Top Spin Blog » Sam Querrey

A Big Win for a Young American, and a Big American Bombs Out

Joe Samuel Starnes — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 17:53:54 +0000

Compelling dynamics for the American men at this year’s U.S. Open, with Andy Roddick losing to Janko Tipsarevic (a match I thought would be tough for him when I first saw the draw) and qualifier 18-year-old Ryan Harrison upsetting No. 15 Ivan Ljubicic, a wily veteran and no easy win for Harrison. After a strong spring, it has been a very tough summer for Roddick, and he is now in desperate danger of falling out of the top ten for the year. At 28, it will be no easy feat for him to get back near the top. On the other hand, this could be the watershed for Harrison, a decade younger than Roddick.

Despite Roddick’s early departure, there are several Americans left who can go deep in New York, with Harrison as a new favorite, but also Mardy Fish, already into the third round. John Isner and Sam Querrey also moved on yesterday, and Isner looked good coming off a recent ankle injury. Hoping to see one or two of them left come Super Saturday, and after studying the draw, my money is Isner and maybe Fish reaching the semis. Querrey also has a chance. As much as I’d like to see Harrison, I doubt he has much of a chance to move past Nadal if he reaches the fourth round. And don’t forget James Blake, at 30, making perhaps his last run, but Djokovic looms as his third round opponent.

Ryan Harrison

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U.S. and Serbia Show Down Starts Friday

Joe Samuel Starnes — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 22:44:56 +0000

The Winter Olympics are over, but the Davis Cup, an event that has become more obscure than curling, has just begun. To win, the U.S. has to get victories from John Isner and Sam Querrey over Victor Troicki, because they won’t be Novak Djokovic on clay. The draw is out, with Isner making his Davis Cup debut against Troicki in the opener, followed by Querrey and Djokovic. The big Georgia Bulldog needs to bring it right off the bat, or it will be a rough weekend for the Americans.

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Americans Batting .500 in Australia — Querrey Out, Isner Hangs In, Blake and Young Win

Joe Samuel Starnes — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 14:13:44 +0000

Of the eight Americans in action Tuesday in Australia, the biggest disappointment was Sam Querrey’s loss to Rainer Schuettler, the aging German who keeps winning big matches. Wild card Ryan Harrison, 17, also fell, losing in four sets to Janko Tipsarevic. Other Americans to fall were Rajeev Ram and Robby Ginepri.

On the up side, John Isner hung on for a tough win, and Donald Young, who was forced to qualify, lost the first set badly but came back to win in four. He very much needed the win, and faces Lleyton Hewit next. Taylor Dent also won easily. James Blake beat Arnaud Clement in three sets, and was striking his backhand solidly for passing shot after passing shot.

Of the 12 Americans in the main draw, six have moved on to the second round. The most interesting match On Wednesday in Melbourne sees Blake against No. 4 seed Juan Martin Del Potro. Roddick, who has a good draw, goes up against Brazlian Tomaz Belluci.

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2009: The American Tennis Year That Almost Was

Joe Samuel Starnes — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 16:04:42 +0000

There’s a Flatlanders song in which Joe Ely sings: “I thought I had died and gone to heaven/in fact, I had lived and gone to hell.” That might describe the five days that passed for fans of American men’s tennis from the point where Andy Roddick almost took a two-sets-to-none lead over Roger Federer in the Wimbledon final to the devastating back-to-back five set singles losses five days later in Croatia suffered by James Blake and Mardy Fish on the first day of Davis Cup. Instead of Roddick hoisting the Wimbledon trophy and the U.S. moving on in Davis Cup to face Spain at home on a glassy fast hard court, all three American men suffered agonizing losses and were left to limp in for the remainder of the seemingly infinite tennis season. End of year rankings have seen Roddick fall to sixth in the world, while Blake has plummeted to 44th and Fish to 56th. The future looks to be Sam Querrey, 25th, and John Isner, 34th, but will they have the games to equal the success Roddick has enjoyed over the past seven years? The optimist in me hopes they will, but the realist doubts it.

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Roddick, Blake and Querrey U.S. Open Draws Lead to Djokovic, Federer

Joe Samuel Starnes — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 12:51:21 +0000

The draws of Andy Roddick, James Blake and Sam Querrey — the three Americans with the best chances of reaching the finals – all go through Federer. Roddick has the best path, leading to a quarterfinal re-match with Djokovic, whom Roddick beat in Montreal and Australia earlier this year, but lost a contentious battle last year in Flushing Meadows. Roddick would play Federer in the semis if they get that far. Querrey and Blake are both in Federer’s quarter of the draw. Check out the full slate at www.usopen.org/en_US/scores/draws/.

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Top Four American Men Into Third Round

Joe Samuel Starnes — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 15:13:28 +0000

The top four ranked Americans — No. 8 Andy Roddick, No. 9 James Blake, No. 35 Mardy Fish and No. 53 Sam Querrey — have reached the third round of the Open, leaving behind six compatriots who lost in the second round.

Collectively, the 19 American men who started the tournament are 14-15 in the Open, a much better showing than any of the three previous Grand Slams, and a marked improvement over Wimbledon, where 12 players went a dismal 5-12 and only one, Bobby Reynolds, reached the third round.

Next in New York, close friends Blake and Fish will meet, and Roddick plays Italian Andreas Seppi and Querrey runs up against Ivo Karlovic, who at 6-feet, 10-inches has a four-inch height advantage over Querrey. If Blake and Roddick can win two more matches, they would reach the quarters where Blake would likely run into Nadal and Roddick Federer.

This would be an improvement over American men’s results in Grand Slams this year. Blake’s run to the quarters in Australia is the best success by an American man at the big four tournaments in 2008.

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American Men 1-4 on Wimbledon Day One

Joe Samuel Starnes — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 16:45:58 +0000

Acworth, Ga., resident Bobby Reynolds won the only match played by five unseeded American men on Wimbledon’s first day, beating Italian Fillippo Volandri who retired down 6-2, 6-2. Reynolds, who played his college tennis at Vanderbilt, will player the winner of David Nalbandian and Frank Dancevic.

Andy Roddick and James Blake, seeded 6 and 9 respectively, as well as five more unseeded Americans, play tomorrow or possibly Wednesday depending on the schedule of play to be announced.

Here are the losses of the unseeded Americans on Monday:

Robby Ginepri lost to Fernando Gonzalez in three tight sets, 7-6, 7-5, 7-5, falling to 0-5 against his Chilean nemesis.

Sam Querrey lost to Juan Carlos Ferrerro in four sets, winning the first 6-2, but then losing three in a row by a margin of 6-4.

In a rare ATP matchup of two 33-year-olds, wildcard Vince Spadea won the first two sets in tiebreakers but wasted his lead, losing to Swede Thomas Johannson in five sets.

Qualifier Kevin Kim, the lowest-ranked American in the draw at 181 in the word, lost to 41st-ranked Robin Soderling of Sweden in four sets with the odd score of 7-5, 0-6, 6-3, 6-4.

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