The Hindu : Sport : Ancic rallies to beat Blake

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Friday, May 19, 2006

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Ancic rallies to beat Blake

HAMBURG: Mario Ancic, the man whose win clinched the Davis Cup for Croatia, scored another notable victory with a remarkable come-back which carried him to the quarterfinals of the Hamburg Masters on Thursday.

Ancic was a set and a break down to James Blake, the fifth-seeded American, and within two points of defeat at 3-5 in the second set before recovering to win the match of the tournament so far, 4-6, 7-5, 7-6(3).

Blake also led 5-3 in the final set, and although he blamed himself for not closing either of these opportunities out, he did not do nearly as much wrong as he suggested.

The quality of returning by both men was such that service games had a limited advantage, and although they played on one of the slowest clay surfaces on the tour and amidst some of the slowest, dampest conditions, both players committed themselves to all-out attack as if this were a hot day on grass.

``I'm getting tired of losing these amazing matches,'' said Blake. ``I'm hoping that I'm going to be winning some of them soon.''

Big forehand

The 12th-seeded Ancic won because his forehand was a colossal weapon, and his spirit grew passionately strong the more the match went on, much as it had when he participated in Croatia's historic first round Davis Cup win against the United States last year.

The six-feet five-inch Croatian was not as fast a mover as Blake, but he made up for it with fire and fight, and with a bombardment of big serves at crucial moments, especially in the deciding tie-break.

These happened after Ancic went from 2-3 down to 4-3 up with points against the Blake serve, and followed it with two successive thundering aces which made his opponent sag.

But the psychology-changing moments really came after Ancic had fought back from within two points of defeat at deuce in the ninth game of the second set, and went on to take five games in a row.

Blake then fought back from within a point of going 1-3 down in the final set, but could not lift his standard further in the closing phases.

``But it has been a positive week for me,'' Blake concluded. ``I played better than last week in Rome, and a couple of good shots here or there and I would have been in the quarter-finals of a very slow clay court tournament.

``I believe I'm playing well enough to do something at the French Open. It has been two years that Americans have not got past the second round in the French Open and I want to prevent it becoming a hat-trick.''

Clijsters on course

Second-seeded Kim Clijsters struggled to beat Japanese qualifier Akiko Morigami 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 on Wednesday in the second round of the Italian Open.

Clijsters can reclaim the No. 1 ranking if she wins her second Rome title.

The results: At Hamburg (The ATP Hamburg Masters): Third round: David Ferrer bt Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-2, 6-4; Radek Stepanek bt Robin Soderling 6-3, 6-2; Max Mirnyi bt Gilles Simon 6-3, 6-2; Mario Ancic bt James Blake 4-6, 7-5, 7-6(3). Second round: Mario Ancic bt Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 3-6, 6-4, 6-0; Fernando Verdasco bt Novak Djokovic 6-4, 6-3; James Blake bt Andrew Murray 6-3, 6-3; Fernando Gonzalez bt Dominik Hrbaty 6-7(4), 6-1, 6-3; Jose Acasuso bt Ivan Ljubicic 6-2, 6-0; Sebastien Grosjean bt Filippo Volandri 7-5, 7-6(4).

At Rome (WTA Italian Open): Third round: Romina Oprandi bt Vera Zvonareva 6-0, 6-1; Elena Dementieva bt Anna-Lena Groenefeld 7-6(1), 3-6, 6-1; Martina Hingis bt Francesca Schiavone 6-0, 7-5. Jelena Jankovic bt Katarina Srebotnik 7-6(7), 6-1; Svetlana Kuznetsova bt Anastasia Myskina 6-1, 6-4. Second round: Anastasia Myskina bt Roberta Vinci 6-0, 1-6, 6-4; Kim Clijsters bt Akiko Morigami 4-6, 6-1, 6-3; Patty Schnyder bt Vera Duchevina 7-6(8), 6-2; Anabel Medina Garrigues bt Ai Sugiyama 6-2, 4-6, 6-4; Dinara Safina bt Maria Elena Camerin 6-4, 6-4; Romina Oprandi bt Samantha Stosur 6-2, 6-2.

At Rabat (WTA Rabat Open): Second round: Emilie Loit bt Ivana Lisjak 6-4, 6-3; Meghann Shaughnessy bt Sandra Kloesel 7-5, 0-6, 6-3. First round: Neha Uberoi bt Selima Sfar 6-4, 4-6, 6-4. — Agencies

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