Blake Holds Strong to Capture 350th Career Match Win at Atlanta Open
James Blake defeated the number six seeded Ryan Harrison at the BB&T Atlanta Open 1-6, 6-3, 7-5. Blake is now 32-years-old and just came off knee surgery and entered this match with a sore right shoulder. This is Blake’s 350th overall ATP Tour match win which he took in two and one half hours after a rain delay. Harrison will now join Donald Young as a fellow U.S. Olympian to lose a first round match. John Isner and Andy Roddick are the only two remaining competitors in the tournament who will be competing for the U.S. in the 2012 London Olympics.
”My knee hasn’t been that far off, but it’s been far enough off that it’s affected me,” Blake said. ”When that starts getting better, my shoulder starts giving me problems, and it makes me realize I’m not 20, like Ryan, anymore.”
Isner and the defending champion of two times, Mardy Fish, will play their first-round matches this coming Thursday. Blake has had a tough few months after surgery this past November to remove a part of his patella tendon. He was able to regroup his footwork and power through his net plays to be victorious over Harrison.
”I need to be moving forward, I need to be aggressive, I need to be getting to the net,” Blake said. ”Even if I’m not hitting a volley, if the approach shot is the winner, I need to be moving forward.”
Next up for Blake is Austrian Matthew Ebden, a 5-7, 6-1, 6-1 winner over Sergei Bubka of the Ukraine.
