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Blake blasts his way through to Indianapolis semis


James Blake took only 45 minutes to crush Yen-Hsun Lu 6-2 6-0 and complete a top-four line-up in the semi-finals of the Indianapolis Tennis Championships.

It is the first time since the tournament moved to hard courts in 1988 that the top four seeds have reached the semi-finals.

James Blake top seed totally dominated proceedings, converting five of eight break points and never facing a break point on his own serve. He will face No.3 seed and defending champion Dmitry Tursunov in the semi-finals.

Tursunov came back to defeat Chilean Paul Capdeville 3-6 6-3 6-1 to reach his first ATP semi-final since winning the Sydney event in January.

Earlier, No. 2 seed Gilles Simon ousted Tommy Haas 4-6 6-4 6-2 in just over two hours. The 25-year-old Frenchman rallied from a set and 1-3 down to beat Haas for the first time in three meetings.

In the all-American quarter-final, Sam Querrey fired 17 aces and reached the semi-finals in Indianapolis for the second straight year with a 6-1 3-6 6-3 win over Bobby Reynolds.

The 20-year-old rallied from a break down in the third set before immediately breaking back. Querrey then broke Reynolds in game 8 and served out the match.

“I stuck with it and fought hard and he eventually made a few errors in the third,” said Querrey, who will now meet Simon in the semis. “I thought I picked up my game a little bit and served better.”

In Umag, Croatia, top seed Fernando Verdasco is through to the semi-finals of the Studena Open after beating German Mischa Zverev 7-5 7-5.

Verdasco, making his Umag debut this week, has now reached the semi-finals or better in three of his last four main draw appearances.

The Spaniard faces No.7 seed Fabio Fognini, after the Italian upset five-time Umag champion Carlos Moya 6-4 6-3. It was Fognini’s first career victory against the Spaniard, and denies the No.3 seed Moya a ninth straight appearance in the Umag semi-finals.

Igor Andreev converted all three of his break point chances to defeat Argentine No.6 seed Guillermo Canas 7-5 6-4.

Andreev will look to reach an ATP final for the second straight week, following a runner-up finish Sunday at Gstaad. He faces another Argentine in the form of Maximo Gonzalez, who came back to defeat home favourite Roko Karanusic 2-6 6-3 7-6(4) and reach the semi-finals of only his sixth ATP tournament.

The Argentine, who turns 25 on Sunday, had also upset Croatian No.2 seed Ivo Karlovic in the second round. Prior to his results in Umag, Gonzalez had posted a single ATP victory also against Karanusic in the first round at Roland Garros.

In Kitzbuhel, Juan Martin Del Potro has continued his current rich run of form to reach his second semi-final in two weeks. The Argentinean posted a 6-2 6-3 victory over world No.80 Nicolas Devilder.

Del Potro faces Victor Hanescu in the semis, after the world No.59 defeated Brian Dabul 6-3 6-4. Potito Starace and Jurgen Melzer face each other for the first time in the second semi-final.


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Tim Farthing, Tennishead Editorial Director & Owner, has been a huge tennis fan his whole life. He's a tennis journalist and entrepreneur as well as playing tennis to a national standard. He also helps manage his local club and volunteers for his local tennis organisation. He's a specialist in content about the administration of professional tennis and tennis coaching for all levels.