WASHINGTON -- James Blake advanced to the third round of the Legg Mason Tennis Classic on Wednesday night with a 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 win over fourth-seeded Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic.
The 2002 tournament champion recorded 11 aces and overcame a second set in which he fell behind 3-0, rebounding to win the match in 1 hour, 41 minutes.
It was a huge improvement on his performance here last year, when he fell in straight sets in the first round to Adrian Garcia.
That loss was part of a difficult year for the American, during which he had to deal with the death of his father and a neck injury that limited him to six matches over a six-month stretch.
In an earlier second-round match, unseeded Gilles Muller of Luxembourg defeated ninth-seeded Nicolas Massu 7-6 (7-2), 6-4, recording 12 aces and winning 85 percent of his first-serve points. Two other seeded players, 12th-seeded Karol Beck of Slovakia and 15th-seeded Ricardo Mello of Brazil, also fell. Eight of the 16 seeded players were eliminated through the first two rounds.
It was Blake's third win in four career matchups with the 18th-ranked Stepanek.
"He's top 20 in the world for a reason," Blake said. "I definitely didn't think it was going to be easy.
"I feel that I'm playing just about as well as when I was 20-something in the world. I think I'm a more mature player, a more in-control player. I think I'm playing as well right now as I was when I was 20-something in the world. I'm happy I'm back, happy that I'm playing well again."
Blake will face another player from the Czech Republic, 16th-seeded Thomas Zib, in the third round on Thursday night. Muller, who lost to Lleyton Hewitt in last year's championship match here, will face Arnaud Clement of France in the third round of the U.S. Open series event.
Clement edged Richard Bloomfield of Britain 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (9-7).
The match was the first on the ATP Tour for Bloomfield, who was making his debut outside of Wimbledon. He battled Clement for over two hours before falling to the veteran of 407 matches.
Clement and Muller have faced each other twice previously, with Clement winning both matches last year. But Muller, who evened his record at 17-17 this year with Wednesday's victory, said he is approaching Thursday's contest with more confidence.
"I have a lot of respect for him, but now is a different time," said Muller, who advanced to the final of last week's Mercedes-Benz Cup in Los Angeles before falling to Andre Agassi. "I've improved a lot, and I know I can beat him. I'm not scared of him."
