3 veterans advance to the second round in Miami.
Blake
It took only 58 minutes for James to defeat Ryan Harrison. The young American was continuously struggling with Blake to be broken 4 times (he saved 5 break points) without being able to break James.
“It felt good. It was just one of those days where things were going in,” Blake said. “I felt like I was playing well last week. It’s just a matter of putting it all together and tonight is an example of what can happen when I do that.”
Blake will play Benneteau in the second round. Head to head is 2-1 for the Frenchaman. The last time they played on hard court was in Miami 2009 when Blake won 6-4 6-4 in the second round.
Hewitt
The Australian defeated Souza in 1 hour and 47 minutes. Much of the battle was in the second set that the Hewitt won at the tiebreak. Lleyton served 11 aces on 10 service games.
“He played way better every time he was behind in the match,” said Hewitt. “Whenever he’d get back on serve in the second set, he actually played worse. When he was behind, he sort of just went for it a lot more. That was tough because he sort of had nothing to lose.”
Lleyton will play Simon in the second round. Head to head is 2-0 for Simon. The last time they played each other was in Miami 2009 when Simon won 6-1 6-2 in the second round.
Davydenko
Nikolay had an interesting match with Paolo Lorenzi. In fact, The Russian bageled the Italian twice in the match to disappear completely in the second set. Eventual Davydenko won 6-0 2-6 6-0… a result that is not really common among pros.
Davydenko will play Dolgolopov in the second round. Head to head is 2-0 for Davydenko.
