Brisbane International Tennis - Australian Open Series

Major scares for Blake and Stepanek

brisbaneinternational.com.au/Credits:SMP Images Wednesday 6 January 2010 Comments

James Blake of the United States and Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic have both advanced into the third round of the Brisbane International with hard-fought victories over Marc Gicquel of France and Oleksandr Dolgopolov Jr from Ukraine.

Blake, a former top-ten player and currently ranked 44 in the world, survived a match point in the third-set tiebreak to seal a 6-3 3-6 7-6(8) win in exactly two hours of play.

He will face in the third round the winner of an all-French confrontation between Gael Monfils and Florent Serra.

In an action-packed match in Court 1, No2 seed Radek Stepanek eventually imposed his terms in his second-round match against surprising qualifier Dolgopolov Jr.

The 21-year old Ukrainian baseliner was a set and a break up before showing some fitness problems and eventually losing the second-set tiebreak.

The third set was mostly one-way traffic, with the Czech imposing his experience to secure a 6-2 score which takes him one step closer to re-validating his 2009 title.

Stepanek will face American Wayne Odesnik in the third round, winner of Alejandro falla of Colombia by scores of 6-7(8) 6-2 6-1.

Tags: James Blake, Marc Gicquel, Oleksandr Dolgopolov Jr, Radek Stepanek

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