James Blake continued his dismal record at the Madrid Masters on Tuesday crashing out to Gilles Simon 3-6, 6-1, 6-4.
American's Shanghai hopes suffer in Spain
James Blake maintained his dismal, winless record at the Madrid Masters on Tuesday with the frustrated 11th seed crashing out to on-form Frenchman Gilles Simon 3-6, 6-1, 6-4.
Simon, winner of two titles since July, pounced on 46 unforced errors to hand Blake his fifth loss in the Spanish capital and put the American in grave danger of dropping in the race for the season-ending Masters Cup in Shanghai.
Blake's confidence would not have been high after losing in every one of his Madrid appearances dating to 2002 and the Olympic bronze medallist did his cause little good as he failed on nine of ten opportunities to break Simon.
The agile 16th-ranked Frenchman is riding a wave of form after winning Indianapolis and Bucharest in recent months and he becomes the first man into the third round.
First round
In first-round matches, Germany's Philip Kohlschreiber stopped Spanish veteran Carlos Moya 6-2, 6-2 while qualifier Marcel Granollers of Spain dispatched Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-4, 6-4.
Sunday's Vienna finalist Gael Monfils continued his indoor success as he beat Italian wild card Fabio Fognini 6-2, 6-4 and Stockholm semi-finalist Jarkko Nieminen reversed a run of three losses against Mikhail Youzhny, ousting the Russian 7-5, 3-6, 6-2.
In later showcase contests, top seed Rafael Nadal starts his week in singles against Latvian Ernests Gulbis while Britain's Andy Murray opens his Madird campaign against Simone Bolelli of Italy.
Both matches can be watched live on
Sky Sports.
