Blake finds his feet on clay

James Blake advanced to his third ATP quarter-final of the season, and his first on clay, with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over fellow American Michael Chang in the US Men's Claycourt Championships in Houston.

The fifth seed said: "I'm definitely getting a little more confidence on the clay and learning a lot on it. I was being patient and it definitely felt good."

Pete Sampras also cruised into the last eight with a confident 6-4, 6-2 win over Mariano Puerta. Andy Roddick needed only 48 minutes to beat Alex Calatrava of Spain 6-2, 6-1.

In the other second-round match, Todd Martin overcame two breaks in the first set on his way to a 7-6, 6-3 victory over Russian Nikolay Davydenko.