Haas out as Blake triumphs

Haas was hampered by an arm injury

Click here for Friday's results from Memphis

Number one seed Tommy Haas was knocked out of the Kroger St Jude tournament by James Blake.

Blake, ranked eighth in the Memphis tournament, defeated the German with ease 6-3 6-1 on Friday.

The 22-year-old troubled Haas from the outset of the match, coming close to breaking his serve on two occasions before finally doing so in the seventh game.

Haas, who was struggling with an arm injury, had no response in the second set as Blake lifted his tempo still further.

Afterwards Blake described the result as the biggest win of his career.

Malisse fought back to beat Todd Martin

He added: "I finally came up with enough to get a win."

A disappointed Haas afterwards complained about his injury but was full of praise for his opponent.

"He just played phenomenal tennis, served big on the shots he needed to and, from the baseline, made big points," said Haas.

"He deserved to win."

Blake is currently languishing in 90th place in the ATP Champions Race and, prior to this tournament, had a 2-1 singles record so far for the season.

Elsewhere, Xavier Malisse came back from three match points down to eventually triumph in a marathon tussle against Martin.

The Belgian won 7-6 3-6 7-5 after being 5-3 down in the final set.

He will now meet Andy Roddick, who was a comfortable 6-3 6-3 winner over Sargis Sargisan.

Jan-Michael Gambill set up a semi-final clash with Blake after defeating Rainer Schuettler.

The Memphis crowd were treated to two totally one-sided matches in the women's semi-finals.

Alexandra Stevenson beat Alina Jidikova 6-1 6-2 to set up an all-American final against Lisa Raymond who defeated Ai Sugiyama by the same scoreline.

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Thursday's results from Memphis

Men: Quarter-finals
James Blake (USA) bt Tommy Haas (Ger) 6-3 6-1
Jan-Michael Gambill (USA) bt Rainer Schuettler (Ger) 6-3 4-6 7-6
Xavier Malisse (Bel) bt Todd Martin (USA) 7-6 3-6 7-5
Andy Roddick (USA) bt Sargis Sargsian (Arm) 6-3 6-4

Women: Semi-finals
Alexandra Stevenson (USA) bt Alina Jidkova (Rus) 6-1 6-2
Lisa Raymond (USA) bt Ai Sugiyama (Jpn) 6-2 6-1

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