No. 17 seed Sam Querrey treed his way through his fourth-round nightcap on Arthur Ashe, beating late-blooming, left-handed serve-and-volleyer Mischa Zverev in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2, 6-1.
“Felt good out there from the beginning,” Querrey said after the match. “I felt like even when I was warming up, the ball was coming off clean. I felt like I was going to play well before the first point started.”
Querrey, who made the semifinals of Wimbledon in July (He’s the only player in the bracket’s bottom half to have reached a Slam semi.), used hard, heavy groundstrokes to prevent Zverev from volleying cleanly. He made 55 winners and only 8 unforced errors, compared with Zverev’s 17 winners to 12 UEs. Querrey also had 18 aces to Zverev’s 6. The match lasted just an hour and 16 minutes.
Querrey’s quarterfinal opponent will be No. 28 seed Kevin Anderson, against whom he has an 8-6 record.
Sam Querrey is TREEING. 34 winners in **45 minutes**(!!) Legit shot at the title.
— Joey Hanf (@TheTennisNerds) September 4, 2017
Querrey broke Zverev’s serve is his first receiving game, with two forehand passes and a backhand one, before consolidating for 3-0. Later, Querrey, passing Zverev left and right, broke Zverev’s serve a second time to take the first set — in which he fired seven aces — 6-2.
Sam rn #usopen https://t.co/EUfB3d1s7r
— joyce eng (@joyceeng61) September 4, 2017
In the second set, Querrey — with quick-diving crosscourt backhand returns that dove into the court before Zverev had the chance to execute the first volley — broke for 4-2. After a Querrey hold, Zverev was serving from 2-5 to stay in the set. Querrey, after putting on a groundstroke clinic to set up to a set point, hit another crosscourt backhand return winner to go up two sets to none.
Never seen Yosemite Sam play at this tremendous level courtside
— Brad Gilbert (@bgtennisnation) September 4, 2017
To start Set 3, Querrey held before breaking Zverev’s serve to love. One quick service hold later, the American led 3-0. In the next game, Querrey had three break points, the last of which he converted. Then, with a slice ace way to Zverev’s backhand side, he held for 5-0. After Zverev finally won a game, Querrey completed the breadstick with a forehand winner.
