James Blake plays point-for-point with No. 4 Del Potro, just missing victory in marathon match

Blake nearly upsets Del Potro in marathon match

MELBOURNE, Australia — Nearly four hours into a grueling match at the Australian Open, James Blake thought he was still capable of beating U.S. Open champion Juan Martin Del Potro.

He had been leading two sets to one, but the second-rounder eventually went to five sets. And Blake’s has won only four times in 17 Grand Slam singles matches that went to five sets.

Del Potro broke Blake’s serve three times in the deciding set to win 6-4, 6-7 (3), 5-7, 6-3, 10-8 in a match that lasted four hours and 17 minutes.

“It’s tough to rank them,” Blake said of those five-set losses at the majors. “But right now it hurts pretty bad.”

Blake, a former No. 4 trying to play his way back into the top 25 after a poor showing in 2009, was left to ice his knees and mull his future.

“I felt really good about my chances,” he said. “I was encouraged by the way I was playing and felt I could win that match.

“I just missed a couple of balls at the wrong times and he made a couple at the right times. Nothing discouraged me until that last ball that I missed.”

Blake recovered from a broken neck and a case of shingles in 2004 to reach his highest ranking in 2006. But after 32 Grand Slam events, he has yet to move past the quarterfinals — a level he’s reached only on three occasions.

Del Potro had a chance to serve for the match at 6-5 in the fifth set after breaking Blake. But Blake broke back, helped by two unforced errors by the 21-year-old Argentine.

Del Potro again broke Blake for a 9-8 lead and another chance to serve it out. He closed with a big serve out to Blake’s backhand side on his first match point.

As the match ended, Del Potro crossed himself, and Blake got a standing ovation from the crowd as he trudged off the court.

“I don’t feel like anything I did out there strategy-wise was wrong,” Blake said, “I feel like I played the match the right way and just came up a little short or he excelled when he needed to.”

Del Potro, entering a Grand Slam tournament for the first time as a reigning major champion, thought that he and Blake had been matched evenly until the end.

“Blake is too fast,” he said. “He play very strong with his forehand. He never missed easy points, easy forehand. It’s very difficult to keep trying, keep going.”

Blake was bothered throughout the match by his tender right knee, getting treatment twice and taping it up after the first set. He has struggled with tendinitis and was back on court Wednesday after a Tuesday match that had been delayed a day due to rain.

“Playing two days in a row on a knee with tendinitis isn’t the best thing for it,” the 30-year-old American said. “It was pretty sore.”

But he didn’t blame his knees or his lack of rest, acknowledging that Del Potro is near the top of the men’s rankings for a reason.

“He started doing a great job on return games, putting every return in,” Blake said. “As soon as I let any ball sit up a little bit he was being very aggressive and taking it to me and coming up with winners. That’s the kind of tennis he plays to get to No. 4 or 5 in the world like he is right now.”

Blake said he would try to remain positive.

“There’s always next week out here on tour,” he said, meaning the first week of February, after the two-week Australian Open is finished. “Hopefully I’ll be in better spirits.”