Blake outlasts Donald Young in 5-set match
NEW YORK — It was at last year's U.S. Open that James Blake finally won a five-set match.
Maybe now he's starting to get the hang of it.
The No. 9 seed had to work past midnight to beat 19-year-old fellow American Donald Young in the first round this year. By the time the 2-hour, 48-minute match had ended, it was Tuesday morning, and Blake had a 6-1, 3-6, 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 victory.
"I said earlier my experience may help a little, and that definitely may have been the difference on one or two points in the match," said Blake, wearing a Mets jersey and cap.
Earlier, Rafael Nadal played for the first time as the world No. 1. Admittedly tired after winning Olympic gold just over a week before, Nadal swatted his very first shot wide against No. 136 Bjorn Phau. The Wimbledon and French Open champ was two points from dropping the first set when he surged and, despite needing to bandage a nasty blister, won 7-6 (4), 6-3, 7-6 (4).
The Olympic women's champ, Elena Dementieva of Russia, conceded that she too was still recovering from her emotional victory.
Dementieva took the final four games to defeat Akgul Amanmuradova 6-4, 7-5 in her first-round match. The No. 5 seed was glad to win quickly and give her mind and body a break.
"Right now it's a matter of how fresh I can stay for this tournament," she said. "Just want to take some rest and make sure that I don't practice as much as I did in Beijing. I need to save some energy for this tournament."
Former champs Lindsay Davenport and Svetlana Kuznetsova also opened with straight-sets victories. Many of the stars like to hurry through the first round — it takes seven wins for the title, and any rest is welcome.
Nadal got a stiffer test from the German qualifier than many anticipated, and shook his head near the end of a match that lasted nearly 3 hours.
"I play (with) a little bit less intensity than the last few months, for sure," Nadal said.
Tenth-seeded Anna Chakvetadze was the top player to lose, beaten by Ekateria Makarova 1-6, 6-2, 6-3 in a matchup of Russian women.
Roger Federer, bidding for his fifth straight U.S. Open title, was scheduled to begin today, as were No. 1 Ana Ivanovic and the Williams sisters.
The final Grand Slam event of the season figured to be a scramble on both sides.
Nadal seems like the natural favorite, yet has never gone beyond the quarterfinals in five previous tries at Flushing Meadows. The 22-year-old Spanish dynamo took a while to find his rhythm against Phau, whose spirited play made him a crowd favorite.
The Open set a first-day record Monday with a total of 59,124 fans.
In the night's last match, the fans got behind Young, the former No. 1 junior player in the world. Young came back from down a break to win the fourth set. Serving with the final set tied 4-4, he seemed to have the momentum, earlier having fought off a break point with a broken racket string.
But Blake took control after he successfully challenged to take a point away from Young at the start of the game. Blake went on to break Young to go up 5-4, then served out the match. He successfully challenged again in the last game to reach triple match point.
