James Blake, still sharpening his game after missing over two months with a right knee injury, rolled to a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Leonardo Mayer of Argentina on Tuesday in a first-round match at the Farmers Classic.
Blake, once No. 4 in the world and now No. 117 after a string of injuries, has reached two quarterfinals and has just a 9-10 match record this season, so he's trying to take a low-key approach to the game for the time being.
"I'm really happy with the way I played," he said before getting ready to team with Sam Querrey in a night doubles match.
"I went into the match with the goal of just controlling my side of the court and playing with the right kind of energy. I'm back to feeling healthy and I want to just play that way without the huge expectations or anything, just playing my game. I did it and it worked out well today."
In other matches, Colombia's Alejandro Falla beat Karol Beck of Slovakia 7-6 (3), 6-4, and Benjamin Becker of Germany needed four match points to turn back lucky loser Giovanni Lapentti of Ecuador 7-5, 7-6 (6). Lapentti made the draw when American Mardy Fish - winner of his past two tournaments - withdrew because of fatigue.
Robby Ginepri beat Ilija Bozoljack of Serbia, 6-3, 6-4; and Ryan Sweeting outlasted Kristof Vliegen of Belgium, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4. In the other day match, Kevin Anderson of South Africa beat Illya Marchenko of the Ukraine, 6-3, 6-2.
Somdev Devvarman of India won 6-4, 6-4 against American Steve Johnson, who was making his singles debut on the ATP Tour.
SOURCE: The Associated Press
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