American second seed James Blake suffered a shock defeat at the San Jose Open when he lost 6-7 7-6 6-4 to world number 103 Ivo Karlovic of Croatia.
American James Blake suffers shock defeat at the hands of Ivo Karlovic in the second round
SAN JOSE: American second seed James Blake suffered a shock defeat at the San Jose Open when he lost 6-7 7-6 6-4 to world number 103 Ivo Karlovic of Croatia in the second round on Thursday.
Top seed Andy Roddick and number four Marat Safin came through tight encounters to reach the quarter-finals, but Blake was upended by the tallest player on the ATP Tour.
World number six Blake served for the match at 5-3 in the second set and squandered four match points in the tiebreak before going down after two hours and six minutes. Karlovic, who hammered 29 aces, smashed a forehand return for a winner on his third match point to set up a quarter-final against another American, fifth seed Mardy Fish.
Meanwhile, Roddick was out-aced 20-11 by wildcard Sam Querrey but one break in the first set and a solid tiebreak in the second took him to a 6-4 7-6 victory. The 2004 and 2005 champion trailed 0-30 on his serve at 5-6 in the second set but held firm and now plays another American, eighth seed Vince Spadea.
Fourth seed Safin came through a tough test against world number 93 Yen-Hsun Lu of Taiwan before advancing 6-4 5-7 6-4 in just over two hours. In the last eight, the Russian will play German Benjamin Becker, a 7-6 1-6 6-3 victor over compatriot Bjorn Phau.
“I feel a lot better than after my first match,” Safin said. “I didn’t really serve very well on Friday but he got a bit tight at the end and I managed to get through so it’s OK.”
Fifth seed Fish recovered from a slow start to beat fellow American Sam Warburg 2-6 6-4 6-2. The world number 25, a quarter-finalist at the Australian Open last month, said he was beginning to enjoy the fruits of his work in the off-season, when he reconstructed his forehand with his coach Todd Martin.
“We hit a million forehands,” Fish said. “Todd was even giving me the balls by hand at first. It was repetitive and annoying but it worked. Now I feel like my forehand is not a weakness anymore. It is still a work in progress but we are way ahead of where we thought we would be.”
Spadea, at 32 the oldest player in the draw, edged out Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 4-6 7-5 7-6. Seventh seed Lee Hyung-taik will take on defending champion Andy Murray after the South Korean recorded a 6-2 7-6 win over German Simon Greul.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}