PARIS – James Blake is out of the French Open, unable to impose his slash-and-burn game on either his No. 80-ranked Latvian opponent or, more importantly, on himself.
But Robby Ginepri, his hot-and-cold running American compadre, is into the third round after displaying the sort of physical ground-stroking that three years ago carried him to the semifinals of the U.S. Open.
“That's just really frustrating for me to play a match like that when I know my game, I know what works best for me and I didn't necessarily do it effectively today,” Blake said after performing with surprising passivity in a 7-6 (7-2), 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 loss to Ernests Gulbis yesterday.
Ginepri, by contrast, was glowing after taking down No. 27 seed Igor Andreev of Russia 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-5), 6-2. “I'm moving great,” Ginepri said, beaming. “And I have to be to set up for every shot and hit a good ball.”
And so the 10-man American contingent that swooped into Paris a week ago is reduced to two – Ginepri and 22-year-old Wayne Odesnik. By the close of business today the squad probably will be down to one, because Odesnik is to play Australian Open winner Novak Djokovic.
The French Open put on a full agenda yesterday and almost every marquee player was on court, led by defending champion Rafael Nadal and No. 1 seed Roger Federer and women's top seed Maria Sharapova.
Running off 13 straight games at one point, Nadal easily defeated Nicolas Devilder of France 6-4, 6-0, 6-1; Federer endured a two-hour rain delay to win over Albert Montañes 6-7 (5-7), 6-1, 6-0, 6-4.
Sharapova was at 6-2, 2-3 with American Bethanie Mattek when play was halted because of darkness.
Also into the third round: No. 4 Nikolay Davydenko, No. 5 David Ferrer, No. 9 Stanislas Wawrinka, No. 12 Tommy Robredo and No. 15 Mikhail Youzhny. No. 6 David Nalbandian lost to Jeremy Chardy 3-6, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1, 6-2.
In the women's tournament, No. 3 Jelena Jankovic, No. 4 Svetlana Kuznetsova, No. 7 Elena Dementieva, No. 8 Venus Williams, No. 12 Agnes Szavay, No. 13 Dinara Safina and No. 16 Victoria Azarenka won second-round matches.
Sixth-seed Anna Chakvetadze was upset by Kaia Kanepi of Estonia 6-4, 7-6 (7-2).
