Sam Querrey stuns Kevin Anderson to reach quarters – Regions Morgan Keegan Championships 2012
Crowd favourite, Sam Querrey, shocked the seventh seed, Kevin Anderson, in straight sets at the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships 2012 on Thursday. He brushed off early fight back to register a 7-6(4), 6-4 victory against the world number 36, subsequently
advancing into the final eight at this ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 500 series event held in Memphis, United States.
The local wild card entrant required almost one and half hour to stun the South African number one in their sixth outing. He not only improved to a 5-1 record in the FedEx ATP Head 2 Head series against Anderson but also booked a spot in the quarter-finals
at this hard court tournament.
Querrey clobbered a poor first serve share in the opening set but sought four break opportunities. However, he failed to capitalise on any of them and eventually enforcing a tie-breaker. The lower ranked dominated in it and registered a 7-6(4) success.
Ranked 99th in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Rankings, Querrey raised the bar of his game in the following set. He lost his serve once but cashed in both break chances to seal the set by winning six games to four.
Summing up Querrey’s performance at the Racquet Club of Memphis, the American produced a higher first serve share of 47 percent and finished the match by clobbering 72 points.
The South African on the other hand fired seven aces and impressively clinched 23 out of 31 points on his first serve share. However, he committed several unforced errors and eight double faults which made the difference.
Next challenge for the unseeded American is the third seed, Radek Stepanek, who outsmarted the local competitor, Ryan Sweeting, in three sets to set-up this battle. Stepanek lost his serve twice but capitalised on two out of seven break chances to manipulate
a 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(4) score line.
Belgian tennis ace, Olivier Rochus, will assist the American in the final eight. He trashed the 19-year-old Ryan Harrison in straight sets to occupy this spot.
Rochus broke the local star’s serve twice in both sets to manipulate a 6-4, 7-5 victory in an hour and 48-minutes marathon. He committed more errors but magnificently marked 34 out of 45 points on his first serve share.
Up next for Rochus is the fourth seeded Milos Raonic who dumped Ukraine’s Sergiy Stakhovsky in straight sets. The Canadian smacked 11 aces and required 72-minutes to outclass Stakhovsky.
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