American No.12 seed James Blake has staged a remarkable comeback on Vodafone Arena to defeat flashy Frenchman Sebastian Grosjean 4-6 2-6 6-0 7-6(5) 6-2.
For the first time in his career Blake came from two sets down and will now progress to the fourth round for the second straight year.
Grosjean came out firing early on, matching the big-hitting Blake from the back of the court. The Frenchman, a semi-finalist here in 2001, broke Blake twice in the opening set and comfortably won 6-4.
A similar pattern continued into the second set, where Grosjean could do no wrong, hitting winners all over the court, whilst Blake's serving let him down. Grosjean easily took the set 6-2 and looked to be on course for a major upset.
Grosjean's concentration lapsed in the third set, allowing Blake back into the match. picked up his first service percentage to 68, whilst Grosjean's dropped to below 50% for the first time in the match. Blake went on to break Grosjean three times to take the set 6-0.
The fourth set turned into an epic battle, with both players breaking serve on numerous occasions. Grosjean raced to a 4-1 lead before Blake fought his way back to force a tie break. Despite more winners coming from the Frenchman's racquet, Blake levelled the match at two-sets all, winning the tiebreak 7-5.
The vocal Vodafone Arena crowd were cheering for a close final set, but Blake's dominance and heavy-hitting proved too much for Grosjean, whose tired legs began to show. The No.12 seed gained a double break and never looked back, winning the final set 6-2. Blake will now play Marin Cilic of Croatia for a place in the quarter finals.
