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  • Indianapolis First Round: James Blake vs. Dudi Sela

    7/15/08 6:37 AM | Ricky Dimon
    - The tournament's top seed will be featured during the night session on Tuesday. James Blake hopes not to suffer the same fate as fellow American Robby Ginepri.

    The Indianapolis Tennis Championships have already lost one seeded American in Robby Ginepri, who got crushed by Paul Capdeville on Monday night. The fans will be hoping for better luck on Tuesday when No. 1 seed James Blake goes head-to-head with Dudi Sela for the first time in their careers.

    Blake has been struggling recently, but he will still be heavily favored against Sela on U.S. hard courts. He lost in the second round of both Wimbledon and the French Open, but Blake is back in the States and thrived there earlier this season. The No. 8 player in the world was runner-up in Delray Beach and he reached the quarterfinals in San Jose, at the Masters Series Indian Wells, and at the Masters Series Miami.

    Sela, meanwhile, has done nothing close to what Blake has done in 2008. The Israeli brings just a 7-15 ATP match record for the year with him into Indianapolis and he has not won a match outside of Challengers since May.

    As is often the case with Blake, it's hard to know what you are going to get from him at the moment. Sela definitely have a chance because his opponent's confidence cannot be sky high at the moment. Nonetheless, Blake's comfort level should return for the U.S. Open Series and he can run Sela right off the court if he serves well and plays aggressively with his huge forehand. Blake should win this in straight sets, but he needs to get off to a strong start.

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