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Blake Blasts Benneteau, Del Potro Dumped in Miami

James Blake showed off vintage form as he blasted into the third round of Miami. Juan Martin Del Potro found himself dumped out in his opening match.

By Erik Gudris

James Blake (March 22nd, 2013) -- James Blake may have indeed found his own personal fountain of youth in Miami.

The American veteran once again faced little resistance as he blazed into the third round of the Sony Open Tennis event. Taking on No. 24 seed Julian Benneteau, the wildcard Blake certainly lived up to his status as he ripped winner after winner against the Frenchman en route to a convincing 6-2, 6-3 win in just an hour on court.

Now 33, the former No. 4 in the world talked afterwards about how he continues to enjoy the challenges of playing on tour.

"I'm happy to still be out here playing. Every year it seems like there is new challenges and stuff and now at this age it's the challenge of still trying to get better and still trying to improve is not as easy as when I was 22 and 23 still learning a ton of stuff."

Blake feels that his recent form is due to being able to play more matches than he did at the start of the season.

I didn't play many matches in the fall and didn't get to play too many matches to start out this year," Blake said. "So now that I'm getting some matches in, I definitely feel like the big points are seeming more natural. I especially felt it today. The first break point I got, I went after a return, hit a winner up the line, and I might not have had the confidence to do that before two nights ago when things were going my way. Now it feels good.  Feels like I have that confidence. Even today when things didn't go my way ‑ he broke me twice getting back into the second set ‑ and immediately I broke him right back. I didn't let it bother me and get down on myself."

Blake will next face Albert Ramos who upset No. 12 seed Juan Monaco 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.

Earlier in the day, No. 3 seed David Ferrer advanced by walkover against Dimitry Tursunov while No. 7 seed Janko Tipsarevic beat Dudi Sela 6-2, 6-4.

Del Potro Dumped by Kamke in Opening Match

While he may be fresh from reaching the finals of Indian Wells, Juan Martin Del Potro didn't look his best during his second round match against Germany's Tobias Kamke.

Del Potro did jump out to 5-3 lead and looked poised to serve out the set after holding three set points. But Kamke fought back to force a tiebreak and went on to take it seven points to five.

A rain delay that lasted for several hours then forced a halt to the match.

When the players returned in the evening, Kamke's steady play from the baseline continued while Del Potro began to look slower and slower on court. Kamke outlasted Del Potro in a long rally and got the early break when Del Potro dumped a forehand into the net.

Kamke secured yet another break of serve and despite showing some nerves late in the match, the German held on to close out the 7-6(5), 6-1 victory.

It is the second top ten win for Kamke who was voted ATP Newcomer of the Year in 2010.

Djokovic Breezes Through Opening Match

Defending champion Novak Djokovic got a late start in his match against Lukas Rosol. A power outage on the grounds forced play to be halted for almost an hour. Once power was resumed, Djokovic stepped onto the stadium court and made up for lost time as he breezed past Rosol 6-1, 6-0.

 

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