Fish and Blake are pals. Before heading out on court at Arthur Ashe Stadium for their third-round match, they hung out together in the locker room, watching college football highlights on TV. Next month, Blake will be a groomsman in Fish's wedding.
Setting all of that aside for about two hours, Fish constructed a 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 (4) victory Saturday night over the ninth-seeded Blake, who was born in New York and always draws loud support from spectators at Flushing Meadows.
Blake's best showings at Grand Slam tournaments have come at the U.S. Open, where he was a quarterfinalist in 2005 and 2006.
"I never want to see James lose. He is definitely a close friend of mine,'' Fish told the crowd afterward. "James is obviously an extremely tough out here. It feels like he's got 20,000 friends screaming in my ear.''
Fish served for the match at 5-4 in the third set, but he double-faulted twice and got broken.
"I got a little tight there, to be honest,'' Fish said.
But in the tiebreaker, it was Blake who had problems. He moved out to a 4-2 lead, then missed three consecutive backhands, part of Fish's five-point run to end the match.
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COIN'S FLIP: It was standing-room-only in a small secondary interview room Saturday. The world's top-ranked men's player, Rafael Nadal, was holding his post-match news conference nearby, but still reporters crowded around a woman ranked No. 188.
Julie Coin's magical run at the U.S. Open had just ended. On Thursday, the Frenchwoman stunned top-seeded Ana Ivanovic. It was the first time since the WTA computer rankings started in 1975 that a woman ranked so low beat a reigning world No. 1.
Coin lost 6-4, 6-4 in the third round to countrywoman Amelie Mauresmo, the No. 32 seed.
Coin said she was tired, and perhaps all the extra obligations after her huge victory contributed to that. Eventually, she will reflect on the magnitude of what she accomplished.
"Right now I'm just thinking about the loss,'' she said. "I'm not thinking about the rest.''
Mauresmo is 3 1/2 years older than the 25-year-old Coin, and the two don't know each other well. When they chatted in the locker room the other day, it was the first time since they were junior players.
"She said, 'You were 12, so you've changed a lot,''' Coin said.
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YOUNG BLOOD: The 22-year-old No. 1 seed, Rafael Nadal, is hardly the only young player in his half of the draw. Six other men under the age of 24 reached the fourth round on his side of the bracket.
Nadal's next opponent is 20-year-old American Sam Querrey. Also in the final eight on that half of the draw are Stanislas Wawrinka (23), Gael Monfils (21), Andy Murray (21), Juan Martin del Potro (19) and Kei Nishikori (18). Nishikori, who upset No. 4 David Ferrer in five sets Saturday night, is the youngest man in the U.S. Open's fourth round since Marat Safin in 1998.
The young guys are providing some showmanship. Monfils, who grew up admiring NBA players, hit a shot through his legs at one point, though the ball went into the net. He insisted the circus shot was out of necessity and not planned.
"Not at this time,'' he added with a sly grin.
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MURRAY COMES BACK: Jurgen Melzer of Austria, ranked No. 48 in the world, had a two-set lead on No. 6 seed Andy Murray and a chance to close out the match in a tiebreaker. But when he couldn't put it away, Murray went on to win 12 of the last 16 games for a five-set victory.
Murray squeaked into the fourth round with a 6-7 (5), 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-1, 6-4 win. He also rallied from down 2-0 in the fourth round at Wimbledon this year to beat Richard Gasquet. Murray lost his next match to Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals.
"I didn't think I was out of it, but I knew it was going to be tough to come back because he was playing really, really well,'' Murray said. "He was serving close to the lines and hitting the ball so hard and flat and very deep. Taking a lot of risks and it was going in for the most part. Just had to try and hang on.''
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