Blake and Lopez into Los Angeles Quarters
Feliciano Lopez beat Dudi Sela 7-6 6-4 and will face James Blake, who defeated Benjamin Becker 7-5 7-6 in the quarterfinals of the Farmers Classic in Los Angeles.
Blake started slow against Becker, he found himself 2-4 down but was able to turn thing around to win the first set. The American had two match points in the 10th game of the second set but was not able to convert. They reached the tie break and Blake took it 7-5 to seal the match.
“It definitely could’ve gone the other way easily,” Blake said. “I’m doing a good job of not letting anything rattle me.”
Blake suffered a right knee injury and did not produced good results lately but he is getting better and better.
“Knee pain is barely there. It’s great,” he said. “When you hit 30, it becomes very apparent that your career is finite. I feel great about being healthy and playing well.”
About playing Lopez in the quarterfinals, Blake said: "First of all he's a lefty... and he's got one of the best first and second serves on tour and he mixes it up well. I'm a guy who likes to attack guys' second serves and he's going to make that really difficult for me. Hopefully I can direct a few more balls to his backhand and make him beat me with that."
Source Reuters/AP
Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images
