chance to prove himself again as he has to turn around and face local favorite Gael Monfils Saturday.

Also into the third round in matches formerly hampered by wet weather were (2) Rafael Nadal (d. K.Kim), (15) David Ferrer (d. Chardy in four), and Argentine Juan Monaco upsetting (28) Fernando Verdasco in four sets.

Top-seeded Roger Federer (d. (32) Massu in four) led the third-round winners, joined by (3) David Nalbandian (d. (31) Tursunov in five), and (6) Nikolay Davydenko (d. (30) Moya).

"I was playing very well," Federer said. "I was very happy the way I was playing: aggressive and serving well, really dominating from the baseline. I didn't play a good game, you know, to close him out in the third set serving at 6-5. It was a pity. So obviously he had the momentum after the break, tiebreaker. It was not easy. He was starting to really not miss much and playing aggressive with his forehand. He was playing very far behind the baseline, and that he was not doing in the beginning. It was right during that period of time where I had to do the adjustment."

Highlights Saturday are (2) Nadal vs. (29) Mathieu, (8) Blake vs. (25) Gael "Force" Monfils, (11) Stepanek vs. Julien "United Colors of" Benneteau, (4) Ljubicic vs. Juan "The Principality" Monaco, (14) Hewitt vs. Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty, (23) Haas vs. Djokovic, an all-Spanish in (15) Ferrer vs. Ramirez Hidalgo, (27) Olivier "The Roach" Rochus vs. A.Martin, and in doubles (3) Knowles/Nestor vs. Slovaks The Dominator/Mertinak.

Womens Seeds Rack-Up 6-0 Scores Friday at French Open

The seeds displayed the difference between the upper and lower echelon of players on the WTA Tour Friday at the French Open, with six seeded players baking bagels in second- and third-round matches.

Baking on the red clay were (2) Kim Clijsters (d. Martinez Granados 6-0 in the first), (4) Maria Sharapova (d. Molik, bagel in the first), (6) Elena Dementieva (d. Kutuzova in three, bagel in the second), (7) Patty Schnyder (d. Vakulenko, bagel in the third), (16) Nicole Vaidisova (d. Rezai, bagel in the third), and (26) Anabel Medina Garrigues (d. Kanepi, bagel in the third).

"I ended well, so that's important," Clijsters said. "I think I was going for my shots too early in the rally. Just not patient enough. I just wasn't making the right decisions at the right time in those few games. Luckily enough, when I was down, I broke back and got my game back to where it should be."

Top-seeded Amelie Mauresmo (d. Jankovic) led the non-bagel-baking winners, joined by (8) Svetlana Kuznetsova (d. Li), (9) Francesca Schiavone (d. (17) Pennetta from a set down), (11) Venus Williams (d. Sprem), (12) Martina Hingis (d. Ondraskova), (13) Anna-Lena Groenefeld (d. Jackson 6-1 in the third), and (14) Dinara Safina (d. (24) Srebotnik).

In the only all-unseeded match, Ivana Lisjak straight-setted Jie Zheng.

Highlights Saturday are (2) Clijsters vs. (26) Anabel "Funky Cold" Medina Garrigues, (5) Henin-Hardenne vs. Garbin, (6) Dementieva vs. (31) Peer, (10) Myskina vs. (19) Ivanovic, (12) Hingis vs. Lisjak, (13) Groenefeld vs. (20) Kirilenko, (15) Hantuchova vs. (21) Dechy, (32) Dulko vs. Perry, and in doubles (8) Ruano Pascual/Suarez vs. Russians Chakvetadze/Vesnina, and (7) Huber/M.Navratilova vs. the Ukraine's A.Bondarenko/Fedak.

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TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
NBC comes on at noon EST Saturday, with the plan to show James Blake vs. Gael "Force" Monfils, possibly live depending on the timing, with some Rafael Nadal vs. Paul-Henri Mathieu coverage also planned...From the AP: "Kim Clijsters is the reigning US Open champion, is ranked No. 2 in the world, is still winning matches in under an hour, and is all of 22 years old. Yet she still plans to quit after next season. The Belgian confirmed Friday at the French Open what she announced last year -- that she intends to retire in 2007 because of the serious nature of the injuries she'd endured, including a bad left wrist that kept her off the court for most of 2004, and assorted ankle, knee and back problems, too. "My main decision is just that I want to still be able to be healthy when I'm older," Clijsters said after a 6-0, 6-3 victory over Conchita Martinez Granados in the second round at Roland Garros that took 55 minutes. "I don't want to be having injuries that cause me to not be able to do all the things that I want to do when I stop playing tennis," she added. "That's why I felt that in the last year and a half, my injuries have been restricting me from the game of tennis that I want to play and the level that I used to play."...Rafael Nadal blogging for the ATP website: "On top of that I also had to do a promotion for the ATP Magazine DEUCE, where I took a photo with Kim Clijsters. I really like Kim a lot, she is very nice and she makes fun of me with my English -- in a nice way. So when they asked me to take a picture with a WTA player I suggested Kim because she is really, really nice."