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Blake, Rusedski advance at Newport tennis
James Blake posted a victory over Dick Norman at the Hall of Fame Champs, his first match in more than two months due to an injury.
James Blake posted a 7-6 (9/7), 6-3 victory over Belgian Dick Norman on Tuesday at the Hall of Fame Championships, his first match in more than two months due to a neck injury.
"I felt pretty good out there," Blake said. "I think there was a little bit of rustiness out there in the beginning, but I'm just happy to be back on the courts."
A 24-year-old American, Blake hurt his neck when he slipped into the net during practice at the Italia Masters in Rome. He had lost four straight matches before Tuesday.
"No problems with the neck or back," he said. "I didn't feel tired. My legs felt all right. I'm happy I was doing plenty of biking while I was off and keeping my legs as strong as I could. I felt great."
Blake is making his sixth straight appearance in Newport, having lost the 2002 final to Taylor Dent.
Top seed Vincent Spadea opened the grasscourt event with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 win over fellow American Jeff Salzenstein.
Spadea is seeking his second title of the year, having won a hardcourt event in Phoenix.
"I was just hanging in there and playing every game the same," Spadea said after winning the last four games of the match. "He just made a few loose errors."
Six other seeds were in action Tuesday, including No. 3 Jurgen Melzer of Austria, who routed Jan Hernych of the Czech Republic, 6-2, 6-4. Melzer lost last year's Newport final to Robby Ginepri.
Hard-serving Englishman Greg Rusedski bounced fourth seed Gregory Carraz of France, 6-1, 4-6, 6-3.
Rusedski is the only former champion in the field. He claimed his first of 13 ATP Tour titles here in 1993.
Fifth-seeded Frenchman Cyril Saulnier moved on with a 6-1, 4-6, 6-1 triumph over American wild card Justin Gimelstob.
Jeff Morrison won a battle of Americans, bouncing sixth seed Jan-Michael Gambill, 6-2, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3.
Other seeds to advance were No. 7 Alexander Popp of Germany and No. 8 Antony Dupuis of France.
Unseeded victors were Nicolas Mahut of France, American Alex Bogomolov Jr. and Kenneth Carlsen of Denmark.
