LONDON, June 30: Eighth seed James Blake's Wimbledon nightmare returned on Friday when he was handed a 6-4 3-6 4-6 6-1 6-0 mauling in the third round by big Belarussian Max Mirnyi.

The American had never before progressed beyond the second round at the grasscourt grand slam and his fourth visit to the All England Club proved to be almost as frustrating.

The 1.96-metre tall Mirnyi, nicknamed The Beast, came from two-sets-to-one down to savage Blake in the final two sets.

From 3-1 up in the fourth set, Mirnyi won the last nine games as Blake wilted on a baking Centre Court.

Once the contest entered a final set, Blake knew the odds were against him as he had never won a five-set match.

He bowed out of the tournament after his lunging effort managed only to roll the ball into the net on match point.

“He was red hot at the start. He was red hot at the end. Max Mirnyi red hot on grass, not a lot of guys are going to beat him,” said the 26-year-old American.

“My serve stopped going in. He's one of the toughest guys to play with just a second serve. He proved it.

“I wasn't making my first serves. Just went off for a little while. That hasn't happened to me in a long time. But it happened today against the worst guy.

“More guys are going to get more than one game but not a lot are going to beat him.”

The two hours and 46-minute defeat was particularly disappointing for Blake as he reached the final of at the Queen's Club two weeks ago and had hoped to carry that form into the grasscourt grand slam.

However, Blake was quick to put his defeat into context.

“The fact that I was a wildcard last year, coming in here ranked 110, 120, and now it is a big deal that I lost in the third round, it's a big upset,” said Blake.

“It's pretty funny to think about that last year if I was in the third round, everyone would have said it's such a great accomplishment to do that. Funny how expectations change.

“But you know you're playing well, is when you're so disappointed to lose to a great player like Max Mirnyi on grass in the third round of Wimbledon. That's hopefully a good sign.”

Mirnyi will have to put personal friendships aside on Monday when he faces his Swedish doubles partner Jonas Bjorkman for a place in the quarterfinals.

Results (third round):

Men's: 14-Radek Stepanek (Czech Republic) beat 24-Juan Carlos Ferrero (Spain) 5-7 6-7(4) 6-4 6-2 11-9; 1-Roger Federer (Switzerland) beat Nicolas Mahut (France) 6-3 7-6(2) 6-4; 28-Fernando Verdasco (Spain) beat 4-David Nalbandian (Argentina) 7-6(9) 7-6(9) 6-2; Novak Djokovic (Serbia and Montenegro) beat Mikhail Youzhny (Russia) 4-6 6-2 6-3 6-3; Jonas Bjorkman (Sweden) beat Daniele Bracciali (Italy) 7-5 6-2 6-1; Max Mirnyi (Belarus) beat 8-James Blake (U.S.) 6-4 3-6 4-6 6-1 6-0.

Second round: Andy Murray (Britain) beat Julien Benneteau (France) 7-6(5) 6-4 4-6 6-1; 6-Lleyton Hewitt (Australia) beat Hyung-Taik Lee (South Korea) 6-7(4) 6-2 7-6(6) 6-7(5) 6-4.

Women’s (third round); 18-Ai Sugiyama (Japan) beat 12-Martina Hingis (Switzerland) 7-5 3-6 6-4; Severine Bremond (France) beat 31-Gisela Dulko (Argentina) 7-6(6) 5-7 7-5; 15-Daniela Hantuchova (Slovakia) beat 21-Katarina Srebotnik (Slovenia) 6-4 7-6(2 ); 27-Na Li (China) beat 5-Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia) 3-6 6-2 6-3; 3-Justine Henin-Hardenne (Belgium) beat 30-Anna Chakvetadze (Russia) 6-2 6-3.—Reuters—Reuters