NEW YORK -- This time, it was a man named Haas who slipped away from James Blake in another beguiling, and often bewildering, U.S. Open encounter.
Two years ago, it was Andre Agassi who escaped under the late-night lights in the quarterfinals. Monday, on a brilliant Labor Day afternoon in New York, Tommy Haas did the same in the fourth round.
But for Blake, there was one key difference in the two fifth-set tiebreaker losses. Unlike in the Agassi match, Blake had three match points against Haas before exiting.
They came in the 10th game of the fifth set. Haas saved the first with a big serve wide and a forehand winner, and fought off the other two with service winners.
The 10th-seeded Haas defeated No. 6 Blake, 4-6, 6-4, 3-6, 6-0, 7-6 (4), in 3 hours 17 minutes, and will play No. 4 Nikolay Davydenko in the quarterfinals. He won it with an ace but had to wait for the replay system to confirm the call after Blake challenged it. Haas challenged one point earlier, on his first match point; Blake's passing shot, called in, was shown to have clipped the baseline.
Victory delayed was fitting in a match full of momentum switches.
Also moving on, in much quicker fashion, was No. 5 Andy Roddick, who advanced when No. 9 Tomas Berdych retired with Roddick leading, 7-6 (6), 2-0. Berdych quit under somewhat curious conditions; he said he did not feel well but couldn't really explain what was truly wrong with him.
That makes two consecutive opponents who have failed to finish against Roddick because of illness or injury. In the quarterfinals Roddick will play top-seeded Roger Federer, who has had to deal with his opponents the old-fashioned way -- by actually completing matches.
On Monday night he looked sluggish early on against a tricky, hard-serving left-hander, Feliciano Lopez, before turning on the afterburners late in the second set. The three-time defending champion beat Lopez, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-4, in 2 hours, committing one unforced error in the second set and putting on a magnificent serving performance in the final two sets.
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Two years ago, it was Andre Agassi who escaped under the late-night lights in the quarterfinals. Monday, on a brilliant Labor Day afternoon in New York, Tommy Haas did the same in the fourth round.
But for Blake, there was one key difference in the two fifth-set tiebreaker losses. Unlike in the Agassi match, Blake had three match points against Haas before exiting.
They came in the 10th game of the fifth set. Haas saved the first with a big serve wide and a forehand winner, and fought off the other two with service winners.
The 10th-seeded Haas defeated No. 6 Blake, 4-6, 6-4, 3-6, 6-0, 7-6 (4), in 3 hours 17 minutes, and will play No. 4 Nikolay Davydenko in the quarterfinals. He won it with an ace but had to wait for the replay system to confirm the call after Blake challenged it. Haas challenged one point earlier, on his first match point; Blake's passing shot, called in, was shown to have clipped the baseline.
Victory delayed was fitting in a match full of momentum switches.
Also moving on, in much quicker fashion, was No. 5 Andy Roddick, who advanced when No. 9 Tomas Berdych retired with Roddick leading, 7-6 (6), 2-0. Berdych quit under somewhat curious conditions; he said he did not feel well but couldn't really explain what was truly wrong with him.
That makes two consecutive opponents who have failed to finish against Roddick because of illness or injury. In the quarterfinals Roddick will play top-seeded Roger Federer, who has had to deal with his opponents the old-fashioned way -- by actually completing matches.
On Monday night he looked sluggish early on against a tricky, hard-serving left-hander, Feliciano Lopez, before turning on the afterburners late in the second set. The three-time defending champion beat Lopez, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-4, in 2 hours, committing one unforced error in the second set and putting on a magnificent serving performance in the final two sets.
Discuss Add this link to... Bury
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