James Blake upsets Marcel Granollers to reach round three – US Open 2012
Formerly ranked fourth in the world, James Blake of USA surprised the 24th seed, Marcel Granollers, in a one-sided second round match at the US Open on Thursday.
The American rolled back the years, as he kept the upper hand on his younger and higher ranked rival throughout the contest. The 32-year-old dropped a total of just seven games throughout the encounter, downing the Spaniard in
straight sets 6-1, 6-4, 6-2.
It took Blake one hour and 37 minutes to throw Granollers out of the final Grand Slam of the season.
The American came roaring in the match, winning opening three games to build a 3-0 lead. Granollers succeeded in holding his serve in the fourth but lost three on a trot after that to go down 1-6.
Second was the most competitive of all, as both players held their serve in the first half to square off the score at 3-3. Blake hit a blow to the Spanish player in the seventh to move ahead 4-3 and capitalised on that to triumph
6-4.
First four games of the third set went with serves, levelling the proceedings at 2-2. Blake completely dominated later on, winning four back to back to close it 6-2.
The current world number 114 is a two time former quarter-finalist at the Flushing Meadows. Blake went down against the then world number seven, Andre Agassi, at the last-eight stage in 2005 and Roger Federer in the following year.
However, he was beaten by Spain’s David Ferrer in straight sets 4-6, 3-6, 4-6 in the second round in 2011.
Blake was happy to be back in form after a gap of so many years. During the post match press conference, he said, "Today's match was one of the best matches I played in years I think. I served really well... I don't go through
matches like that that often, especially against a guy that's 20 something in the world that's known to be a pretty darn good returner and very solid."
Talking about his very good friend and compatriot, Andy Roddick, who announced that he would retire after his US Open campaign, Blake added, "I saw the press conference just before I came out here. I had a feeling, thought it might
be, because he's someone who puts heart and soul into every match. It gets tougher as you get older, and I don't think he could keep doing it the same way.”
Blake will now take on the Canadian rising star, Milos Raonic, in the third round.
Tags: