Garden-Variety Upset for Blake in Semifinal

The Pacific Life Open tournament final today will match a former Harvard student against the current poet laureate of men’s tennis. Fans are encouraged to bring pencils and notepads.

The semifinals of this Tennis Masters Series event Saturday were supposed to deliver yet another Roger Federer-Rafael Nadal final showdown, but American James Blake did not stand on form. And there was a fair indication in the reaction by a sellout crowd of 16,260 at Indian Wells Garden, when Nadal’s service return on match point settled into the net to complete Blake’s 7-5, 6-3 victory, that a Blake-Federer final was just fine.

At the moment of match point, the crowd stood as one, spontaneously. Blake took off his blue headband, bowed to them, clapped back to them and gave them the thumbs up. The fan reaction was a tribute to a player who, as recently as a year ago, was struggling to stay in the top 100 after going through a year of injury and tragedy in 2004.

Sports fans love comeback stories, and most tennis fans are familiar with Blake’s. In the same year that he broke a bone in his neck when he crashed into a net post during practice, and then suffered from a disease that left him dizzy and partially paralyzed, he watched his father die. For Blake, it has been a long way back

Going into the semifinals, the only issue appeared to be who would play No. 1 Federer. And Federer got that formality out of the way quickly by beating an overmatched Paradorn Srichaphan, the pride of Thailand, 6-2, 6-3. Mostly, it was the Yankees versus a triple-A team. Federer, who is trying to win this event for the third consecutive year, got a little sweat started in a one-hour workout against Srichaphan, who is ranked 60 spots below him. Afterward, he critiqued his game with typical Federer understatement.

“It was good, solid, consistent, really,” he said. “It was what I was hoping for.”

He may have also been hoping for another shot at the Spanish teenager, Nadal, who is No. 2, beat him two weeks ago in the final at Dubai and has a 3-1 record against him. But Federer is too savvy to say that, and Blake was too good, on another cold, windy day in the desert, to let it happen.

Blake had beaten Nadal before, in their only previous meeting at last year’s U.S. Open. But Nadal, a fun, goofy left-hander with huge groundstrokes and an infectious smile, has become a much bigger name in tennis with his victory at last year’s French Open, his 13 tournament titles and his giant-killer ability against Federer.

None of that deterred Blake, who created a smart plan with his longtime coach, Brian Barker, and followed it perfectly. Blake approached the net 38 times, got the point 28 of those times, and ended up being the successful aggressor against a player who also likes to attack, but who, like many clay-court specialists, prefers to do so from 10 feet behind the baseline.

“Against a player like Rafael,” Blake said, “you have to jump on that first chance. You can’t wait for two or three or four opportunities in a point.”

Blake got to his first set point with Nadal serving at 5-6, 15-40. He came to the net and was passed. At 30-40, still set point, he did the same and Nadal hit wide. In the second set, Blake’s chance came with Nadal serving at 3-4. Nadal saved two break points, but on the third, Blake charged again and Nadal, back on his heels, tried to flip a quick lob over Blake’s head. The shot went just wide.

Nadal, struggling with English but improving daily, summed up his effort quickly.

“I try, I try my best,” he said. “I fight all match. Then I want to say congratulate.”

When it comes to Federer, Blake is like most players on the tour. He hasn’t beaten him. They have played twice.

Blake said part of his effort today will be to stay calm.

“I’m excited,” he said, “But I need to work on my Hollywood acting skills and pretend that I’m not.”

Nadal, asked about the final, was briefer.

“Federer,” he said.

*

The Bryan twins of Camarillo, Bob and Mike, the No. 1-ranked doubles team in the world, lost Saturday’s men’s final, 6-4, 6-4, to Mark Knowles, the former UCLA player from the Bahamas, and Daniel Nestor of Canada.