Blake keeps promise to make amends at Wimbledon

LONDON, June 26 (Reuters) James Blake kept his promise to restore American pride at Wimbledon with a quickfire 6-3 6-4 6-4 win over Russian Igor Andreev in the first-round of Wimbledon today.

At the French Open last month, no American man made it past the opening round and Blake had promised to make amends at the grasscourt grand slam.

By joining third seed Andy Roddick in the second round, Blake is now one match away from equalling his best showing at the All England Club.

Andreev had dumped Roddick out of Roland Garros last month en route to reaching the quarter-finals of a major for the first time but he never looked like repeating the feat yesterday.

After keeping alive his chances for 94 minutes, Andreev's racket went spinning out of his hands as he dumped the ball into the net on match point.

Reuters TB RN2116