NEW YORK -- James Blake won the marquee match Wednesday night in Arthur Ashe Stadium, but a better story was being played out in the anonymity of the nearby grandstand.

	Amer Delic of Jacksonville, Fla., fled from Bosnia.

Sure, Blake is an African-American who learned the game in Harlem and has become famous around the world for his stylish, well-mannered game. But consider, if you will, Amer Delic, a 21-year-old from Jacksonville, Fla., via Bosnia.

In his first Grand Slam match ever, Delic held a match point against Sargis Sargsian, but ultimately succumbed in a rousing five-set match 4-6, 6-3, 6-7 (2), 6-2, 7-5 that had the modest but raucous crowd chanting throughout.

How tough can a tiebreaker be, really, when you faced bullets and grenades growing up in war-ravaged Bosnia?

Not very, it turns out.

Coming into this U.S. Open, Delic's ATP ranking of No. 525 was better than only one other player, No. 802 Robert Yim. Delic, who received a wild-card berth from the USTA, is also the reigning NCAA singles champion. Technically, he is still an amateur and currently plans to attend his senior year at the University of Illinois. A win against Sargsian -- along with the 35 ranking points and attention it would have generated -- might have pushed Delic closer to the professional ranks.

"I know I can do this," Delic said afterward. "I was kind of thinking about it (toward the end of the match). Maybe I shouldn't have. It would have been cool. I'll do it the hard way, I guess."

Now it will be Sargsian who will oppose Blake in a second-round match. Blake dispatched Mariano Zabaleta 7-6 (4), 6-3, 6-2.

The 6-foot-5, 200-pound Delic has an expansive game built for the U.S. Open. He has a big forehand and a bigger serve. He bombed 18 aces against Sargsian, but mental lapses cost him.

Delic was serving for the match at 5-4 in the fifth set and actually held a match point against Sargsian that prompted the Armenian to break his racket in half by pounding it into the baseline. But with the match in his hands, Delic hit an unforced backhand into the net. After he stroked a laser down the line, Delic thought he had another match point, but the ball that appeared to clip the line was called out.

Delic was stunned when, several seconds later, he learned that was not the case. "I thought it was clearly in," Delic said. "I'm thinking with the second (match point), I'm going to do a better job. It was (pivotal), but there were other points."

Delic appealed to the chair umpire and you got the idea that, mentally, he might be drifting away. A loose forehand gave Sargsian the game. He went on to hold at 6-5 and break Delic in the final game when a laconic backhand inevitably sailed long.

The journey from Bosnia to the National Tennis Center was circuitous, to say the least.

Delic grew up in the city of Tuzla in the former Yugoslavia, where ethnic warfare began in 1992. In the spring of 1995, two grenades killed 79 people, a tragedy that prompted Muharem and Sadina Delic to move their family, which included Amer's older sister, Lejla. Leaving nearly all their relatives behind, the family fled Bosnia a year later and settled in northern Florida. Amer was one month short of his 14th birthday.

Initially, tennis was not a priority. Delic had first picked up a wooden racket as a 5-year-old, but he lost his first tournament in the United States when his racket strings broke in the final and he had no replacement.

At Wolfson High School, he won 45 of 47 matches and accepted a scholarship at Illinois. As a junior this year, Delic led the Fighting Illini to a 32-0 record and the school's first NCAA tennis title. He was the No. 3 seed, but defeated Baylor's Benedikt Dorsch in the final.

Since then, Delic has dabbled in the professional game. He won his first professional title in Peoria in July, then made his ATP debut in Indianapolis. Delic won his first-round match over Ricardo Mello and nearly pulled a huge upset in the second. He held two match points against Paradorn Srichaphan -- the No. 11 player in the world -- before self-destructing; he lost the last set 6-1.

Sargsian is no Srichaphan, but he has made a living in tennis for eight years now. He handled himself better in the big moments. Delic, who never played a five-set match, said later that his hips started to give out in the fourth set and his stomach was queasy for most of the match. Welcome to big-time tennis.

"You learn from every match," Delic said in flawless English. "I've had some good ones. I'll be back here."

Greg Garber is a senior writer at ESPN.com.