Blakes Impress at Rolex Invite

The ITA/Rolex National Indoor Tennis Championships is one of those events where you have to earn your way into the draw by being one of the finalists in a regional tournament.

Senior co-captain Tom Blake and his younger brother freshman James Blake were the finalists in the Eastern regional--Tom won the tournament--earning both a trip to Dallas, Texas this past weekend to compete against the nation's best college tennis players.

In addition, the brothers thought it might be nice to play in the Rolex doubles draw as well, so they also won that portion of the region.

In Dallas, the Blakes laced 'em up and performed admirably, and symmetrically, in the singles and doubles draws. Both reached the quarterfinals of the singles portion of the tournament and the pair made the semifinals of the doubles tournament.

The nature of the tournament--the draw includes two players from eight regional tournaments and 16 wild card invited players--ensures that the competition will mostly be drawn from the top 40 in the country, making it one of the biggest tournaments of the year.

In his quarterfinal match, Tom Blake was not at his best. Having played long matches in two previous rounds, Blake had the misfortune of facing Robert Samuelsson of Tulane--a tough baseliner who extended the points as long as possible.

"Tom was very tired and had a tough time dealing with his opponent's consistency," James Blake said. "It wasn't a bad loss; [Samuelsson] played a good match, although I am sure [Tom] thought he could've done better."

The senior eventually lost the match, 6-1, 7-6 (7-4), ending what had been a very impressive run. In the second round, Blake faced Cedric Kaufman of Kentucky--ranked number three in the nation heading into the tournament.

"Tom lost to [Kaufman] at All-Americans and came in determined this time to win," James Blake said.

The senior did just that, scoring the upset in a close battle, 7-6 (9-7), 6-7 (7-5), 6-2.

For the younger brother, the quarterfinals were similarly unkind. Facing Duke's number one player, Doug Root, James Blake fell 7-6 (7-5), 6-1.

"He played a great match," Blake said.

Like his brother, James scored am impressive upset in the second round of the draw. The freshman was matched up with an old acquaintance--Mike Bryan of Stanford, No. 10 in the nation heading into the weekend.

"He's sophomore, and I have known him for a long time. He's always been ranked high in the country," Blake said. "I was very happy to come out with a win."

The victory (6-4, 6-7 (7-5), 6-2) coupled with James Blake's play throughout the weekend is sure to increase his ranking from No. 34 in the nation.

In the doubles draw, the brothers Blake dominated play until the semifinals, where a more experienced pair of brothers took the Blakes out.

"In the semis we lost to the Bryan twins from Stanford," James Blake said. "They have played together for quite a while and really know how to play doubles together."

The 6-2, 7-6 (7-1) loss highlighted the contrast between the experienced Bryan brothers and the relatively inexperienced Blakes.

"We've played almost no doubles together; we're very inexperienced," James Blake said. "The only time before was at the U.S. Open qualifying tournament. We played great together, and the coaches thought it seemed like a good idea."

For James Blake, the importance of the Roles tournament was not lost as he took the court for the first time.

"I beat a seed in the first round," Blake said. "I started off tentative. There are four big tournaments in a year and I missed the first two.

"Playing a seed in the first round of my first big tournament, I was nervous. Once I got into the swing of things, I did just fine."

Putting things in perspective for the Harvard team, the younger Blake feels that his weekend was a positive sign.

"For the team, this is a good sign for things to come," Blake said. "We have a solid one-two combination and the intimidation factor should help us. In two weeks we'll play at least three of the top-ranked teams in the nation, and we'll see how good as a team we really are."

In the meantime, the Blake brothers have already given notice as to how good they are.