Sam Querrey bows out to Tim Smyczek in opener of Newport ATP – Tennis News
Top seed, Sam Querrey, was underplayed by his compatriot, Tim Smyczek, in brutal straight sets at the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships 2013 on Tuesday. He suffered a 4-6, 6-7(8) loss at the hands of the world number 120 at this
grass court event being held in Newport, United States of America.
The highest ranked player of the tournament, Querrey displayed dismal performance at the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Smyczek on the other hand recorded his first victory against his fellow 25-year-old and levelled their
FedEx ATP Head 2 Head series by 1-1. The players previously battled each other at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells where Querrey became victorious.
“My first serve percentage was low,” the seeded American was quoted in a post match interview after losing the match. “I just think it’s lack of rest over the past couple of weeks. It was pretty sunny on the one side, so it was
a little difficult. I couldn’t really find a flow out there. I just felt off the whole time.”
Ranked 21st in the Emirates Airways ATP World Tour Rankings, Querrey convincingly held his opening serve and took the initial lead. However, he suffered the first blow in the seventh game and failed to recover afterwards.
As a result, the seed endured a 4-6 loss.
The 2009 runner-up, Querrey failed to seek his momentum in the following set. He gifted away his serve in the fifth game and trailed at 2-3. The seed recovered in the very next game and then slid his remaining serves to drag the
set to a tie-breaker. However, Querrey trailed in it and lost the set with a 6-7(8) score line.
Overall, Querrey clobbered a better first serve share of 63 per cent in contrast with Smyczek’s 55 per cent and marked 43 out of 58 points on it. He also superbly fired 16 aces but spilled more unforced errors which made the difference.
“It’s pretty neat to play Sam,” the Milwaukee native reflected after stealing the show. “He’s been one of the top Americans for a long time, and somebody I’ve tried to catch up to, so it means a lot for me to have gone out there
and played well and come away with a win.”
After recording his 11th tour-level win, Smyczek set-up a date with the French wild card entrant, Nicolas Mahut. The Frenchman dumped the local challenger, Rhyne Williams, in straight sets to progress.
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