Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Blake demolished in season debut

   James Blake finally made his season debut Tuesday.
   It did not go well.
   Blake, who has been sidelined by a knee injury, lost to fellow American Ryan Sweeting 6-0, 6-2 in 45 minutes in the first round of the Regional Morgan Keegan Championships in Memphis, Tenn.
   Blake, 32, is ranked 61st after reaching a career-high No. 4 in 2006. He was the runner-up to 6-foot-10 Ivo Karlovic in the Sacramento Challenger last October.
   Sweeting, a semifinalist in the Tiburon Challenger the week after Sacramento last fall, will face either third-seeded Radek Stepanek or qualifier Bobby Reynolds in the second round.
   San Francisco native Sam Querrey, who swept the singles and doubles titles in Memphis two years ago, beat Alejandro Falla of Colombia 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.
   The right-handed Querrey, a former top-20 player who underwent right elbow surgery last June, entered the match with a 1-5 record this year.
   “I feel pretty close,” the 99th-ranked Querrey, who will meet either seventh-seeded Kevin Anderson or qualifier Robby Ginepri in the second round, told reporters about returning to form. “I’m missing more forehands than I usually do, but I’m just committed to stepping up and hitting it. More and more are falling (in) every day.”
   On Monday, Querrey also won his opening doubles match. He and Davis Cup teammate John Isner, who teamed up for the 2010 Memphis crown, ousted fourth-seeded Santiago Gonzalez of Mexico and Christopher Kas of Germany 7-6 (1), 7-6 (2).
   Americans Scott Lipsky, a former Stanford All-American, and Rajeev Ram lost to Alex Bogomolov Jr. of Russia and Lukasz Kubot of Poland 6-2, 4-6, 15-13 tiebreak Tuesday in the first round.
   Stanford women roll -- Playing for the first time since being ranked No. 1, the host Stanford women routed No. 36 Saint Mary's 6-1.
   The Cardinal's Ellen Tsay, a freshman from Pleasanton in the San Francisco Bay Area, annihilated Jade Frampton 6-0, 6-0 at No. 4 singles. 

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