Mardy Fish defeats Blake in the US Open

Mardy Fish advance to the fourth round of the on-going US Open Tennis Championship after upsetting best friend and 9th Seed, James Blake.

The win is bitter sweet for the 26 year old as it came at the expense of a close friend who will also be one of his groomsman on his wedding.

It is quite admirable for him to set aside that momentarily and outplayed his pal in straight sets.

Pleased as Fish was to reach the U.S. Open's fourth round for the first time, he wasn't thrilled that he had to beat Blake to do it.

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 straight-sets win 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.

- Source, ESPN

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