Blake advanced with a nice straight-sets win over Moya in the first round. Moya has been playing well, so I was worried that this could be a testy first round match for James. I really want to see him have a good slam (and maybe pull out a win in a five-setter, too :) ).

Yes, well done to James. Next round against Kuznetsov, who'll be celebrating to have reached the second round, shouldn't really pose a problem (I hope!). Blake v Ginepri could be mildly interesting. Robby is a good player on his day, but James should be able to get past him.

The fourth round against Gonzo or Hewitt will be interesting. James has a bit of a nightmare h2h against Lleyton, but Hewitt has been woefully out of form, so that would be an interesting match to see. Probably Gonzo would be the tougher challenge; he's been in great form and seems to have had the upper hand against Blake recently.

I hope he makes the quarters ... Nadal or Murray should be *really* interesting.

Blake does not have any threat till the QFs. But this may be the first time he'll lose to Nadal. With the roof closed and humid conditions, the ball would not fly thru the air that quickly and Nadal would get the edge.

In the top half, we are talking about a Federer/Roddick SF but have a funny feeling that both of them will lose before the semis. The third round for both Federer & Roddick could be potential upsets.

I am a big fan of Blake and hope he will reach the final but for some reasons I believe that Nadal will stop him this time for the reasons Chets gives above.

you guys are dreaming if yall think nadal gona beat blake on any hardcourt the way blakes playing these days...

still dreams do sometimes come true... but in this case i sincerely doubt this one will. :rolleyes:

I wouldn't dismiss Nadal so lightly; he tends to thrive on the big stage. Let's remember he took a set of Fed at Wimbledon as well.

I would favor Blake against Nadal, but I don't think it's clear-cut one way or another, particularly as it's a five-setter.

In any case, I will say this: if Nadal wants to get a shot at the title, he *should* have to defeat Blake along the way. The same way it's good that Fed had to beat Nadal for the Wimbledon title, and the same way he should have to beat Nadal for the French.

Let's hope they both get there though --- it's far from certain. We might have Murray v Hewitt, for all we know, which wouldn't be such a bad match, either.

:( would have loved to have seen Blakes game today. still, sounds like the boy did good, I hope he can keep his form up and go a long, long way...

I dont mind a bit of Blake ;)

i am not dismissing rafa out of ignorance... i simply feel that no matter how well he plays against james on any hardcourt james is the clear favourite.

blake's game is just too big and extremely effective against rafa... even the high topspin balls seem to suit blakes hard flat strokes. because the ball bounces up so high he really gets on top of it and push rafa back with brute force.

i just cannot see james loosing against rafa on a hard court... unless he gets injured that is.. god forbid!

i guess the expectation has never been higher for james blake than at this tournament.

i don't think he will win it, but i do think he'll leave melbourne on a high.

Which bit is that? roflmao

I don't dislike Blake, then again I'm not a huge fan either ... yet. I've only really got to see him play much on grass and I was nto overly mad on his style. What I admire most about him is the way he came back after all that tragedy - now that takes balls. Well done to him. :bow:

Alex just choked on blake.

Blake's not looking as sharp today as he did against Moya, but he's pretty firmly in control of the match at the moment. He's leading 6-4 4-1 (and threatening to break Kuznetsov again).

And he wins, 6-4, 6-1, 6-2..

His game is looking in pretty good nick right now imo.. A win like that even if not at his sharpest but surely bode well for the matches ahead.

4 1 & 2 seems pretty sharp to me :D

A good win for Blake today, especially after the terrible start. He should get past Ginepri without any problems but his 4th round against Hewitt/Gonzalez can be tough. I'm not so sure that we'll get a Blake-Nadal qf.

True, but even though the score was more lopsided, he didn't look quite as sharp against Kuznetsov as against Moya. Perhaps it's because he didn't have to be. He didn't make a lot of mistakes against Kuznetsov, though (only 13 UEs in the match).

Alex played a fantastic first 4 games I thought. The pace and accuracy was amazing. Unfortunately he could not sustain that and Blake started to get into the match. From what I saw today though I think he woudl have got the better of Nadal....again.