No. 6 seed Mardy Fish needed eight match points to win a 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(7) thriller over James Blake in one of the most exciting matches of the day. With the win, Fish ties the series 1-1 with Blake and advances to the second round of the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships & Cellular South Cup. Fish broke early serve in the second game of the first set and hold serve until the end to win it 6-3. Blake quickly recovered by improving on his service games and breaking serve at 2-1 in the second set to take the match to a deciding third set.

With Fish leading 5-2 in the third set, Blake used the support of the exciting crowd to break serve and hold for 4-5. Serving for the match for the second consecutive time, Fish had six match points but could not convert leading to a final tie-break.

Blake was down 5-4 in the tie-break, then won two consecutive points on Fish's serve to lead 6-5 and hold a match point on his serve. Fish used a great return to win the next two points and finally put an end to the match with a forehand winner on his eight match point in exactly two hours of play.

Fish will now face the winner of another All-American battle between Robby Ginepri and Wild card Zach Dailey for a spot in the quarterfinals.

In another exciting All-American match, Kevin Kim overcame Scoville Jenkins 6-4, 6-7(5), 7-6(4). It was Jenkins' second match as a professional after his debut against Andy Roddick at the US Open.

Other first round winners were Kenneth Carlsen, Anthony Dupuis and Brian Baker.

On the women's side, qualifier Angela Haynes overcame Marissa Irvin 6-7(3), 6-4, 7-5 to advance to the second round. Haynes won 69% of the points on her first serve and broke serve seven times to claim the victory. She will face Ukraine's Katerina Bondarenko for a spot in a potential quarterfinals against No. 1 seed Vera Zvonareva.

15-year-old Nicole Vaidisova looked impressive in her Memphis' debut by hitting 10 aces in a 6-3, 6-2 win over Lindsay Lee-Waters. She will now face Kristina Brandi, who easily defeated qualifier Jennifer Hopkins 6-3, 6-0.

Other first round winners were Abigail Spears, Hana Sromova, Akiko Morigami and Severine Beltrame.

THE PLACE TO BE….. Feb. 11 – 20 ….. is The Racquet Club of Memphis. Ten days of world class tennis awaits you. Help serve an ace to the players, the Memphis community, and the children of St. Jude by purchasing tickets to the always-exciting event.

To purchase your tickets and receive additional information, call Carolyn Hicks at 901.685.ACES or visit the tournament website www.atptennis.com/MEMPHIS/