Blake makes quick work of Mayer

When No. 8-seeded Mardy Fish withdrew from singles competition at the Farmers Classic late Monday night, the resulting schedule change left James Blake with two matches to play on Tuesday.

His first, against Leonardo Mayer, was scheduled for 4:30 p.m. After Fish’s withdrawal, Blake’s doubles match with partner Sam Querrey was moved to 7:30.

It looked like Blake took his schedule into account against Mayer, as he began by winning five games and won the match 6-1, 6-4 in just over an hour.

“It was no big deal,” Blake said. “... I had two hours in-between. I was able to eat.”

Not long ago, the challenge of two straight matches might have been too much for Blake, who is recovering from a knee injury. But Blake, who is on a new training regimen, said his health is improving.

“The biggest thing for me is being able to train the way I used to,” he said. “The last year we’ve been cutting a lot of the practices short, cutting sessions short. I hadn’t been able to do the lifting on my legs that I used to do, and now I can.”

It was the first win for Blake since March 24, before he took a break because of his injury. The crowd at UCLA gave him a standing ovation after his match against Mayer.

“I came close to my career possibly being over a few times, and I know that what I’m going to miss is fans’ reaction and how much they appreciate the hard work you put in,” Blake said.

But Blake’s rest did not help him and Querrey in their doubles match, against Feliciano Lopez and Janko Tipsarevic. The Americans, who last played together at the Beijing Olympics, lost, 6-3, 6-3.

Querrey, who won the Farmers Classic last year, is the second-seeded player in singles and begins his schedule Wednesday against Kevin Anderson.

“Singles is kind of the priority, but it would have been nice to get a doubles win tonight,” Querrey said. “But you know, I’m not going to let it ruin my week.”

Day two results

Fish, who won a tournament Sunday in Atlanta in high heat and cited exhaustion as the reason for withdrawing from singles play, was the only seeded player slotted to play Tuesday.

Along with Blake, Americans Ryan Sweeting, Robby Ginepri and Tim Smyczek advanced. Smyczek, a qualifier, will next face top-seeded Andy Murray.

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laura.myers@latimes.com