Blake can't close deal against Haas

NEW YORK -- James Blake certainly had his chances to avoid another fifth-set disappointment.

Seven times, he was 2 points away from victory Monday at the U.S. Open.

Three times, he was a single point away.

Blake failed to convert all 3 of those match points, then played about as poorly as he did all day in the final-set tiebreaker and lost 4-6, 6-4, 3-6, 6-0, 7-6 (4) to No. 10 Tommy Haas in the fourth round.

"I was a little indecisive at the end there," said Blake, who was 0-9 in five-setters until finally winning one in the second round last week. "Did come down to 1 or 2 points there. It's frustrating I didn't win them this time."

The match ended a tad oddly, with a raucous, pro-Blake crowd hushed during instant-replay challenges on each of the final 2 points. While waiting for the final replay -- which showed that Haas' 113 mph ace was, indeed, in -- the players smiled sheepishly at each other and approached the net for a handshake they knew was coming.

"I'm not going to celebrate like crazy right in front of him," Haas said.

The No. 6-seeded Blake's defeat means this is the first U.S. Open since 1998 that there won't be at least two American men in the quarterfinals. Andy Roddick is the host country's last representative, and he figures the easy part of his tournament is over.

And, boy, has it been easy so far.

The 2003 champion strolled into the quarterfinals when No. 9 Tomas Berdych stopped playing early in the second set because he was having trouble breathing, meaning two of Roddick's four foes at Flushing Meadows have quit on him.

And both of Roddick's matches that were completed, against men ranked 475th and 68th, were over in three sets.

Now things could get interesting -- and a lot more daunting -- for the No. 5-seeded American: No. 1 Roger Federer would be next if he beat Feliciano Lopez late Monday night.

Haas, meanwhile, will face No. 4 Nikolay Davydenko in the quarterfinals. Davydenko, at the center of a gambling probe being conducted by the men's professional tour, eliminated Lee Hyung-taik 6-1, 6-3, 6-4.

Roddick wasn't sure how much of Federer-Lopez he would try to catch on TV. After all, it's not as though he counted on gaining any insight into Federer's game.

"I don't think I'm going to watch him and discover that he's good," Roddick said. "No offense to Lopez, but I'm kind of already preparing for Roger."

Those words sounded as if they were spoken with an air of dread rather than anticipation, and for good reason: Federer is 13-1 against Roddick, including victories in last year's U.S. Open final and, most recently, in January in the Australian Open semifinals.

"You feel the extra weight of most big matches. That's just the way it is. But I'm excited. I expect a lot of myself," said Roddick, who was ahead 7-6 (6), 2-0 when Berdych packed it in. "I don't think anybody else really expects much from me."

Worried they couldn't expect much interest in the two low-wattage women's quarterfinals coming Wednesday -- 2004 champion Svetlana Kuznetsova against 18-year-old Agnes Szavay of Hungary, and No. 6 Anna Chakvetadze against No. 18 Shahar Peer -- U.S. Open officials changed things up. With both players' approval, they shifted the quarterfinal between six-time major champion Venus Williams and No. 3 Jelena Jankovic from today to Wednesday night.

Kuznetsova beat Victoria Azarenka 6-2, 6-3, Szavay defeated Julia Vakulenko 6-4, 7-6 (1), Chakvetadze beat 16-year-old Tamira Paszek 6-1, 7-5, and Peer became the first Israeli woman to reach the U.S. Open quarterfinals by eliminating No. 30 Agnieszka Radwanska, 6-4, 6-1.

Radwanska knocked off defending champion Maria Sharapova in the third round but couldn't keep up with Peer, who built a 20-4 advantage in winners.

Blake and Haas both ripped winner after winner from all angles, remarkably on-target. Blake finished with 75 winners to only 38 unforced errors, while Haas' ratio was 69-39.

Blake's quality dipped in the tiebreaker, though, which he began by flubbing a groundstroke. At 3-3 came the point of the match, a 15-stroke exchange in which Haas lofted two terrific lobs. On the first, Blake sprinted back to the baseline and hit an over-the-shoulder shot to extend the point. On the second, he had no chance.

"I just felt, like, 'OK, let's try it again,' " Haas said. "What a point! If I would have lost that point, the crowd would have gone absolutely ballistic."

Instead, Blake then double-faulted to fall behind 5-3, and soon it was over. How distant his match points must have seemed then.

All of the American's oh-so-close opportunities came when he led 5-4 in the fifth set with Haas serving. Blake's first match point arrived courtesy of a double-fault. Haas recovered from that gaffe to produce a 116 mph serve, drawing a weak return from Blake that the German turned into a forehand winner.

Haas erased the second match point with a 117 mph service winner, and the third with a 119 mph service winner.

"He can get hot like that," Blake said. "He's talented."

The German reached No. 2 in the rankings in 2002, but that professional success was dampened by personal sorrow in July that year when Haas' parents were seriously injured in a motorcycle crash. He took six weeks off from tennis while they recuperated -- and then he missed all of 2003 after two operations on his right shoulder.

He's struggled with injuries in 2007, too, pulling out of a match against Federer at Wimbledon because of a torn abdominal muscle.

Blake's annus horribilis was 2004: He lost his father to cancer, broke a disk in his neck during a practice session, and got a virus that paralyzed his face.

Haas and Blake know each other's stories well.

"Both of us playing at this level again, playing in front of an unbelievable crowd -- I mean, it's as good as it gets for us," Haas said. "I know one of us had to lose today. I think we both can be very proud of what we've achieved."

He, of course, was prouder. The U.S. Open is the only major that uses a fifth-set tiebreaker. Not surprisingly, Haas loves that.

"Every Grand Slam," he said, "should have it."