New York--(lawntennismag.com) Tenth seeded Tommy Haas of Germany rallied from two sets to one
down Monday in the fourth round to defeat eighth seeded American James Blake 4-6, 6-4, 3-6, 6-0, 7-6(7-4).
The 29 year old Haas entered the US
Open having lost three of his last five matches. His prior best results this year were winning in Memphis and reaching the semifinals of the Australian
Open. On this day however Haas used an overwhelming serve and net game to reach the quarterfinals.
Only a few breaks of serves decided the first three sets as the entire match was played at a high level. For the match Haas had a winner error ratio of
69 to 39. Blake's winner to error ratio was 75 to 38.
Haas struck an ace down the tee to win his eighth game in a row to get to 2-0 in the fifth set. After Haas then went ahead 4-2, Blake fought back
to pull even at 4-4 by breaking Haas' serve when Haas netted a backhand volley. In the longest game of the fifth set serving at 4-5, Haas saved three
matchpoints with strong serves that Blake netted on the returns.
"I wish I had a chance to maybe look at a second serve on one of those three match points that I had," Blake said. "(He) certainly came up really
big with those serves."
"I really couldn't find too many first serves, I think, at the end of the match that I wanted to," Haas said. "(But) every time he had match point,
I came up with a good first serve. That saved me."
In the tiebreaker Haas scored early with a backhand volley winner and a lob winner before Blake doublefaulted to make the score 5-3. An ace out
wide on matchpoint sealed the upset for Haas as he advanced to a Wednesday quarterfinal versus fourth seeded Nikolay Davydenko of Russia.
"I tried to stay calm and fight for every point. It's great. To be in the quarter-final once again is an awesome feeling. The whole fifth set was
very dramatic," Haas said. "I think we both played unbelievable tennis in the fifth set."
