The way James Blake was playing in the first set, it looked like nobody in the world could beat him, let alone the 5-foot-9-inch, 158-pound Paul Goldstein.
So it can be understood if no one in the packed center court crowd imagined that by the end of the night they’d see one of the best matches of the tournament so far.
Blake held off a furious rally and a match point from Goldstein, one of his best friends, to win 6-0, 1-6, 7-5 and advance to Friday afternoon’s quarterfinal match with Vincent Spadea.
"A lot of guys that get down 6-0 would kind of throw in the towel … but (Goldstein) didn’t stop fighting," Blake said. "He made me work for everything."
Goldstein looked simply out-manned by Blake at the start of the match. Blake, known for his strong forehand, was ripping backhands down the lines for winners and jumping all over Goldstein’s serves while dominating the first set.
But, in the second set, a rejuvenated Goldstein seemed determined to give Blake his best effort, even if that meant attacking Blake’s forehand.
Goldstein came out more aggressively and capitalized on several errors by Blake, cruising through the set and putting himself right back into the match.
"In the first set, I was just scared (to go to Blake’s forehand), but in the second and third sets, I realized I just can’t be because he would just sit on his backhand," Goldstein said.
The third set more than made up for the one-sidedness of the previous two.
Goldstein and Blake traded big points off of long rallies, and both held serve through the first eight games of the set. With Goldstein serving and the game score tied at four games apiece, Blake worked his way to two break points and finally looked like he was about to break Goldstein.
But Goldstein, who had won some fans over in the crowd with his inspired play, fought off a few long rallies and came back to hold serve.
"It does, a lot of times, affect people when you have a break point and you let it go," Blake said. "I tried to not think about that at all during the changeover."
Blake started off the next game strong, winning the first two points easily, but Goldstein took the next three points, forcing match point.
Blake didn’t flinch and ripped a forehand down the line to force deuce. He went on to win the next two points, tying the match back up. A deflated Goldstein was unable recover.
"My only regret the whole match was not hitting a better ball when I had match point," Goldstein said. "I should have tried to get the ball up to make him hit a backhand because his forehand is one of the best in the world."
Blake, meanwhile, will go on to play a quarterfinal match against Spadea, just 16 hours after his match with Goldstein ended late Thursday night.
"I think I do enough training so that my legs will be OK," Blake said. "It’s just a matter of getting something to eat now and making sure I get some sleep."
QUICK HITS: Goldstein, who brought his five-week old daughter Sadie into the interview room after the match, has had an odd habit of bouncing the tennis ball through his legs between points since he was 11 years old.
Minnesota Timberwolves star Kevin Garnett, who attended the match in support of his friend Blake, took notice of Goldstein’s routine after the match.
"I’ve been doing it since I was 11 years old, so I don’t even know I’m doing it, but Kevin Garnett did just compliment me on it in the locker room, so I’ll take that with me to the grave," said Goldstein.
The crowd was on edge for the entire third set of the match, which raised comparisons for Blake between the atmosphere of this match and the five-set classic that he lost to Andre Agassi at the US Open in 2005.
"It wasn’t quite the same stage, but it reminded me a little bit of the match I played with Agassi at the Open where the crowd could kind of first be cheering for one and then be cheering for the other, wanting to see more tennis,” he said.
“That was a good feeling ““ it’s fun. I generally like to have a biased crowd my way, but if not, it’s great to have that kind of back-and-forth.”