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  • Isner and Blake bow out in San Jose

    2/23/08 5:07 PM | Jonathan Morgan
    - Isner played a standard Isner match, one of the ones that turned him into a legend back in DC last year, but couldnt finish it off. Blake, meanwhile, was simply blown away.

    Guillermo Garcia-Lopez def. John Isner 7-6(4), 6-7(1), 7-6(11)

    An incredbile marathon this one was, with drama and wild twist-turns, especially in that final tiebreak. The scoreline suggests it was a massive serve fest, and that is exactly what it was. Only 7 total break points for the two men, and zero breaks of serve in the whole match. Isner threw down 22 aces to GGL's 6, but it was the Spaniard who was able to hold his nerve in that final tiebreak. Facing 4 match points against him, GGL was able to save all of them (on his serve). Isner, however, would not go down quietly. GGL had 4 match points him self in the tiebreak, including one on his own serve at 6-4. He then double faulted. A great week of tight matches this week for the Spaniard as he has saved match points in 2 of 3 matches thus far in San Jose. He will face Andy Roddick in the Semifinals, GGL's first ATP semifinal in over 2 years.

    Robby Ginepri def. James Blake 6-2, 6-2

    As the above match was neck and neck the whole way through with a thrilling finish, this one was a total thrashing. Ginepri made amends from his loss last week to Blake in Delray, where he led in both sets 4-2, before losing 4 straight games both times. Suprising, to say the least. Ginepri looked to be pumped up from the first ball while Blake seemed to look sluggish and not as fast around the court as he usually is. Even is he wasn't tired from the past two weeks, i'm not sure he'd beat Ginepri this time. Ginepri was on fire, playing well from the baseline and serving solidly. He took total advantage of Blake's fatigue, moving him around the court and destorying his weaker 2nd serve. Ginepri is now into back to back semifinals for the first time in quite a while. A good result for a player ranked 171 just two weeks ago. He will play Radek Stepanek, who eased into the semis with a comfortable win over Yen-Hsun Lu.

    Blake didn't seem too mad about the loss, saying of his friend Robby:

    “I look forward to seeing him back up in the rankings where he belongs soon enough.” I’m really proud of Robby. He’s a great kid and it couldn’t happen to a better guy.”

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