Querrey the last American to exit US Open men’s draw
As the US Open enters the quarter-finals in the men’s draw, the home fans are without a local to cheer for with Sam Querrey’s five-set loss to Stanislas Wawrinka in the fourth round extinguishing any vague hopes of an American champion.
Querrey - who has this year become somewhat of an expert at claiming titles at ATP 250 tournaments (the lowest tier on the ATP Tour), where he’s won four of them – fell short of reaching the final eight of a Grand Slam for the first time in his career after an epic battle against the man who had ended fourth-seed Andy Murray’s title hopes just one match earlier.
The 20th seed belted down 19 aces and racked up 70 winners for the four hour and 28 minute match, but that still wasn’t enough to prevent Wawrinka taking his place in the quarter-finals in Flushing Meadows, with the Swiss No. 2 delivering 16 aces and a total of 66 winners of his own.
Querrey may well be kicking himself that though he created almost double the amount of break point chances that Wawrinka managed, 15 to eight, he only managed a conversion rate of 20 per cent, while the 25th seed turned half his chances into breaks to fall across the line with a 7-6(9), 6-7(5), 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 victory.
And so it’s Wawrinka who makes a maiden appearance in the quarters at a major, where he’ll take on Mikhail Youzhny after the Russian overcame Spain’s Tommy Robredo in four sets in his fourth round match.
Youzhny, playing the more aggressive tennis of the two, looked to be on his way to a straight sets victory after breaking Robredo twice to take the second set in 34 minutes, but his unseeded opponent hit back in the third, before the 12th seed closed out the match 7-5, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4.
Wawrinka wasn’t the only one forced to go the distance on day nine either, with eighth seed Fernando Verdasco booking his place in the quarter-finals in a fifth set tiebreak against fellow Spaniard David Ferrer.
Tenth-seeded Ferrer took the opening two sets of the match before Verdasco staged his comeback to eventually take the 5-7, 6-7(8), 6-3, 6-3, 7-6(4) victory and with it a final eight match against world No. 1 Rafael Nadal, who disposed of another of his countrymen in Feliciano Lopez 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 in his fourth round match.
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