James Blake

NEW YORK - James Blake shimmies with excitement. The crowd surrounding the Arthur Ashe Stadium court shimmies back. There is desire in the air. Desire by Blake to win this increasingly difficult match against Sargis Sargsian. Desire by the record crowd to see Blake, a personable young American from Yonkers, become a full-blooded star. It's a curious phenomenon. It's putting the age-old cart before the young horse. Blake won yesterday, 6-3, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (6), but not before Sargsian made the point that Blake still has a ways to go. "I think this is another match since Wimbledon, where I've done a great job mentally," said Blake.

James Myer Blake II, a lifelong Mount Washington resident and retired state building inspector, died Monday of prostate cancer in the house on Walnut Road in which he was born. He was 74. Mr. Blake's father, Bradford E. Blake, bought the house in 1917 from a cousin's family that had owned it for several decades. Family members said the house was built in the early 1830s. "The house has his name written all over it," said Nancy Goode Blake, Mr. Blake's wife of 17 years. "Every room has his little touches, from woodwork to door frames.

On May 23, 2005 ROBERT BRUCE; beloved husband of the late Frances Blake (nee Kozlowski); devoted father of Anthony Blake and Stephanie Blake; dear father-in-law of Donna Blake; loving grandfather of Miranda Blake; dear brother of James Blake, Helen Sisson, Margaret Pater and Joyce Blake. The family will receive friends at the W. Dabrowski-Chojnacki Funeral Homes, P.A., 1005 Dundalk Ave. Friday 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 P.M. Private cremation.

"Wildwood Boys, " by James Carlos Blake. William Morrow. 384 pages. $24. James Carlos Blake's new novel is an old-fashioned tale of the frontier during the Civil War. Whether it describes pleasure or horror, the prose here is plain, laconic -- perfectly suited to a world of harsh necessity and little ornament. Only in the descriptions of nature does Blake embellish. Blake drives home his points with a sledgehammer. But, in this case, that may be the best tool, for a sledgehammer delivers great force.

Jim Rogers,84, a Bakersfield, Calif., horse rancher who was the last surviving child of Western humorist Will Rogers, died of cancer Friday at his home. Named for his maternal grandfather, James Blake "Jim" Rogers was the third child of Betty and Will Rogers. Jim Rogers attended Pomona College, but left in 1935, the same year his father and noted pilot Wiley Post were killed in a plane crash in Alaska. As the family representative on the Will Rogers Memorial Commission in Oklahoma, Mr. Rogers oversaw a $6 million effort to renovate the Will Rogers Memorial Museum in Claremore, Okla.

They've waited 13 years for this day to finally come – Graduation Day. For the hundreds of members of the Class of 2013 in Harford's public and private schools, it's the end to 13 years of hard work and the beginning of something new, whether it be full-time employment, going off to college or joining the military. One chapter of their lives is closing, another just starting. Students at John Archer, Harford Christian and John Carroll schools and Aberdeen, Bel Air and C. Milton Wright high schools have already accepted their diplomas.

Fourth-seeded German Tommy Haas defeated top-seeded American Mardy Fish in straight sets, 6-3, 7-5, in the semifinals of the $1 million Citi Open on Saturday. In the other semifinal, second-seeded Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine earned a 6-4, 6-4 victory against eighth-seeded American Sam Querrey. Haas won 67 percent of his second-serve points and won two of three break points in the match, which lasted 93 minutes. Haas, 34, reached the semis after dominating compatriot Tobias Kamke, 6-1, 6-2, Friday night.

James W. Blake, a land surveyor at McCrone Inc., was recently selected to serve on the Private Practice Employee's Advisory Committee, an extension of Professional Engineers in Private Practice.Blake will be responsible for helping develop and promote PEPP policies and programs.HONEYCUTT ON THE BOARDEngineer Rodney M. Honeycutt was recently elected to the Design Teams Inc. board of directors.Annapolis' Design Teams provide administrative management for two engineering firms: McCrone Inc. of Annapolis, and McFerrin/McCrone Inc. of Titusville, Fla.Honeycutt, vice president and central Maryland region operations officer for McCrone in Annapolis, is a member of the McCrone board of directors.

Roger Federer won his fourth consecutive title at the ATP Gerry Weber Open and tied Bjorn Borg's record of 41 straight grass-court wins with a 6-0, 6-7 (4), 6-2 victory over fifth-seeded Tomas Berdych yesterday in Halle, Germany. Federer tied Borg's record, set between 1976 and 1981, while playing in his ninth final in nine tournaments in 2006. He became the Halle tournament's only four-time winner. Federer, beaten in the French Open title match a week earlier by Rafael Nadal, was the first Roland Garros finalist to reach the championship round in the Wimbledon warm-up since former No. 1 Yevgeny Kafelnikov in 1996.

WASHINGTON - Andre Agassi's bid for a record sixth Legg Mason Tennis Classic crown is still alive, but only after a struggle. Agassi, the tournament's top seed who last won the championship in 1999, outlasted No. 7 seed Thomas Enqvist of Sweden, 6-7 (10-8), 7-6 (7-5), 6-3, in a quarterfinal match at the William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center in Rock Creek Park last night. Agassi, who hadn't dropped a set this week, was pushed to the limit by Enqvist, who was making his first appearance here since 1994.