Article

  • Rome round two: Fourth quarter summary

    5/8/08 3:50 AM | Cheryl Murray
    - James Blake, Stanislas Wawrinka and Fernando Verdasco advance on a day where upsets were the rule rather than the exception.

    James Blake def Andreas Seppi 7-6(5), 3-6, 6-1

    Though not the prettiest of matches, James Blake finally got a win on clay with a three set victory over Italian Andreas Seppi. Both players had a rocky start to the match. There were six service breaks in the first set alone and both players struggled to find their range. Blake displayed marginally better patience on the dirt than usual, but Seppi assisted by donating five double faults and generally playing inconsistently. Seppi took the second with the only break of the set, but it would be the only real highlight of the match for him. The Italian played shockingly bad in the third set. Blake did little more than permit Seppi to present the match to him on a silver platter. Blake will play a revitalized Fernando Verdasco next. Verdasco beat qualifier Nicolas Lapentti in three sets.

    Stanislas Wawrinka def. Andy Murray 6-2, 7-6(5)

    Andy Murray's clay court woes continued on Wednesday with a straight set loss to Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka. Murray seemed to have difficulty getting into the match and looked downright lethargic at times. Wawrinka played solidly enough to take the first set with two breaks of serve. The loss of the first set seemed to wake the Scot up, because he came out firing in the second set and broke Wawrinka to take the early lead. Murray had another energy let-down in the middle of the set to allow Wawrinka to break back, and at 4-5, with Murray serving to stay in the match, Wawrinka earned himself three match points. This once again woke the young Scot up and he began to play much better. Murray dug out of 0-40 to hold and eventually send the set to a tie break. A string of unforced errors from Murray in the last three points of the match sealed the deal for Wawrinka. The Swiss man will play Juan Carlos Ferrero in the next round.

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