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Fish Knocks Off Blake At Open

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By RACHEL COHEN

The Associated Press

Published: August 31, 2008

Updated: 08/31/2008 12:23 am

NEW YORK - In a battle of Tampa players Saturday night, Mardy Fish earned his first trip to the Round of 16 at the U.S. Open with a 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 (4) victory against his good friend, No. 9 James Blake.

Fish took the last five points to earn his first berth in the fourth round at the U.S. Open. He now meets French Open semifinalist Gael Monfils, who beat No. 7 David Nalbandian in straight sets, then showed off some club-worthy dance moves to mark a victory he called "gorgeous."

The Williams sisters keep cruising along while other top women's seeds go crashing out of the U.S. Open.

But it can only continue for one more match.

Venus and Serena posted identical 6-2, 6-1 victories in the third round Saturday. Another win, and they'll face each other in the quarterfinals.

Venus opened play at Arthur Ashe Stadium by beating 27th-seeded Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine. About five hours later on the same court, Serena defeated 30th-seeded Ai Sugiyama of Japan.

Men's No. 1 seed Rafael Nadal came back from down a break in the second set to beat Viktor Troicki of Serbia 6-4, 6-3, 6-0. His next opponent will be American Sam Querrey, who reached the fourth round of a grand slam for the first time with a 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5), 6-2 victory against No. 14 seed Ivo Karlovic of Croatia.

Querrey came into the year with two goals: win an ATP tournament and raise his ranking into the 30s.

He accomplished both, winning in Las Vegas in March and climbing to No. 38 in May.

Julie Coin's magical stay at the Open is over. The world's 188th-ranked women's player lost in the third round, 6-4, 6-4 to fellow Frenchwoman Amelie Mauresmo, the No. 32 seed.

Russia's Dinara Safina survived 41 unforced errors and seven double faults to defeat Switzerland's Timea Bacsinszky, 3-6, 7-5, 6-2.

Men's No. 6 seed Andy Murray rallied to defeat Jurgen Melzer of Austria 6-7 (5), 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-1, 6-4. Seventh-seededNalbandian lost 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 to Monfils.

No. 17 Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina outlasted No. 16 Gilles Simon of France 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-1, 3-6, 6-3.

Del Potro will face 18-year-old Kei Nishikori, who beat No. 4 David Ferrer 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 2-6, 7-5 to become the first Japanese man to reach the U.S. Open's fourth round in the Open era.

"I still can't believe it. I was playing great and he was playing great, too," Nishikori said during an on-court TV interview. "Biggest win for me."

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