Tennis

Blake rallies, Agassi is up next

Tampa's James Blake continues his historic run at the U.S. Open.

By wire services
Published September 6, 2005

NEW YORK - James Blake listened intently to the news that he had just become the first African-American man since Rodney Harmon in 1982 to make the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open, and then confessed, a bit sheepishly, "Really? I didn't know that."

He smiled. Not as broadly as he had after coming from behind to defeat Spain's Tommy Robredo 4-6, 7-5, 6-2, 6-3 Monday. But there was no mistaking the ethnic pride.

On Wednesday, and undoubtedly in a made-for-television night match against his childhood idol, Andre Agassi, Blake cannot only become the first African-American man to reach the Open semifinals but bring himself close to transcending tennis and becoming something of an American sports icon.

His personality is that scintillating, his history that compelling.

Born in Yonkers, educated for two years at Harvard, an African-American man succeeding in what has been for too long a white sport in the United States. And then the travails of 2004, when he cracked a vertebrae in a collision with a net pole, the virus that damaged his vision for months and the death of his father.

Agassi, who earlier beat Xavier Malisse 6-3, 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 4-6, 6-2 to reach the quarterfinals, seemed to sum up Blake, who lives in Tampa just around the corner from former San Francisco 49ers owner Eddie DeBartolo.

"Listen, James is an easy guy to like and he's an easy guy to root for," said Agassi, who is the oldest Open men's quarterfinalist since Jimmy Connors' legendary run at 39 to the semifinals in 1991. "If he's getting the better of me, if we happen to play, you know I couldn't wish it for a better person."

American fan favorite Robby Ginepri outlasted No. 13 Richard Gasquet 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (10-8), 6-4, 6-0 to advance to face No.8 Guillermo Coria.

The women, meanwhile, got down to the final eight with Mary Pierce scoring a 6-3, 6-4 win over No.7 Justine Henin-Hardenne, who had dominated her in the French Open final.

"It's always nice to win against someone you haven't beaten before. I know Justine has been struggling lately," Pierce said.

Pierce plays another Frenchwoman, third-seeded Amelie Mauresmo, in the quarters. Mauresmo has won their past four meetings, including two this year.

No.2 Lindsay Davenport roared through her fourth straight opponent, Nathalie Dechy 6-0, 6-3; No.3 Mauresmo was a 6-1, 6-4 winner over No.19 Elena Likhovtseva; and last year's runnerup, Elena Dementieva, the No.6 seed, beat No.11 Patty Schnyder 6-4, 6-3.

For Davenport, it was another step toward her fourth Grand Slam championship and her first since the 2000 Australian Open. She next plays Dementieva, over whom she holds a 9-1 record on hardcourts.

For most of the first two sets, Blake produced none of the ground-stroking consistency that lifted him through the first week. Then, with Robredo two points from a two-set lead, everything clicked and Blake's quick-footed opponent threw in a couple of double faults.

"Until that point, I really felt flat-footed. I don't know what it was. I guess it could have been a letdown after having such a big win two days earlier," Blake, 25, said of his victory against No.2 Rafael Nadal. "I was getting almost to the ball and then just kind of blocking it, not making the extra adjustments that you have to make.

"I started moving my feet once he felt the nerves. I started going after my shots. I said, "I have to do this. I'm not going to win otherwise. He's not going to keep getting tight."'

Asked what he would have thought last year with all of his troubles if told he would be playing Agassi in the quarters this year, Blake laughed: "I don't think I would have been able to speak. I think my year would have gotten worse, because I would have had a heart attack.

"I want everybody to tune in. People who are tennis fans and people who aren't tennis fans, and we'll give them a good show and do it the right way."

The Agassi-Malisse plot thickened after Malisse hit three consecutive winners, an overhead and two backhands, to close out the third-set tiebreaker to prevent Agassi's straight-sets sweep.

Agassi looked to be in deep trouble after Malisse stormed through the fourth set.

"The standard he set in the third and fourth was really high," Agassi said. "I needed to answer that. I did in the fifth."

Agassi took more risks with his serve and converted 16 of 19 into points in the three-hour, five-set match.

Age and a balky back aside, Agassi suddenly is looking like a serious contender to go at least as far as Connors did in '91. At No.7, he's the highest seed in the bottom half of the draw.

"Even a blind dog can find a bone every now and then," Agassi joked.

His trainer and close friend, Gil Reyes, said they worked hard on Agassi's leg strength in the summer. The trick is to keep Agassi healthy enough to play best-of-five matches every other day.

"We will do whatever we need to do to have him ready," Reyes said. "I asked him just a little while ago, "At 35, what are we going to do?' And he said, "I don't know, I've never been 35 before."'

First-week attendance of 392,672 topped the 2003 record of 381,891.

[Last modified September 6, 2005, 03:15:21]