Haas doubles up at SAP
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Tommy Haas won twice Monday at the SAP Open.
Haas knocked off Lars Poerschke, 6-1, 7-6 (8) in the first round, then stayed to play Pete Sampras in an exhibition match when James Blake was forced to withdraw due to back spasms.
Need the scores from any match played in this or any other tournament? "Tommy saved the day," Sampras said.
Tournament officials were scrambling when Blake informed them of his withdrawal less than 15 minutes before the scheduled start.
"Ten minutes after my match I saw James was struggling a little bit," Haas said. "Then Pete asked me and I said sure, why not? A lot of people came to see Pete tonight, and not who he played. It was fun. Pete still has an unbelievable serve."
Haas won the match, 6-7 (4), 6-4, 12-10.
Blake played a doubles match earlier in the day with Mardy Fish and is scheduled to play Vincent Spadea on Wednesday night.
"Maybe it will be all right to get through that," Blake said. "It was pretty painful just doing the little things during my doubles match. Right now it's not feeling great, but hopefully a good night's sleep will pay off."
Haas has struggled with his share of problems. The former world No. 2 player has suffered through elbow and shoulder injuries and missed more than half of last season. He last reached a final when he beat Andy Roddick on Feb. 25, 2007 in Memphis.
"I can't complain," he said. "I'm not getting younger and I have to take more care of my body; be smart about things and hope my body holds up. I still enjoy tennis."
Haas, with 11 career titles, was ranked ninth when he beat Roddick and sank as low as 87th by the end of 2008. He's currently ranked 65th.
"I'm done with rankings," Haas said. "If I'm five, 15 or 50, I don't care any more."
Taylor Dent feels his game is close to where it used to be after a first-round victory.
"I can still make big gains in movement," Dent said after beating Bobby Reynolds 6-3, 6-4. "The rest of my game is very close."
Dent has played a handful of tournaments since returning to the tour last summer following back surgery. He lost his first-round match at the Australian Open in five sets to Amer Delic, an encouraging sign.
"I saw I was playing good tennis," he said. "A loss also opens your eyes to your weaknesses."
In other first-round action, fourth-seeded Radek Stepanek needed three sets to beat qualifier Dominik Meffert, 5-7, 6-3, 6-1; Christophe Rochus upset seventh-seeded Igor Kunitsyn, 6-2, 7-6 (7); Kei Nishikori topped Giles Muller, 7-5, 6-2; and Florent Serra bested Jarkko Nieminen, 7-5, 6-7 (1), 6-4.
Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press
