Near the end of his match with unseeded James Blake, No. 5 Pablo Andujar gazed up into the crowd, shook his head and smiled. Blake had just blasted an untouchable return of serve, the kind of heat he brought 10 years ago when he won an ATP event for the first time on the same court in Rock Creek Park.
Time and injuries have taken their toll on the 32-year-old Blake, now ranked No. 116 in the world and five years removed from his last win. Monday night in the first round of the Citi Open, however, Blake’s magic returned in a 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 upset of the Spaniard.
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For one night, Blake flashed his old stuff, breaking out of a slump. Before Monday, Blake had won just one of nine matches following November surgery to remove part of his right patellar tendon. After his victory, Blake talked of his injury woes with an ice pack on his right shoulder.
“Most of the year I haven’t been 100 percent to be perfectly honest,” Blake said. “I feel like my knee has gotten better. My legs are under me now. I’m able to move so much better. I think I was a little falsely optimistic early in the year.”
The first positive sign came two weeks ago in Atlanta when Blake toppled No. 6 seed Ryan Harrison 1-6, 6-3, 7-5 in a result that resembled Monday’s at the William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center, where Blake dominated the final two sets. Finishing with eight saves and delivering six service return winners in the final two sets, Blake demoralized Andujar.
“Really started feeling confident,” Blake said. “I couldn’t get any rhythm on it in the first set and that’s really frustrating because that’s something I really feel like I can attack guys with. If they’re not really hurting me with their serve I feel like I can hurt them with the returns.”
The most devastating return came in the next-to-last game, when Andujar’s fate was sealed. After Blake’s unhittable shot, Andujar paid due deference.
“There wasn’t any gamesmanship there. It was just him letting me know he was still having fun out there,” Blake said. “He was basically saying great shot.”
Blake advances to a Wednesday match in the round of 16 against Horacio Zeballos of Argentina or qualifier Marco Chiudinelli of Switzerland. A long run in this event would delight local tennis fans who adopted Blake when he upset five-time tournament champion Andre Agassi in the semifinals on his way to the title.
“I still remember that match so vividly. I still remember match point. I still remember my parents being here and the fun night out celebrating,” Blake said. “It’s still shocking to me. I look up on that [champions] board and that was a decade ago. It feels like it went by in a flash.”
With many of the world’s best players participating in the Olympics, it’s a watered-down field this week in the Citi Open, and perhaps a chance for Blake to match Jimmy Connors as the only player to register wins a decade apart in Washington (1978, 1988). The former Harvard player isn’t looking that far ahead.
“This is only the second match all year that I’ve won,” Blake said. “You can see the depth of men’s tennis in tournaments like this. There are great players ranked 70, 80 in the world.”
