Blake brings best out of Hewitt

US Open: Players leave the 'race' row in the past, but the crowd cannot

Having made impressive strides nearer to matching Lleyton Hewitt in a reprise of last year's five-set duel at the United States Open yesterday, James Blake encapsulated the sportsmanship displayed on both sides of the net by shaking the Wimbledon champion's hand and saying: "You played great, man, you're a great champion."

The pity is that less is likely to be made of that sentiment than the comment shouted by one of the 23,000 spectators in the Arthur Ashe Stadium as Hewitt, leading by two sets to one, served at 3-4 in the fourth set: "Don't let him win, he's a racist."

This alluded to an incident during last year's match between the players in the second round, when Hewitt allegedly made a remark about a line judge that was open to being interpreted as racist. After an investigation, Hewitt was given the benefit of the doubt. Both players have put the affair behind them in their subsequent matches.

Hewitt, who said he did not hear the taunt yesterday – "I was pretty focused out there" – was broken for 3-5, double-faulting on break point, and the contest came alive. Hewitt gradually recovered his composure and won 6-7 6-3 6-4 3-6 6-3 after three hours and 34 minutes of classic shot-making and glaring errors, 86 of them by Blake as he strove to build on an encouraging start.

The players seemed to enjoy the battle as much as the crowd, and applauded each other's most impressive winning shots. "I congratulated Lleyton at the end and told him he deserved it," Blake said. "And I apologised for any fans that were speaking out negatively. That's something I was embarrassed by." Hewitt is due to play the Czech Jiri Novak in the last 16.

There was no lack of excitement at the end of the opening week of the tournament. At midnight on Friday there was bedlam in Louis Armstrong Stadium. Greg Rusedski, the British No 2, having lost a 4-0 lead in the final set of his second round match against Paradorn Srichaphan, a tenacious, highly-skilled Thai, and received a code violation for swearing at a line judge after being foot-faulted when serving for the match at 5-2, and then rescued two break points when serving for the match for the second time at 5-4, was on the verge of salvation.

A small group of Canadian supporters in a corner of the stands had waved the Maple Leaf flag for more than three and a half hours and had called out the number on each of the Montreal-born Rusedski's 20 aces. Their chants were answered by a hearty band of Srichaphants from Thailand gathered at the other end of the stadium. Here and there, mischievous New York voices could be heard shouting "foot-fault!" each time Rusedksi hit a serve.

The cool air also seemed to be filled with the ghosts of Rusedski's five-set nightmares past, particularly the American Todd Martin, who recovered from two sets to love down to overhaul him in the fourth round here in 1999.

Rusedski admitted that the haunting crossed his mind but was swiftly shut out before he shaped up to serve on match point. The serve was true, and the follow-up backhand volley defied intervention. Game, set and match to Rusedski, 3-6 7-6 7-6 6-7 6-4. Sweet relief. "I was very measured," Rusedski said. "I wasn't going to miss that ball."

We are going to see more of Srichaphan, and soon. He is due to lead his country into next month's Davis Cup World Group qualifying round tie against Britain at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham.

The abiding image after the chimes at midnight here on Friday was of the 23-year-old from Bangkok raising his arms like a victor as he received a deserved ovation. His solid serving, athletic movement and breathtaking passing shots, particularly on the backhand, had taken Rusedski to the limit in one of the most exciting contests of the opening week.

By then Rusedski was on his way to bed, having vented his feelings about the umpiring – "I just wish they'd let the players play rather than trying to get involved, but unfortunately common sense wasn't used today" – and paid tribute to Srichaphan: "It was great tennis from the first ball to the last ball. He played exceptionally well."

Today Rusedski is due to test his form against Pete Sampras, the four-times former champion, in the third round. Sampras, 31, has not won a tournament since defeating Rafter at Wimbledon in 2000, the Californian's 13th Grand Slam title.

"A lot of the guys in the locker room feel they can beat Pete now," Rusedski said. "His aura of invincibility isn't there now. But you can never discount him. He's still a great player and he knows he's got a lot on the line here. If he doesn't do well, his ranking is going to be down to 50."