TUESDAY NEWS

(CNN) -- American James Blake is safely through to the second round of the Legg Mason Classic after a straight-sets victory over Tatsuma Ito of Japan.

Former world number four Blake won the Washington event in 2002, the first ATP Tour title of his career, and looked in good form as he defeated the 23-year-old 6-3 6-3.

Blake, 31, broke Ito's serve on four occasions to set up a clash with defending champion David Nalbandian in the next round.

Argentine Nalbandian received a bye in the first round as he is seeded eighth for the event.

Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic also won his match on Monday, coming through 6-7 (2-7) 6-4 6-0 over Germany's Philipp Petzschner.

Next up for Stepanek, ranked 54 in the world, is American Wayne Odeznik. The 25-year-old Odeznik replaced second seed Mardy Fish in the draw, who pulled out of the tournament with a heel injury.

Russia's Igor Kunitsyn advanced at the expense of Luxembourg's Gilles Muller, while American Donald Young saw off the challenge of New Zealand qualifier Artem Sitak.

There were also wins for Australians Chris Guccione, Marinko Matosevic and Matthew Ebden, as the trio of qualifiers eliminated Colombia's Alejandro Falla, Lithuanian Richard Berankis and America's Rajeev Ram respectively.

On the women's Tour, Italian ninth seed Roberta Vinci battled back from one-set and a break down to defeat Bojana Jovanovski of Serbia 3-6 6-4 6-1 in the first round of the Mercury Insurance Open in Carlsbad, California.

Vinci, looking for her third WTA Tour title of the year, will go up against Zheng Jie of China after the 28-year-old scored a 5-7 6-2 7-6 (7-3) win over Croatia's Mirjana Lucic.

Slovenian 16th seed Polona Hercog also advanced despite making 10 double faults during her 7-6 (7-1) 2-6 6-4 success over South African qualifier Natalie Grandin.

There were also victories for Britain's Elena Baltacha, who beat America's Melanie Oudin, and Sweden's Sofia Arvidsson, who defeated wildcard Ashley Weinhold.
COMMENT okay its good that james blake is through in the competition because hes kind of new so he can have a fresh start and therefor he could become even champion of the tournament that its going to be hard but it could happen.