Blake Ousted By Monfils

James Blake's run ended at the French Open is over. Into the third round for the first time at Roland Garros, the eighth seeded American was eliminated by 19-year-old Frenchman Gael Monfils (25) in five sets 6-2, 6-7 (2), 7-6 (1), 5-7, 6-4.

The final American male left entering Sunday, Blake gave it his all in a competitive third round match which needed two days to complete. Ultimately though, he fell short against Monfils, making it the fifth straight year no U.S. men reached the second week in Paris.

"Right now, I'm disappointed. I'm not fired up to lose that match," Blake told reporters at a postmatch conference.

"I want to do new things I've never done in my career and continue getting better on clay and keep proving myself to everyone that says Americans can't play on clay and everyone that probably didn't think I would even get this far. I definitely think I've done a good job, but there's obviously always room for improvement."

Back on the court after splitting the first two sets Saturday before darkness postponed play, Blake dropped the third set to Monfils in a tiebreak to trail two sets to one.

With his back against the wall though, Blake rallied to claim the fourth set to square the match, forcing a deciding fifth set. In it, each player traded heavy groundstrokes from the baseline during heated rallies which produced some winners. Blake used his power while Monfils countered with his speed to stay on serve for the first eight games.

Finally at four apiece, Monfils made his move to break Blake. During an exciting rally in which Monfils tracked down three Blake shots which could've been winners, the fiery Frenchman caught a break when Blake netted a volley to put Monfils a game away from the fourth round. After pumping his fist repeatedly to the delight of the partisan crowd, he served it out to advance. When a Blake return sailed long, a jubilant Monfils pointed to the crowd twice before receiving congrats from Blake.

"It's fantastic. It's a big moment in my career," Monfils said after making the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the first time. "It could have gone either way. The crowd helped me pull through."

"His [Monfils] game also takes a ton of effort, to keep doing that over and over, to make those kind of gets, to come up with those kind of shots," pointed out Blake.

"I felt like he was a little more worn down than I was, but I missed a few that I shouldn't have. He managed to keep steady."

Monfils will meet another 19-year-old in the Round of 16 Monday when he'll take on Serbia and Montenegro's Novak Djokovic. Djokovic will have an extra day of rest against an opponent who won his third consecutive five setter.

"He's a very good player," Monfils said of Djokovic. The two are no strangers to each other. Last time they met at the U.S. Open, a health plagued Djokovic cameback to win a controversial five set first round match thanks to two injury timeouts. This time a lot more will be on the line with each looking to advance to their first ever slam quarterfinal.

"It's going to be a big match again. I hope that it might be a bit more fair play than last time," Monfils noted. "But I expect a big match. He couldn't breathe and he had a problem in the calf of his leg, then he had pain somewhere else."

"I don't think it was a very good way of playing. But I think he's more mature now. He has more experience. He's not going to repeat that, I think, in France. He's clever enough not to do that. In the meantime, we got very friendly."

Also a third round winner was fourth seeded Croat Ivan Ljubicic, who completed a comeback 4-6, 5-7, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 win over Argentine Juan Monaco. Ljubicic will play Spaniard Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo a day later for a spot in the final eight.

Two other Round of 16 men's matches will take place later today with defending champ Rafael Nadal (2) playing Lleyton Hewitt (14) and Spaniard Alberto Martin taking on Frenchman Julien Benneteau.

In Round of 16 action Sunday, top seeded Roger Federer easily dispatched of Tomas Berdych (20) 6-3, 6-2, 6-3 to setup a quarterfinal against 12th seeded Croat Mario Ancic. Ancic overcame late cramps and vomiting to beat seventh seeded Spaniard Tommy Robredo 6-4, 4-6, 2-6, 6-4, 7-5.

One other quarter is set. In a battle of Argentines, third seeded David Nalbandian ousted Martin Vassallo Arquello 6-4, 6-4, 6-4. He'll next face Nikolay Davydenko. The sixth seeded Russian eliminated former French Open champion Gaston Gaudio (10) in four sets 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.