Blake, Ancic Early Exits at ATP Madrid
Posted on October 19, 2006American James Blake and Croatian Mario "Baby Goran" Ancic, two players vying for Elite Eight spots at the year-end ATP Masters Cup, doused water on their own fires Wednesday with second-round losses at the Masters Series-Madrid.
The No. 8-seeded Blake visually tightened up in the important moments of a third-set tiebreak loss to unseeded Belgian Kristof Vliegen, while the No. 12-seeded Ancic also had the tiebreak prove his undoing, losing two straight to unseeded American Robby Ginepri.
Blake said his problems were in not having the opportunity to properly prepare for the altitude and slick courts.
"It's tough. The altitude here, obviously the preparation isn't perfect," said Blake who came to Madrid straight from winning the Stockholm title. "It's kind of a fine line between having a lot of confidence and having a lot of matches, as opposed to being prepared better, being here for longer, getting used to the courts, getting used to the altitude, just kind of being ready...The third set I had my chances. I can't really blame the lack of preparation on that. When you have your chances, you've got to take advantage. When you're serving at 6-5, you really should win the match. Kristof played a solid game there, and I made some mistakes."
Blake has repeatedly said qualifying for the Masters Cup was not his goal, but the American has made an about-face after an early loss with the prospect of being overtaken at the No. 6 spot in the 2006-year-only standings -- with Tommy Robredo only 15 points behind him, and David Nalbandian 28 points behind, both still alive in Madrid.
"It depends how the rest of the guys do this week," Blake said. "That's kind of frustrating to me to just be on the sidelines watching as opposed to me being the active participant. It's always tougher watching, for me I get much more nervous watching tennis matches than I do playing them. When I used to watch my brother all the time, my nails would be destroyed from biting them...I know Paris [the last week of the regular season] is going to be important no matter what."
Other upset victims Wednesday were No. 3 Ivan Ljubicic, ousted 6-3 in the third by Andy Murray; No. 5 Nikolay Davydenko, served off the court 6-3 in the third by back-from-injury Swede Joachim Johansson; No. 9 Marcos Baghdatis beaten in straight sets by unseeded former No. 1 Marat Safin; and No. 16 Juan Carlos Ferrero straight-setted by Swede Robin Soderling.
"[Ljubicic is] probably, behind Federer, the second best indoor player in the world. To win against a guy who is No. 3 in the world is still a huge win for me," Murray said. "The guy has won a lot of indoor tournaments in the last few years. When he's No. 3 in the world, it's always very exciting for me...I did return well. My volleying was the best part, the thing that I enjoyed doing the most today. Something that maybe a lot of people might not think I do so well, because I'm not used to coming to the net that much."
Wednesday's match-up between world No. 2 Rafael Nadal and American qualifier Mardy Fish had transparent strategies from the start: Nadal trying to up his return game and picking on the weaker Fish forehand during rallies, and Fish trying to serve the Spaniard off the court, going for it on Nadal's serve.
Nadal came out the victor 6-4, 6-2 with a break late in the first set, and a break right off the bat in the second after a Fish key double fault, with the American trying to compete too much with the Spaniard from the baseline rather than rushing the net.
"Winning in Spain is always something special for me," Nadal said. "It is a very special sensation."
Other seeded winners Wednesday were (10) Fernando Gonzalez (d. Srichaphan in three), (11) Tomas Berdych (d. Calleri), (13) Tommy Haas (d. Hrbaty), and (15) Novak Djokovic (d. Gasquet 6-1 in the third).
On court Thursday are (1) Federer vs. Soderling, (6) Roddick vs. (11) Berdych, (4) Nalbandian vs. (WC) Henman, Ginepri vs. (7) Robredo, Safin vs. Vliegen, (13) Haas vs. (2) Nadal, (15) Djokovic vs. Murray, and Joachim "The Jackhammer" Johansson vs. (10) Fernando "Gonzo" Gonzalez.
The No. 8-seeded Blake visually tightened up in the important moments of a third-set tiebreak loss to unseeded Belgian Kristof Vliegen, while the No. 12-seeded Ancic also had the tiebreak prove his undoing, losing two straight to unseeded American Robby Ginepri.
Blake said his problems were in not having the opportunity to properly prepare for the altitude and slick courts.
"It's tough. The altitude here, obviously the preparation isn't perfect," said Blake who came to Madrid straight from winning the Stockholm title. "It's kind of a fine line between having a lot of confidence and having a lot of matches, as opposed to being prepared better, being here for longer, getting used to the courts, getting used to the altitude, just kind of being ready...The third set I had my chances. I can't really blame the lack of preparation on that. When you have your chances, you've got to take advantage. When you're serving at 6-5, you really should win the match. Kristof played a solid game there, and I made some mistakes."
Blake has repeatedly said qualifying for the Masters Cup was not his goal, but the American has made an about-face after an early loss with the prospect of being overtaken at the No. 6 spot in the 2006-year-only standings -- with Tommy Robredo only 15 points behind him, and David Nalbandian 28 points behind, both still alive in Madrid.
"It depends how the rest of the guys do this week," Blake said. "That's kind of frustrating to me to just be on the sidelines watching as opposed to me being the active participant. It's always tougher watching, for me I get much more nervous watching tennis matches than I do playing them. When I used to watch my brother all the time, my nails would be destroyed from biting them...I know Paris [the last week of the regular season] is going to be important no matter what."
Other upset victims Wednesday were No. 3 Ivan Ljubicic, ousted 6-3 in the third by Andy Murray; No. 5 Nikolay Davydenko, served off the court 6-3 in the third by back-from-injury Swede Joachim Johansson; No. 9 Marcos Baghdatis beaten in straight sets by unseeded former No. 1 Marat Safin; and No. 16 Juan Carlos Ferrero straight-setted by Swede Robin Soderling.
"[Ljubicic is] probably, behind Federer, the second best indoor player in the world. To win against a guy who is No. 3 in the world is still a huge win for me," Murray said. "The guy has won a lot of indoor tournaments in the last few years. When he's No. 3 in the world, it's always very exciting for me...I did return well. My volleying was the best part, the thing that I enjoyed doing the most today. Something that maybe a lot of people might not think I do so well, because I'm not used to coming to the net that much."
Wednesday's match-up between world No. 2 Rafael Nadal and American qualifier Mardy Fish had transparent strategies from the start: Nadal trying to up his return game and picking on the weaker Fish forehand during rallies, and Fish trying to serve the Spaniard off the court, going for it on Nadal's serve.
Nadal came out the victor 6-4, 6-2 with a break late in the first set, and a break right off the bat in the second after a Fish key double fault, with the American trying to compete too much with the Spaniard from the baseline rather than rushing the net.
"Winning in Spain is always something special for me," Nadal said. "It is a very special sensation."
Other seeded winners Wednesday were (10) Fernando Gonzalez (d. Srichaphan in three), (11) Tomas Berdych (d. Calleri), (13) Tommy Haas (d. Hrbaty), and (15) Novak Djokovic (d. Gasquet 6-1 in the third).
On court Thursday are (1) Federer vs. Soderling, (6) Roddick vs. (11) Berdych, (4) Nalbandian vs. (WC) Henman, Ginepri vs. (7) Robredo, Safin vs. Vliegen, (13) Haas vs. (2) Nadal, (15) Djokovic vs. Murray, and Joachim "The Jackhammer" Johansson vs. (10) Fernando "Gonzo" Gonzalez.