Melbourne, Australia – James Blake overcame a shaky start to give occasional hitting partner Alex Kuznetsov a lesson in how to play at the majors with a 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 drubbing in the second round of the Australian Open.
In the women’s draw, Kim Clijsters and Martina Hingis raced each other into the third round, coming at it from different sides of retirement.
Clijsters extended the winning start to her farewell tour, beating Akiko Morigami 6-3, 6-0.
Joking she was racing to get done today before Clijsters, Hingis continued building momentum in her comeback with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Russian Alla Kudryavtseva.
Blake and Kuznetsov have practiced together, but never officially played.
Kuznetsov, who moved from Ukraine to the United States at age 3, shocked Blake with his power when they first hit together four years ago.
The fifth-seeded Blake got another surprise this time, losing his serve twice and trailing 3-0 in the first set to a player ranked No. 216. But he turned things around with winners off his go-for-broke style, never facing another break point.
“I know how dangerous he can be,” Blake said. “I think maybe at that point he started realizing what he was doing, what court he was on and kind of the arena that he was in.
“That’s something I hopefully have going for me now, is a little bit of experience, and to ride that storm that Alex was kind of bringing to me.”
From 2-4, he ran off the last four games of the first set, dropping only four points. Suddenly, Kuznetsov was pressing and overhitting.
At one point Blake showed his athleticism by tracking down a backhand in the corner, turning around completely, then rushing to the net on the far side to get to a drop volley that took him out of court. He flicked a forehand that ticked the net and hopped over Kuznetsov’s racket for a winner.
He also turned what appeared to be a certain overhead winner for Kuznetsov into a winning lob. Kuznetsov stood afterward with his hands on his hips, as if to say, “What do I have to do?”
