Blake downs fellow American Harrison on wild day in Atlanta | News

Atlanta, GA (Sports Network) - James Blake had no time to stew over his first set on Tuesday.

It went too fast.

Blake rebounded from an initial trouncing then rallied from a break down in the third set to edge sixth-seeded Ryan Harrison in the first round at the Atlanta Open tennis event.

Blake's 1-6, 6-3, 7-5 victory was a three-set grinder, the pattern on Tuesday at the hardcourts at Atlantic Station. American Michael Russell needed three sets to down fellow countryman Alex Kuznetsov, 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4), while eighth-seeded Go Soeda rallied for a 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 over Xavier Malisse.

In another three-set bout, Australian Matthew Ebden downed Ukrainian Sergei Bubka, 5-7, 6-1, 6-1. Comebacks proved a common theme in each of Tuesday's three-set matches, as each three-set winner lost the first set.

Two other victors handled things in quick order, as Belgian Ruben Bemelmans disposed of American Rajeev Ram, 6-1, 6-3 and Lithuanian Richard Berankis easily downed Russian Dmitry Tursunov, 6-3, 6-2.

This week's top seeds are last week's Newport champion John Isner and fellow American Mardy Fish, who has beaten Isner here in the last two all- American Atlanta finals.

Former world No. 1 Andy Roddick is also in the draw here as a fourth seed.

The winner of this $477,900 tournament will pocket $86,270.