Blake v Gonzales

Match Date: 15th August 2008

Beijing Olympics 2008 Semi Final

Blake enters the Olympic Semi final after his first ever career win over Federer 6-4, 7-6 (2), Blake is riding high at the minute, his confidence growing with every match. The more Blake plays here at Beijing the better he is playing, he has enourmous experience under pressure having played in the Davis Cup, no wins as yet this year but a gold medal would make up for that.

Fernando Gonzalez of Chile is ranked fourteen in the world, he won Bronze four years ago at Athens and gold in the doubles, he has revealed that it is his one aim to win the gold in the singles. The pair have met on six occasions before and it is evenly split, Blake won the only match they have played on clay.

A very even match here, hard to predict the winner, both men have quietly and solidly played their way to the semis, Blake believes he can win and as the odds suggest he perhaps just has the edge.

Head to Head Record

Year	Tournament	Round	Surface	Winner	Score
1997	ITF Sunshine Cup and Connolly Continental Cup		Clay	F.GONZALEZ	3-6 6-4 4-6
2002	Rome	16	Clay	J.BLAKE	4-6 6-3 6-3
2002	Paris Open	64	Carpet	J.BLAKE	6-7(4) 6-4 6-4
2003	Paris Open	64	Carpet	J.BLAKE	6-3 6-4
2005	Auckland	32	Hard	F.GONZALEZ	6-7(4) 1-6
2005	Indian Wells	32	Hard	F.GONZALEZ	4-6 6-0 3-6
2006	Davis Cup 2006		Grass	F.GONZALEZ	7-6(5) 6-0 6-7(2) 4-6 8-10
2007	Australian Open	16	Hard	F.GONZALEZ	5-7 4-6 6-7(4)
2007	World Team Cup		Clay	F.GONZALEZ	4-6 5-7
2008	Olympic Tennis Event - Beijing	SF	Hard	F.GONZALEZ	6-4 5-7 9-11
Fernando GONZALEZ (CHI) Leads James BLAKE (USA) : 7 to 3

Review

An epic encounter which really lived up the pre-match assessment of this being too close to call.

Blake had three match points at 6-5 in the deciding set but it was Fernando Gonzales who eventually won through 4-6 7-5 11-9.