James Blake is into the quarterfinals with a straightforward 7-5 6-1 victory over Evgeny Korolev in a match that lasted just 65 minutes.
 
Blake and Korolev were 1-1 in their head-to-head with the Russian's victory in Las Vegas in the round robin stage helping to hasten the end of the controversial system when Blake was re-instated by ATP chairman Etienne De Villiers and then removed after considerable protests from many players.

Today, this match was just about who could hit the ball harder and keep it in court as both men sought to dominate with their huge forehands.

With Korolev serving at 5-6, Blake earned himself 3 set points at 0-40 with a glorious inside-out backhand return winner. Although the Russian fought gallantly to save all 3, he gifted the American with a fourth set point with an unforced error on the forehand. He then disastrously missed a sitter of a forehand volley with the whole court open when Blake drove a forehand on the run straight at him.

The 39 minute opening set gave Blake the momentum in the second set as he broke in the fourth game with a peach of a backhand pass down the line, and got the insurance with a second break to go ahead 5-1.

He closed out the match with a service winner and goes into an intriguing quarterfinal match against German hero Philipp Kohlschreiber who ended the hopes of Pakistani qualifier Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi 6-3 6-4.

The first match of the day saw last year's finalist Thomas Berdych battle past awkward French veteran Fabrice Santoro 6-3 7-6(5)

Andre Jones
Gerry Weber Stadium
Halle

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