 |
| James Blake returns a shot to Danai Udomchoke at the RCA Championships© Matthew Stockman/Getty Images |
INDIANAPOLIS (Ticker) -- James Blake and Andy Roddick look to reach the quarterfinals of the RCA Championship when the $575,000 hardcourt event continues Thursday.
The top seed, Blake takes on South African qualifier Wesley Whitehouse, who upset 16th seed and two-time Grand Slam champion Marat Safin in the second round Wednesday. Whitehouse had won just one ATP Tour-level match before this week.
Blake had a tough time beating Danai Udomchoke, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4, for his first win in four career matches here.
The winner will meet either No. 5 Tommy Haas or No. 10 Nicolas Mahut in the quarterfinals.
Roddick, Blake's Davis Cup teammate and the second seed, will take on fellow American Jeff Morrison in the third round. Roddick won this event in 2003 and 2004.
The victor will face either No. 12 Gilles Muller or Kenneth Carlsen in the round of eight.
Also in the bottom half of the draw, fourth seed and defending champion Robby Ginepri of the U.S. meets No. 15 Igor Kunitsyn of Russian and 11th-seeded American Paul Goldstein takes on No. 8 Paradorn Srichaphan of Thailand.
Third seed Fernando Gonzalez of Chile plays No. 14 Vincent Spadea of the U.S.,while No. 7 Dmitry Tursunov of Russia opposes ninth-seeded Belgian Xavier Malisse.