Blake has never won the tournament but it's the fourth time he's reached the quarterfinals. The third-seeded Blake last reached semifinals in the tournament in 2003.
"I thought I played really well again,'' said Blake. "I served well. It was a slightly different matchup, he's not going to hit so many cold winners off returns but he will put a lot of balls into play and I got a lot balls out of his reach.''
After the match, Blake exchanged words with the Frenchman because of some on-court antics. "He's was doing some stuff we used to do in Juniors. He's too good for that. He's a very good player and I have a lot of respect for his game.
"He was moving when I was looking at him or when I'm tossing the ball. These are things I think don't really have a place on the pro tour.''
Blake will face 21-year-old Sam Querrey in the quarters. Blake is 3-1 against Querry.
The sixth-seeded Querrey knocked off Denis Gremelmayr 6-3, 6-2 to advance to the quarterfinals. Earlier this year, he lost in the finals of the Auckland Open to Juan Martin Del Potro.
"I played really well,'' said Querrey. "The first five games were close, We were at 2-2 and I came back and held there.
"After I won the first set and broke the first game of the second set I had all the momentum. I looked at my serving percentage it was in the 70's. You aren't going to lose many matches if you are serving that well.''
Querrey had 12 aces in the match to run his total to 28 for the first two rounds.
Former finalist Mardy Fish reached his first quarterfinals since the U.S. Open last September when he struggled past John Isner 6-2, 6-7 (4), 7-5.
Fifth-seeded Fish hit 13 aces to Isner's 15, and broke his fellow American three times without losing his own serve in the second round.
Also, qualifier Todd Widom made it to his first ever ATP quarterfinals when he overcame Taylor Dent 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-2 in another all-American match
Widom hadn't won on the tour since 2006 until this week and was ranked 270th. He earned a match with fourth-seeded Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic.
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