Blake reaches semi-finals after long day in New Haven

NEW HAVEN, Connecticut, Aug 24 (Reuters) In-form American James Blake survived a rollercoaster ride to win two matches and reach the semi-finals of the ATP event in New Haven.

The third seed, who reached the Cincinnati Masters final last weekend, had to save three match points to beat Argentine Agustin Calleri before turning on the style to hammer Spaniard Fernando Verdasco 6-4 6-2 yesterday.

Blake will meet fifth seed Paul-Henri Mathieu of France while American wildcard Mardy Fish takes on Croat Ivo Karlovic in the other semi-final.

''I felt great once I came back (against Calleri),'' Blake said.

''I easily was just one first serve from being out of here and on my way to Flushing Meadows (for the US Open). Now I'm still in it I feel great and I feel kind of lucky to be still at the tournament and still alive.'' Tuesday's virtual washout meant that the 16 remaining men faced the prospect of playing twice in a day but holder Nikolay Davydenko and second seed Tommy Robredo were both upended in the third round.

RECOVER Top seed Davydenko was ousted 6-4 6-4 by Frenchman Gilles Simon while Robredo was beaten 6-3 6-3 by Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland.

''I think now I need to recover mentally,'' Davydenko, who is seeded fourth at next week's US Open, said.

''I need to be physically good because they are five-set matches but I need to get confidence back.'' Mathieu, ranked a career-high 22, came from behind to beat in-form Spaniard Nicolas Almagro in the third round before seeing off his countryman Simon 6-4 6-3 in the final match of the day.

Fish continued his return to form, beating Argentine Jose Acasuso in three sets and then seeing off Wawrinka 6-3 6-3 to reach his first semi-final since February.

''Karlovic is extremely hard to play,'' Fish said.

''He puts an extreme amount of pressure on you to hold serve. I played him in the Australian Open in the first round in 2005 and I lost 7-6, 7-6, 7-6 and there were no breaks of serve.'' Eleventh seed Karlovic won two tight three-set matches to set up his clash with Fish.

First he came from behind to beat former Australian Open champion Thomas Johansson 4-6 6-4 7-5 and then he edged out Russian Igor Andreev 6-7 6-4 7-6.

REUTERS BJR RAI1049