So it was with a certain amount of anticipation, maybe even glee, that Blake prepared for questions about his five-set, third-round win today over Sebastien Grosjean at the Australian Open with a request of his own.

"Please," he implored, "let it be about my five-set record."

After the chuckles died down, Blake got to talk about his 4-6, 2-6, 6-0, 7-6 (5), 6-2 win over Grosjean, his second in a match going to five sets after losing nine in a row at Grand Slams or in Davis Cup.

His first five-set Grand Slam loss came to Lleyton Hewitt in the second round at the U.S. Open in 2001. From there, he lost five-setters in 2002 at Melbourne, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, 2005 at the French Open and U.S. Open and in 2006 in a Davis Cup match and at the French Open and Wimbledon.

He was up 2-0 in sets on four occasions and down 2-0 in two others, including Saturday.

He broke the travelogue of five-set frustration at last year's U.S. Open with a second-round win over Fabrice Santoro, then did it again to another Frenchman on Saturday to advance to the fourth round.

Any wonder he was anxious to talk about it.

"That's got to be my biggest comeback — down two sets to love, two sets to one, two breaks against a guy that was getting a lot of free points on his serve," Blake said. "4-1 in the breaker, 5-3 in the breaker ... it just seemed like every time there was a mountain to climb.

"Some of them now are turning my way. It's a good feeling."

Blake, who has never gotten past the fourth round here or the quarterfinals of any Grand Slam, appeared to be headed for a quick exit when Grosjean took the first set and jumped to a 4-0 lead in the second.

The 28-year-old American turned it around as Grosjean, who committed only 15 unforced errors in the first two sets, had 13 in the third, when he won only 11 points in six games.

Grosjean counterattacked against Blake's go-for-broke style and gathered himself to break twice in the fourth set to pull ahead 4-1 before Blake ran off four games in a row.

Grosjean saved a set point while serving at 4-5 and took a 5-3 lead in the tiebreaker, but Blake took the last four points, three on clean winners.

That seemed to take the steam out of the Frenchman. Blake broke Grosjean twice as he opened up a 5-1 lead in the deciding set, the second on a forehand passing shot, pumping his fist as he ran to his chair at the changeover.

He held at love to finish off the match in 3 hours, 8 minutes, leaning back and smiling broadly, then tossing a ball, his headband, wristbands and shirt into the crowd.

Blake had a quiet word with himself and looked decidedly glum when he was down 4-1.

"I don't think a lot of people like my chances, but I always do," Blake said. "No matter what my body language says — I know I've been criticized about that in the past — but that's a little bit of the perfectionist in me."

Blake plays Marin Cilic of Croatia in the fourth round. Cilic beat last year's losing finalist, No. 7 Fernando Gonzalez of Chile, 6-2, 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-1 Friday.

"I saw a little bit of his (Cilic's) match," Blake said. "It looked like he was playing some great tennis. There's never going to be an easy fourth round of a Slam."

Cilic and Blake played once — in Bangkok in 2006, when Cilic won only three games in a 47-minute loss to the American.

That won't count for much, says Blake.