Blake halted by rain at Delray Beach

MIAMI (Reuters) - Top seed James Blake's first-round match against fellow American Robert Kendrick at the Delray Beach International was cut short by rain on Tuesday.

Blake was 3-2 up in the first set when rain stopped play after just 17 minutes and the clash will be continued on Wednesday.

Heavy wind and persistent rain played havoc with Tuesday's program.

Mardy Fish, the number eight seed and finalist here five years ago, needed to wait out a six-hour delay before completing a 6-1 7-5 victory over Marco Crugnola of Italy, who was making his debut appearance in an ATP tournament.

Russia's Igor Kunitsyn beat German Benjamin Becker 6-3 7-6 and Max Mirnyi of Belarus defeated Slovenia's Luka Gregorc 7-6 6-2.

Second seed Tommy Haas of Germany was knocked out on Monday along with defending champion Xavier Malisse.

(Reporting by Simon Evans in Miami; editing by Ed Osmond)