THE ASSOCIATED PRESS MASON, Ohio -- A 19-year-old Latvian who tends to lose concentration during matches and is getting over a soccer injury -- one of those teenager moments -- knocked the last remaining American out of the Cincinnati Masters. Ernests Gulbis took advantage of James Blake's erratic serve and showed more toughness at the end of a 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 victory Thursday, leaving the United States shut out of the quarter-finals for the first time in the tournament's history. "Yeah, it's unfortunate," Blake said. "I don't think American tennis is troubled by any means. But the way it is right now, the best players in the world are from Switzerland and Spain." It wasn't the only upset, but it was the most surprising. Carlos Moya beat fourth-seeded Nikolay Davydenko 7-6 (8), 4-6, 6-2 in the continuation of a second-round match halted by rain on Wednesday night. After a brief rest, Moya had to play another singles match against Igor Andreev later in the afternoon. Third-seeded Novak Djokovic also advanced to the quarter-finals on Wednesday, beating Andreas Seppi 6-1, 6-2 to set up a rematch with Gulbis. Djokovic beat the Latvian in three close sets during the quarter-finals of the French Open. The 28-year-old Blake got bounced by a player so inexperienced that he still loses focus on the court and can't keep himself away from the soccer field. He sprained an ankle while playing soccer with friends this summer, forcing him to miss a couple of weeks on the tour, and was totally out of sync last week while losing in the first round in Toronto. Given his predicament, Gulbis didn't expect much. "To be honest, I didn't think that it would happen in this tournament because last week I played really bad," he said. "And I was injured before, so I didn't do nothing basically for two weeks." He had one thing working for him: Gulbis beat Blake to reach that quarter-finals at the French Open, his best showing in a Grand Slam event. Gulbis came in confident and took advantage of Blake's errant first serve -- only 45 per cent were in. "It's tough to beat a guy like that with a second serve," Blake said. "He's got a ton of talent." Gulbis is ranked No. 53 in the world and has a lot of things to work on -- his concentration, his consistency, and his affinity for soccer, which got him in trouble. "Every time when I'm in Latvia, I just go with friends and we play (soccer)," he said. His victory over Blake was one of the biggest of his career -- he had only 10 match wins last season, 17 this season -- but no one could tell by his reaction. "I will call my mother and that's it," Gulbis said. "Because of somebody wants to know, they can know. But why should I call everybody and tell them I won?"
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