Blake Falls At First Hurdle; Nalbandian, Tursunov Earn Opening Wins

© Getty ImagesRyan Sweeting knocked out James Blake in first-round action.

James Blake's attempt to climb back into the Top 100 of the South African Airways 2010 ATP Rankings was set back with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 loss to fellow American Ryan Sweeting on Monday evening at the Legg Mason Tennis Classic.

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Blake, who won his first matches in four months last week to reach the Los Angeles quarter-finals, lost all three break points faced on serve in the first-round match and squandered four opportunities to break the qualifier’s serve in the decisive set.

"I think it's my best win for sure," said the 119th-ranked Sweeting, who is through to the second round at a tour-level event for the third time this season. "I just tried to keep the ball away from his forehand as much as possible. I tried to hit to his backhand and attack to his forehand so he couldn't use it as a weapon."

Former World No. 4 Blake won the ATP World Tour 500 title in Washington in 2002 (d. Srichaphan) and also reached the final in ’05 (l. to Roddick).

"I haven't played a lot of matches this year and I would have loved to have played more matches this week, but it wasn't to be," said Blake, who missed three months with a knee injury. "I just wasn't doing the things I needed to do to win matches. I played tentative on the big points; I needed to step up to take control of the big points. Credit to Ryan for doing that."

Argentine David Nalbandian impressed in his first main draw appearance since April, taking 52 minutes to sweep aside American Rajeev Ram 6-4, 6-0. He converted on the only break point of the opening set, and comfortably claimed the win as he lost just eight points total in the second set.

The former World No. 3 underwent hip surgery last May and is contesting just his fifth tournament since returning to action in February. Nalbandian helped lead Argentina into the Davis Cup semi-finals last month after winning both his singles rubbers against Russia.

Russian Dmitry Tursunov earned his first match win in more than a year as he rallied past countryman Teymuraz Gabashvili 5-7, 7-5, 6-4 in two hours and 42 minutes.

The 27 year old, who reached a career-high ranking of No. 20 in 2006, had gone winless on the ATP World Tour since reaching the quarter-finals last July in Indianapolis. He was sidelined followed the US Open with an ankle injury and returned to competition in May at Roland Garros.

Serbian Viktor Troicki earned a tricky second-round encounter with American Mardy Fish after cruising past qualifier Kevin Kim 6-1, 6-2 in 57 minutes. Fish enters Washington with a 10-match winning streak after clinching the ATP World Tour 250 titles in Newport and Atlanta.

In a two-hour, 27-minute battle, Uzbekistani Denis Istomin prevailed over Argentine Leonardo Mayer 6-4, 5-7, 7-6(5). Istomin will next face No. 4 seed Marin Cilic, whom he lost to in the third round of the US Open last year.

Former World No. 5 Rainer Schuettler, a quarter-finalist last week in Los Angeles, won the same number of points as Illya Marchenko in their first-round match but still succumbed to the Ukrainian 6-4, 3-6, 6-4. Schuettler reached the quarter-finals on his Washington debut 13 years ago, but has since failed to advance beyond the second round.

Two qualifiers advanced Monday by 6-2, 6-3 scorelines, with Russian Igor Kunitsyn accounting for Kei Nishikori and Slovenian Grega Zemlja beating Benjamin Becker. Kunitsyn next meets No. 13 seed Gilles Simon, while Zemlja confronts three-time champion and No. 2 seed Andy Roddick.