Blake afloat, Roddick sinks

MELBOURNE, Australia -- It was quickly shaping up as one of the worst 24-hour periods -- well, at least outside of a clay court -- for the American men at a Grand Slam tournament.

Mardy Fish? Gone in a fit of petulance, unraveling against Jarkko Nieminen of Finland in the third round at the Australian Open. (Nieminen’s preparation for this Slam was certainly unconventional: military training, including sleeping in a tent in the snow-filled forest with his fellow soldiers.) Snow patrol, anyone?

Andy Roddick? Undone and out in the early morning hours Friday despite serving a career-high 42 aces against Philipp Kohlschreiber, seemingly more intent on winning a verbal battle with chair umpire Emmanuel Joseph (calling him “an idiot”) than trying to figure out a sensible plan of attack against his German opponent.

Memo to Roddick: Playing well behind the baseline for the better part of four hours, inching toward Sydney, was not going to work against someone possessing Kohlschreiber’s power.

Leave it to James Blake to provide a course correction, rapidly improving his once-abysmal five-set record by virtue of playing aging Frenchmen. The 12th-seeded Blake rallied from an 0-2 set deficit for the first time in his career, beating 29-year-old Sebastien Grosjean, 4-6, 2-6, 6-0, 7-6 (5), 6-2, in 3 hours 8 minutes in the third round.

Blake is now 2-10 in five-set matches, the breakthrough coming last year at the U.S. Open against a cramping Fabrice Santoro, now 35.

“That’s got to be my biggest comeback, I would say: Down two sets to love, two sets to one, two breaks against a guy that was getting a lot of free points on his serve; 4-1 in the breaker, 5-3 in the breaker,” Blake said after his victory over Grosjean.

Blake will play Marin Cilic of Croatia in the fourth round. Cilic upset No. 7 and last year’s finalist Fernando Gonzalez of Chile, 6-2, 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-1. Action was light today because of inclement weather. Two highly seeded women exited in the third round. Maria Kirilenko defeated No. 6 Anna Chakvetadze, 6-7 (6), 6-1, 6-2, in an all-Russian match, and Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland beat No. 2 Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia, 6-3, 6-4.

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Roddick rewind

Kohlschreiber had an enviable ratio of winners to unforced errors (104 to 33) in his 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (9), 6-7 (3), 8-6 victory against Roddick, ending shortly after 2 a.m. here.

Kohlschreiber double-faulted twice and had a career-high 32 aces. The 24-year-old was asked about his serve by Jim Courier in his on-court interview and joked, saying: “I think the whole last year I only served 30.”

Said Roddick, who won a marathon here in the quarterfinals in 2003, beating Younes El Aynaoui, 21-19, in the fifth set. “You know, you play a match that long, you come out the wrong end, it doesn’t feel good. I’m trying to think of a new and exciting way to say that. . . . I don’t know that I’ve ever seen him play like that before, especially serving-wise.”

But in addition to continually insulting the chair umpire, Roddick got into it with the crowd and then brought his younger-brother, smart-aleck approach into the interview. room He was asked whether he had thought about the 2003 epic.

“Yeah, I thought about it,” Roddick said.

In the fifth set? “About 3-2 in the first set,” he said.

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Quote of the day

Hello, Melbourne.

Sam Querrey, on why he enjoys it here: “I’m not a big sightseer. And sometimes when you go to Europe, you have to see the Eiffel Tower and places like that. You don’t have to see anything here, and I like that.”

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lisa.dillman@latimes.com

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ON THE WEB

In featured matches after press time, the Serbian contingent had its share of court time. No. 1 Roger Federer played Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia, and No. 3 Novak Djokovic of Serbia faced Sam Querrey of Thousand Oaks. Also in action were No. 8 Venus Williams vs. Sania Mirza of India, and No. 15 Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus vs. Lleyton Hewitt of Australia.

For results go to www.latimes.com/sports.