Sport | Tennis
Blake takes little time to hit rhythm after two-month layoff
Wildcard shows no sign of knee injury to advance in LA open
- Reuters
- Published: 00:00 July 29, 2010
- Image Credit: AFP
- James Blake serves to Leonardo Mayer of Argentina during the Farmers Classic at the Los Angeles Tennis Centre in Los Angeles on Tuesday.
Los Angeles: American wildcard James Blake was all smiles after winning his first match since March with a crushing 6-1 6-4 demolition of Argentina's Leonardo Mayer at the LA Open on Tuesday.
Sidelined for two months with an injured right knee before returning to the ATP Tour in June, Blake broke Mayer three times before wrapping up victory in just over an hour.
The 30-year-old fired seven aces and saved all five break points on his own serve to ease into the second round. "I'm really happy with the way I played," he told reporters after winning for the first time since the opening round of the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami.
"I went into the match with the goal of just controlling my side of the court and playing with the right kind of energy.
‘Feeling healthy'
"I'm back to feeling healthy and I want to just play that way without the huge expectations or anything, just playing my game," added Blake, who missed the entire claycourt season because of his injury.
In other matches, American Robby Ginepri brushed aside Serbian Ilija Bozoljac 6-3 6-4, Colombian Alejandro Falla beat Slovakia's Karol Beck 7-6 6-4 and US wildcard Ryan Sweeting scraped past Belgian Kristof Vliegen 2-6 6-3 6-4.
British world number four Andy Murray is the top seed for this week's $619,500 (Dh2.27 million) event and is scheduled to play his opening match today against American qualifier Tim Smyczek, a 6-2 6-3 winner against Russian Teimuraz Gabashvili.
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