The Fila News

As reported on www.tennisweek.com, James Blake & Andreas Seppi continue their winning ways on clay in Europe! Blake & Seppi both advanced to the Quarterfinals of the Estoril Open and Munich Opens, respectively.   

It took James Blake nearly a month to win his first clay-court match of the season. It took him only a day to win his second.

Blake advanced to his first clay-court quarterfinal in more than a year with today’s 7-6(6), 6-2 triumph over France’s Marc Gicquel at the Estoril Open. It is Blake’s first clay-court quarterfinal since he reached the last eight at the Italian Open last May, bowing to Stanislas Wawrinka.

“It’s a good feeling, I really like the way I’m playing,” said, who was the 2008 Houston runner-up on red clay. “I’m now playing my style and it feels great. Even if I’d not won two in a row, I would have been satisfied with my game. I was really going for my shots.”

The fourth-seeded Blake, who beat Frederico Gil on Wednesday, earned two service breaks in the 79-minute match to raise his record to 11-8 on the season.

Next up for Blake is another Frenchman: Florent Serra. The eighth-seeded Serra stopped Argentina’s Juan Monaco, 6-3, 1-6, 6-3.  Blake has split two meetings with Serra, losing their only clay-court clash at the 2006 Italian Open.

“He beat me pretty bad on clay (Rome, 2006),” Blake said. “He’s a tough competitor and I certainly don’t expect him to roll over, but that won’t happen with me either. I’m confident in my game and I like my chances if I keep playing like this.”