Hit Me with Your Best Shot

Coverage

2010

Farmers Classic

Sunday, 01 August 2010 08:53

Hit Me with Your Best Shot

Written by Danielle Lescure

Knock me down, it’s all in vain
I’ll get right back on my feet again!

The Southern California crowd was clearly on native son Sam Querrey’s side during his semifinal match Saturday afternoon. The Thousand Oaks resident rewarded them almost three hours later with the win, 6-7(3), 7-6(5), 6-4. These UCLA courts Querrey loves have been a battlefield for him all week, the semifinal having been his third three-setter at the Farmers Classic. He has come dangerously close to getting dumped from the draw more than once, but has persevered.

The American brought out the big guns, his serve and forehand, against Serbian Janko Tipsarevic, playing aggressively throughout the match. The only drawback to that style was a tendency to overhit, causing balls to sail long or land in the net. For the most part, patience and persistence paid off for Tipsarevic. Using strong defensive skills and a few booming serves of his own, the Serb worked on keeping the Querrey on the move, waiting for an opening to hit a winner. Those tactics helped him win the first set in a tiebreak and took him to match point in the second. Querrey had to dig deep to stay alive at 4-5 and again down a 1-5 deficit in the tiebreak. A few great serves and superior shotmaking under pressure from Querrey cost Tipsarevic the lead, the set, as well as a racquet, and took the match into the final stretch.

Immediately, the American found himself having to dig out of another hole, losing his serve in the first game of the last set. Both players were feeling some fatigue at this point, making each one more prone to errors. Querrey fought back to eventually even the score, and the momentum helped him close out the match with a final break of serve.

“I’m happy by the way I played,” Tipsarevic commented afterwards, “but I should have never lost this match.” Elaborating on what he deemed, “a very disappointing loss,” the Serb said, “It’s that I didn’t use the chances that I had. I just missed too many easy points, easy balls trying to make a direct winner out of them instead of playing on the side and covering the down the line.” He also commented that, while he felt he served better today than he had all week, his inconsistency in that department put him at a disadvantage. Complimenting Querrey on how well the American has been playing on all surfaces, Tipsarevic noted, “When it’s important, he’s coming up with big shots.”

Querrey was very upbeat about his level of semifinal play, calling the match “awesome” and “exciting.” He said, “Today was the best I’ve played. I served great, hit my forehand really well. Overall I thought I played great and so did Janko. He really made me earn that out there.” Querrey believes the tough wins this week will give him a lot of confidence as the hard court summer swing continues. As defending champion at a tournament he declared to be one of his favorites, Querrey’s also made a $1,000 bet with Mike Bryan that he will have more titles here in Straus Stadium than the Bryan twins will by the end of their respective careers. As the Bryans already have five titles under their belt, Querrey’s got some catching up to do!

Feliciano Lopez may have lost the match, but is a shoe-in for "Best Dressed" in the press room.

London Calling

Would you like a breadstick with that bagel? In a match rife with dramatic momentum swings, top seed Andy Murray reminded fans how good his return and retrieval game can be, until it’s not. Initially, it appeared that whatever hadn’t been clicking for the Scot in his first two rounds here had begun firing on all cylinders. Blowing through the first set at 6-0 in all of 24 minutes, Murray seemed primed to take down the vacancy sign in the slot against Sam Querrey in the Sunday schedule. He was certainly helped by errors from his opponent, Spanish Davis Cup stalwart Feliciano Lopez. “It’s always tough to start the matches for me,” the Spaniard admitted, also claiming a case of nerves affected him early on in the match. “Took me a set and a half to adjust to the conditions, but I think I played a very good match.” Lopez certainly rose to the challenge once he made that adjustment and suddenly it was Murray scrambling to win a point and losing the second set as quickly as he’d won the first. Both players had evened out by the third. Though Lopez showed off his net skills, soft touch and threw up some wicked lobs, Murray got the early lead with a break and kept it to the end with a final score of 6-0, 1-6, 6-4. “Against the No 4 player in the world, you always need something more to win,” said Lopez.

Andy Murray hopes the win will help him gain momentum going into other US Open warm-ups

“It’s coming together for a streak of games at a time,” Murray explained when asked where he felt his game was at this point. “When you haven’t played much over the last month, you’re not going to be particularly consistent. You can’t expect to play great every point. I didn’t know what to expect because I hadn’t played much coming in… you have to have realistic expectations. I wasn’t expecting to play my best tennis but [to] try and play as many matches as possible.” In his second final of the year, Murray knows he will need to return well against Sam Querrey, but he can also be comforted by a 4-0 head-to-head advantage against the American. Both have shown grit and determination in getting this far. Sunday’s final will prove who can deliver the last knockout punch.

Every Picture Tells A Story

In this case, the picture is made up of notable numbers. With a 6-2, 6-4 win today over the team of Rohan Bopanna and Aisam Qureshi, Bob and Mike Bryan have now laid claim to their 15^th straight win at this tournament and reached their 100^th career ATP final, an Open Era record. They are 5-0 in finals this year and anticipation is running high that tomorrow will mark their record-breaking 62^nd career title. In fact, Mark Woodforde, one half of the Australian doubles team, nicknamed “The Woodies,” who have held the record up until this point, is in Los Angeles to witness the possibly historic moment.

In addition to winning the 61 titles with Todd Woodbridge, Woodforde won six men's doubles titles with other partners, and five Grand Slams in Mixed Doubles

“Every generation, I think, tries to outdo the previous generation,” Woodforde mused. “And if that’s what Todd and I have set up for someone like Mike and Bob, to achieve what we achieved, then I think it gives us a sense of accomplishment as well.” He commended the brothers for all their efforts in increasing doubles visibility and, while there were jokes about The Woodies not being thrilled to be surpassed, Mark said both he and Todd knew it was inevitable. “I never played the game to be the best ever. It is enough for me to be considered in amongst a handful of teams to be one of the great teams. That is good enough for me.” To that end, Woodforde mentioned being inducted into the Australian Tennis Hall of Fame in January and the International Tennis Hall of Fame this past July as two of the most magical moments of his career. “Being inducted into the International Hall of Fame is the be-all and end-all. It’s one of the greatest accolades that you, as a tennis player, could achieve. If I died tomorrow, I tell you, I’d be dying very, very happy.”

Intro lyrics from “Hit Me with Your Best Shot,” written by Eddie Schwartz

Photos by Danielle Lescure

Read 415 times | Like this? Tweet it to your followers!

Published in Farmers Classic

Social sharing

More in this category: « Put the Needle on the Record Another One Bites the Dust »

Add comment

Administrators of ProTennisNews.net reserve the right to edit or delete any comment for any reason. Please keep comments respectful.

JComments

Instant Search

Advertisement

Hit Me with Your Best Shot

Add comment

Our Other Sites

Advertisement

From Our Store