Blake Wins No. 350 in Atlanta While Haas Prevails in Hamburg

By Erik Gudris

Photo Credit: Alexander Hassenstein/Bongarts/Getty Images

(July 18, 2012) -- They may not be heading to the Olympics later this month, but a pair of veterans on the ATP Tour served notice with a pair of upset wins in Atlanta and Hamburg.

Blake Wins 350th Match in Atlanta

Last night at the BB&T Atlanta Open, American veteran James Blake scored not only his first main tour win of the year but also his 350th career victory with a three set upset of No. 6 seed Ryan Harrison. After both men split sets, Blake managed to break Harrison late in the final set to allow him to serve out a 1-6, 6-3, 7-5 win.

Michael Russell prevailed in a third set tiebreak over fellow American Alex Kuznetsov to win 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(4) in over two hours.

Haas Upsets Defending Champion Simon in Hamburg

Rallying from a set down, wildcard Tommy Haas delighted German fans by ousting defending champion Gilles Simon at the German Tennis Championships in Hamburg. Taking advantage of five out of seven break point chances, Haas was able to defeat Simon 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

“I don’t take anything for granted. I’m really a happy guy. I’m happy to have the chance to be playing at this level after a tough injury again,” said Haas after the match.

Also reaching the quarterfinals today included last week's winner in Umag No. 4 seed Marin Cilic who defeated qualifier Federico Delbonis 6-3, 6-2 and No. 7 seed Florian Mayer who beat Robin Haase 6-2, 6-1. Mayer will next meet Haas.

Wawrinka Falls as Gulbis Upsets Paire in Gstaad

The most unpredictable of the three men's events going on this week may well be at the Credit Agricole Suisse Open Gstaad as several seeded players fell today.

France's Paul-Henri Mathieu broke the hearts of Swiss fans as he ousted the last remaining Swiss man in the draw No. 3 seed Stanislas Wawrinka in two tight tiebreak sets 7-6(3), 7-6(8).

Earlier in the day Brazil's Thomaz Bellucci came back from a set down to take out No. 4 seed Mikhail Youzhny 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 while Latvia's Ernests Gulbis who lost the first set and then lost a 5-3 lead in the second set rallied to defeat France's Benoit Paire 5-7, 7-6(3), 6-4.