Blake recovers from slow start
OEIRAS, Portugal -- James Blake recovered from a poor start to defeat Frederico Gil 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 Wednesday in the first round of the Estoril Open.
Need the scores from any match played in today's tournaments? Second-seeded Nikolay Davydenko reached the quarterfinals with a 7-5, 6-2 win over Juan Carlos Ferrero.
Blake struggled with his serve in the first set, while Gil won three of his service games at love and broke the American in the 11th game.
Blake improved in the second, but had to save a break point in the fifth game and looked uncomfortable in long baseline rallies. In the third, Blake broke the 68th-ranked Gil in the second game and withstood three break points chances in the next game.
"It was very tough," said the 16th-ranked Blake. "I just hung in, I've got a lot of experience, and things started going my way."
Davydenko, the 2003 champion and a two-time runner-up at the outdoor clay-court event, broke the Spaniard in the ninth game of the first set and cruised to victory in the second.
Davydenko, who reached the semifinals of the Barcelona Open last month, will meet sixth-seeded Mardy Fish in the next round. The American rallied to beat Ivan Navarro 2-6, 6-1, 6-4.
Oscar Hernandez upset third-seeded David Ferrer 6-2, 6-4.
In another first-round match, Fabio Fognini eliminated Gaston Gaudio 6-3, 6-4.
In second-round action, Paul Capdeville advanced after rallying to beat Maximo Gonzalez 2-6, 6-2, 6-3.
In the women's second round, Jarmila Groth upset top-seeded Iveta Benesova 7-5, 6-4, while third-seeded Sorana Cirstea advanced with a 7-5, 6-2 win over Maret Ani. Sabrine Lisicki defeated Elena Bovina 6-4, 7-5.
Shahar Peer defeated Barbora Zahlavova Strycova 6-4, 6-1, while Anna-Lena Groenefeld stopped Kristina Barrois 6-4, 6-4.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
