Although he had disappointing matches in the French Open and Wimbledon, James Blake takes a solid past record against the Croatians into this weekend’s Davis Cup matches between the U.S. and Croatia.  The draw will be pulled Thursday to determine the matches to be played indoors on red clay in Porec, Croatia starting Friday, but here’s an advance look at the history of the expected singles match ups:

Blake is 2-0 against Marin Cilic, the highest-ranked Croat.  Both matches were on hard courts, including a straight set win against him in the fourth round of this year’s Australian Open. 

Blake is 2-3 against Ivo Karlovic, but he won his last match against Karlovic, pulling out a three-set win on clay in Madrid this May.  The only other matchup on clay Blake lost, going down in four sets in the first round of the 2007 French Open.

Mardy Fish is 0-1 against Cilic, losing to him on the hard courts of New Haven in 2008.

Fish is 1-4 against Karlovic, although Fish won the last time they played in 2007 in New Haven.  They have never played on clay. 

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