The Hindu : Sport / Olympic Games : Blake wins on Olympic debut

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Blake wins on Olympic debut

BEIJING: James Blake won the first match of a rain-plagued Olympic tennis tournament on Sunday, erasing a set point in the second set and beating Chris Guccione of Australia 6-3, 7-6(3).

Rain twice interrupted the second centre-court match involving Serena Williams. After a two-hour delay, play was suspended for the day with Williams leading Olga Govortsova of Belarus 6-3, 2-1.

Among those who didn’t get on court was top-seeded Roger Federer, who was to play Dmitry Tursunov of Russia. Nine matches were completed, 10 suspended and 26 postponed, which means a heavy backlog for the tournament.

Those reaching the medal rounds will have to play almost every day, because only seven days remain to complete six rounds. In addition, many players are entered in both singles and doubles, including the Williams sisters, Federer and Rafael Nadal.

Williams was making her Olympic singles debut. She won a gold medal in doubles in 2000 with her sister Venus.

Making his Olympic debut, Blake held every service game and earned the only break of the match for a 5-3 lead in the first set.

The 28-year-old American faced a set point at 5-6 in the second set but held, then hit five winners in the tiebreaker.

Also, fourth-seeded Nikolay Davydenko of Russia beat Ernests Gulbis of Latvia 6-4, 6-2, and No. 12 Fernando Gonzalez, who carried the flag for Chile in the opening ceremony, defeated Sun Peng of China 6-4, 6-4. — AP

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