Blake breezes past fellow American Warburg at San Jose ATP

SAN JOSE (AFP) -- Second seed James Blake breezed past fellow American Sam Warburg 6-3, 6-1 in the opening round of the ATP 436,000 dollar SAP Open on Tuesday.

The ninth-ranked player in the world bounced back and made short work of Warburg, dispatching him in 55 minutes.

Blake advances to face fellow American Jesse Levine in the next round.

A wild card, Levine posted a 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 victory over Steve Darcis of Belgium on Monday.

Blake is trying to erase memories of Sunday's shocking loss to Japanese teen Kei Nishikori in the final of the Delray Beach tournament.

Nishikori, who became the first Japanese player since 1992 to win an ATP singles title, also is in the field here on a sponsor's exemption. He won't see Blake unless the players reach the final.

But he could get a chance to pull off his second giant-killing episode in as many weeks if he gets past Diego Hartfield in the first round.

His second round opponent would likely be top seeded American Andy Roddick, who begins opening round play on Wednesday.

Picked off by Nishikori in the Delray Beach semi-finals, American Sam Querrey lost again Tuesday to German qualifier Denis Gremelmayr 5-7, 7-6 (7/1), 6-3.

A back-to-back winner from 2004-05, the 25-year-old Roddick is the only former champion here.

Great Britain's Andy Murray is the defending two-time champion but is not entered, opting instead to continue playing in Europe this week.

The first to player to claim victory Tuesday, Benjamin Becker advanced when Marcos Daniel retired from their match with a groin injury while trailing 6-1, 3-0.

American wild card Robby Ginepri moved on to the second round with a 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 victory over countryman Jesse Witten. He will face eighth-seeded Belgian Kristof Vliegen on Wednesday.

   Print Version     |        Back    |     Send To Friend