Fish is best man on this night

He bounces Blake, gains fourth round

Mardy Fish has marriage plans next month but this week he has an unexpected fourth-round date at the US Open. (Joshua Lott/Reuters)

NEW YORK - The topspin lob was completely unexpected and all James Blake could do was turn and stare as the ball Mardy Fish had just lofted over his head bounced 6 inches inside the baseline, giving Fish a crucial break of serve and a 3-2 lead in the third set of their third-round match at the US Open last night. Without a speck of emotion, Blake sauntered to his courtside chair and plunked down, staring blankly straight ahead.

On the other side of the umpire's chair, Fish also sat motionless, his eyes belying the churning of his insides brought about by being on the verge of the biggest US Open victory of his nine-year career. Seven games and a wrenching tiebreaker later, after Fish had nervously squandered a 5-3 lead and lost three straight games before winning the match with an ace and a service winner, the 26-year-old walked toward the net, a 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) winner and into the Round of 16 at the Open for the first time. There was no celebrating beyond a shake of the hands. Fish gave his pal a conciliatory pat on the stomach.

When this tournament is over, Fish will focus on more important matters - his marriage to lawyer/model Stacy Gardner. When Fish and Gardner stroll down the aisle in Los Angeles at the end of next month, Blake, his friend, practice partner, and former roommate in Tampa, will be right behind them. As a groomsman in the wedding, Blake, along with his brother Thomas, will help escort the guests, make a toast or two, and, of course, make sure that Fish doesn't get into too much trouble at his bachelor party.

Blake's fan base did everything it could to pull their man out of lackluster performance. Whether it was the difficulty of playing a close friend for a spot in the Open's last 16 or the culmination of a tough summer in which he lost early at the French Open and Wimbledon and then upset top-seeded Roger Federer at the Olympics only to lose to Chilean Francisco Gonzalez and finish just out of medal contention, Blake seemed completely spent. Even the enthusiastic nighttime crowd, which did everything it could to distract Fish, couldn't lift Blake.

"It seemed like he had 20,000 friends screaming in my ear," said Fish, who will face 32d-seeded Gael Monfils for a spot in the quarterfinals. "I got a little tight, to be honest."

Much has been made of Blake's friends, the J-Block. Wearing matching light blue T-shirts and perched in the upper echelons of the stands, they hoot and holler and chant in deafening unison, sounding more like overaged frat boys than respectful tennis fans. After the group had been particularly noisy during a quiet afternoon in which Blake easily won his second-round match over Steve Darcis earlier in the week, Blake defended their actions, failing to recognize the possible unsportsmanlike conduct.

But after Fish implored chair umpire Steve Ullrich to ask the fans to quiet down, Blake shook his head, clearly not sure quite how to react.

But no amount of support could have helped Blake; only Fish's nerves could do so, and they almost succeeded. Serving for the match at 5-4, Fish double-faulted twice. When Blake went up, 4-2, in the breaker, it briefly looked like the match would be extended to a fourth set. But Fish won five straight points for the victory.

A perk to hanging around the US Open, 20-year-old American Sam Querrey admitted after he had upset 14th-seeded Ivo Karlovic, 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-5), 6-2, yesterday to advance to the Round of 16 at a major for the first time in his young career, was that he had made it to the "CBS weekend." With an 11 a.m. start time, however, Querrey was concerned - unnecessarily, as it turned out - that his match might not make the weekend broadcast.

Querrey recalled his first career meeting with Rafael Nadal, in TV terms.

"The main thing from that match I remember," said Querrey, "was that I was playing at 2 and I knew ESPN went on the air at 3. I wanted to make it to 3 to get some ESPN time, which I did."

Never mind that Querrey, then just 18, took the first set from Nadal in a tiebreaker that day in Cincinnati (though he would go on to lose the match), at least his family and friends could set their DVRs and follow along with him.

Despite two years on the ATP Tour, his first career title (in March at the Tennis Channel Open, where else?), a stint as a US Davis Cup practice partner, and a trip to the Beijing Olympics, Querrey is still wide-eyed and excited at the thought of making it to the second week at a major and a second meeting with Nadal, who earned a 6-4, 6-3, 6-0 victory over Serbian Viktor Troicki.

The 6-foot-6-inch Querrey got to Week 2 by beating the 6-10 Karlovic at his own game. While Karlovic had more aces (24) than Querrey (20), the American was more effective with his serve, winning a staggering 62 of 72 points when he got his first serve in.

Sixth-seeded Andy Murray and 10th-seeded Stanislas Wawrinka needed five sets to secure spots in the fourth round. And 18-year-old Kei Nishikori, ranked No. 126 in the world, delighted the crowd with the biggest win of his career, a 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 2-6, 7-5 upset of fourth seed David Ferrer.

Nishikori is the youngest man to reach the fourth round here since Marat Safin reached the Round of 16 as an 18-year-old in 1998 before losing to Pete Sampras. He is also the youngest man to beat one of the top four seeds at the US Open since Bjorn Borg, then 17, upset third-seeded Arthur Ashe in the third round in 1973. He is also the first Japanese to reach the last 16 at the US Championships since 1937.

Just two days after lodging the biggest upset of her career by removing the No. 1 seed, Ana Ivanovic, Julie Coin of France went out meekly to her countrywoman, former world No. 1 Amelie Mauresmo, 6-4, 6-4. The 32d-seeded Mauresmo, a two-time semifinalist here and former Wimbledon and Australian Open champion, will face Flavia Pennetta for a spot in the quarterfinals.

Also advancing were Venus and Serena Williams, who lodged identical 6-2, 6-1 wins over Alona Bondarenko and 33-year-old Ai Sugiyama, respectively, and Agnieszka Radwanska, who crushed Dominika Cibulkova, 6-0, 6-3. Radwanska, who made a name for herself by upsetting defending champion Maria Sharapova in the third round here last year, will take on Venus Williams, whom she routed in their only prior meeting, two years ago indoors in Luxembourg.

Sixth-seeded Dinara Safina nearly saw her hopes dashed by 60th-ranked Timea Bacsinszky before fighting back for a 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 victory.