Blake surrendered a seemingly commanding two-sets-to-one advantage over Ivo Karlovic and exited his final US Open with a tough loss, 6-7, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6, 7-6.
With Blake teetering on the edge of retirement, in the place where he so memorably extended Andre Agassi to a late-night fifth-set tiebreak back in 2005, of course the match had to go to a final set breaker, round about midnight.
A final Karlovic ace, his 38th of the match, sealed the win for the Croat.
The towering Karlovic upped his game just as Blake’s dipped. Karlovic reversed what looked to be an insurmountable lead for Blake and disappointed the hometown crowd, who had hoped to spur Blake on to one last late night bit of magic at the US Open. Blake gave them reason to believe when he broke back to recover from a 4-2 deficit in the final set and send the match to overtime, but that was as much as he could manage.
After lengthy rain delays throughout the afternoon, the twilight hours on Louis Armstrong Stadium Wednesday seemed like a repeat of that old television show “Thirtysomething.” After 33-year-old Venus Williams bowed out in a heartbreaker, Blake, 33, and Karlovic, 34, took the court. The old “Here We Go James, Here We Go!” cries, sounding like the J-Block fan crew of yesteryear, sang out before the first ball.
Befitting Karlovic’s throwback serve-and-volley style, points throughout the match were unusually short, with 127 net approaches between the players. Blake may have been seeking to turn back the clock, but surely that’s not what he had in mind.
A final Karlovic ace, his 38th of the match, sealed the win for the Croat.
The towering Karlovic upped his game just as Blake’s dipped. Karlovic reversed what looked to be an insurmountable lead for Blake and disappointed the hometown crowd, who had hoped to spur Blake on to one last late night bit of magic at the US Open. Blake gave them reason to believe when he broke back to recover from a 4-2 deficit in the final set and send the match to overtime, but that was as much as he could manage.
After lengthy rain delays throughout the afternoon, the twilight hours on Louis Armstrong Stadium Wednesday seemed like a repeat of that old television show “Thirtysomething.” After 33-year-old Venus Williams bowed out in a heartbreaker, Blake, 33, and Karlovic, 34, took the court. The old “Here We Go James, Here We Go!” cries, sounding like the J-Block fan crew of yesteryear, sang out before the first ball.
Befitting Karlovic’s throwback serve-and-volley style, points throughout the match were unusually short, with 127 net approaches between the players. Blake may have been seeking to turn back the clock, but surely that’s not what he had in mind.
No comments:
Post a Comment