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Blake finds form to beat Riba in Pilot Pen

James Blake will look to build on his win over Pere Riba © Getty Images

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James Blake secured a confidence-boosting 6-0 6-1 win over Pere Riba in the first round of the Pilot Pen.

A little over a week ago, Blake indicated he may look to take a break from the game on account of poor form and fitness concerns.

Riba is ranked 76 in the world, but is not in the same class as a peak-form Blake and the American showed the talent still remains with a crushing victory that took just 35 minutes to complete.

It was the fastest victory in Blake's career, and the fastest on Tour this year, and it sets him up for a second-round encounter with Alexandr Dolgopolov.

Marcos Baghdatis is the top seed in the event and he is up next for Igor Andreev following the Russian's 7-6(2) 6-3 win over Arnaud Clement.

American wildcard Donald Young had the crowd behind him in New Haven and he thrived in the atmosphere as he ousted Frenchman Stephane Robert 6-1 6-2.

Florent Serra was another Frenchman to fall, beaten 6-1 7-6(6) by Lukas Lacko, while Jarkko Niemenen eased to a 6-3 6-4 2 win over Andreas Seppi.

World No. 69 Benjamin Becker fought his way past Marco Chiudinelli and was joined in the second round by fellow German Daniel Brands who edged out Lukasz Kubot after three hard-fought sets.

Radek Stepanek is a lucky loser after falling in qualifying and he took advantage of his reprieve by crushing Pablo Cuevas 6-0 6-4.

Dinara Safina produced a Jekyll and Hyde display as she rallied from a set down to topple No. 3 seed Francesca Schiavone 1-6 6-3 6-1.

Safina has struggled for fitness and form this year and looked to be staring at defeat when surrendering the first set.

Schiavone claimed a straight-sets win over Safina in Montreal the previous week, but there was no repeat as the Russian produced some sparking tennis in the second and third sets to advance to the second round.

Nadia Petrova fought back from a set and a break down to claim a 1-6 7-5 6-1 win over Varvara Lepchenko. The Russian was joined in the next round by her compatriot Elena Dementieva who beat Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez 6-1 6-2 in 53 minutes.

Daniela Hantuchova had too much quality for Kaia Kanepi, winning 7-5 6-3, while Sara Errani, Kateryna Bondarenko, Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Dominika Cibulkova were also winners.

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