Blake humbles Nadal, Agassi rolls on

By Bill Barclay

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The panache of Rafael Nadal proved no
match for the appetite of an American making up for lost time
at the U.S. Open on Saturday.

Wildcard James Blake ousted the 19-year-old Spanish second
seed 6-4 4-6 6-3 6-1 in the third round to spring another
super-sized upset in the men’s singles following the first
round exit of U.S. fourth seed Andy Roddick.

The rowdy home fans had even more to cheer when 35-year-old
seventh seed Andre Agassi recovered from a slow start to beat
another 19-year-old, Czech Tomas Berdych, 3-6 6-1 6-4 7-6.

Agassi and Blake, who is 25 and ranked 49, are potential
quarter-final opponents.

“I’m waiting for the alarm clock to go off and I’m going to
wake up,” Blake gasped before a jubilant Arthur Ashe Court
crowd.

“I can’t believe how well things are going. This is a dream
come true.”

The American was ranked only 210 in April after a dreadful
2004 during which he broke his neck, contracted shingles and
lost his father to cancer.

He flayed winners left, right and center on Saturday and by
the end French Open champion Nadal cut a forlorn figure, his
trademark white bandana, pirate pants and grapefruit-sized
biceps mere accessories to defeat.

The humbled Spaniard said simply: “I played bad, he played
better. I lost a little bit of confidence because he was
playing so well.”

Berdych knocked world number one Roger Federer out of the
Olympic tournament last year and Agassi looked to be in trouble
when he was swept aside in the first set.

The chirpy Las Vegan responded like a twice former champion
but Berdych would not lie down and led 5-3 in the fourth set
before subsiding in the tiebreak 7-2.

“The first set was pretty scratchy but each set my quality
picked up,” said Agassi, who has so far made light of his
chronic back problem. “I just hung on and played a good (tie)
breaker.”

Another of the men’s game’s teenage talents, French 13th
seed Richard Gasquet, outlasted Croatian Ivan Ljubicic 3-6 7-6
6-7 6-3 6-2.

Gasquet, the 2002 junior champion at Flushing Meadows, is
making his debut in the senior draw and the 19-year-old matched
his best grand slam performance, having also reached the last
16 at Wimbledon this year.

Justine Henin-Hardenne and Elena Dementieva survived plucky
fightbacks before reaching the fourth round of the women’s
singles.

Women’s second seed Lindsay Davenport will seek a place in
the last 16 when she faces Spain’s Anabel Medina Garrigues in
the evening session. French third seed Amelie Mauresmo was also
in third-round action against Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany.

French Open champion Henin-Hardenne, the seventh seed, took
the first nine games of her 6-0 7-6 third round win over South
Korean Cho Yoon-jeong.

Cho, though, suddenly came to life and forced a tiebreak
with some punishing groundstrokes before Henin-Hardenne
restored order, winning it 7-4.

NO EXCUSE

Sixth seed Dementieva, who was runner-up last year, flirted
with defeat in her 6-1 4-6 7-6 victory over fellow Russian
battler Anna Chakvetadze.

As usual, Dementieva’s game was infested with double-faults
– she served 19 in total — and she trailed 3-0 in the third
set.

“She deserved to win this one, I was a little bit lucky,”
admitted Dementieva. “I have no excuse for serving like that.”

The Russian plays Swiss 11th seed Patty Schnyder in the
fourth round, a repeat of their last 16 clash at the Australian
Open which Dementieva lost having led by a set and 4-1.

Schnyder beat Japan’s Shinobu Asagoe 6-1 6-3.

The other all-Russian clash in the women’s was just as
bizarre. Anastasia Myskina, the 13th seed, squandered match
points before losing 0-6 6-3 7-6 to Elena Likhovtseva.

Chile’s Olympic champion Nicolas Massu reached a grand slam
fourth round for the first time when he thrashed Switzerland’s
Stanislas Wawrinka 6-4 6-3 6-0.

He will play Argentine eighth seed Guillermo Coria, a
four-set winner over Swede Robin Soderling.