Blake claims revenge over Nishikori
James Blake exacted a measure of revenge with a 6-4 6-4 victory over Japanese wildcard Kei Nishikori in the opening round of the USA Men’s Clay Court Championship in Houston on Wednesday.
The top-seeded American used a powerful serve to dispose of his 18-year-old opponent in one hour 29 minutes.
Nishikori became the first Japanese player since 1992 to win an ATP title when he stunned Blake in the Delray Beach final in February. That remains the only championship match that the 28-year-old Blake has played in this season.
World number eight Blake, making his eighth appearance here, has never won a championship on clay and has a career record of 32 wins and 34 losses on the surface.
Nishikori has risen from 244th to 116th in the rankings since defeating Blake, but has just one win in his last five matches over four ATP events since his remarkable run in Florida.
Blake will face another teenager in the next round in fellow American Ryan Harrison, who recorded a milestone win on Monday.
The 15-year-old became the third-youngest player in 18 years to win an ATP match, defeating Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay. Ranked 1,277 in the world, Harrison joined Richard Gasquet and world number two Rafael Nadal as the only 15-year-olds to win a match since 1990.
In a second-round match, third seed Mardy Fish defeated American compatriot Hugo Armando 6-3 6-2.
The 26-year-old Fish will meet Spain’s Oscar Hernandez, who recorded a 6-4 6-4 victory over unseeded 18-year-old American Donald Young.
Also in the first round, fourth-seeded American Sam Querrey lost to Nicolas Massu of Chile 5-7 6-4 6-4.
The next opponent for the 2004 Olympic gold medalist will be Brazil’s Marcos Daniel, a 6-3 6-4 winner over Viktor Troicki of Serbia.
