Sports Host. Andy Taylor. The Voice of the US Open
[divider style=”solid” color=”#cccccc” opacity=”0.5″ icon=”arrow-down” icon_color=”#666666″ icon_size=”15″ placement=”up”]
Sam Querrey def Mischa Zverev 62 62 61
Sunday’s nightcap was a mercy slaying. The previous night, crews and broadcasters worked until nearly 2:00am. Saturday’s 3rd-Round matches were epic and lengthy. Sunday’s 4th-Round matches were equally as compelling, and equally as long.
Pablo Carreno-Busta required three tie-break sets to dispatch Denis Shapovalov, Anastasija Sevastova won a deciding-set thriller over Maria Sharapova, and Venus Williams needed three sets to reach her 12th career US Open Quarterfinal. For the second straight day, the Day Session ran into night. Thankfully, Petra Kvitova needed only two sets to eliminate Garbine Muguruza; but we were still two hours into play, with a potential five-setter ahead. It wasn’t looking good for sleep-deprived camera operators.
25-minutes. Total jubilation
Sam Querrey was in a hurry. In under 30-minutes, he was up a set. By the 55th minute, he was up two. 22-minutes later, Sam was on to the Quarterfinals while camera crews raced back to their hotels to catch up on sleep.
Sam was dominant, easily the more rested of the two. Mischa endured two five-setters before Friday’s quick three-set win over John Isner on Ashe. Sam plowed through the draw with fast wins over Giles Simon, Dudi Sela and Radu Albot in the first three rounds. After wins on Grandstand, Court-5 and the temporary Louis Armstrong Stadium, Sam wasn’t about to let his Prime Time slot on Ashe slip away. He fired 18 aces and never faced a break point.
Big stuff for the 17-seed
Sam Querrey is now the first American man in the US Open Quarterfinals since 2011. A week from Monday, he’ll most-likely become the top-ranked American for the first time. Back in July, he defeated Andy Murray to reach his first Grand Slam Semifinal at Wimbledon. On Tuesday, he’ll try and make it two Slam Semi’s in a row.
His opponent: Kevin Anderson, who has been aceing his way through the field, as well. Kevin fought off every break he faced through the first three rounds. Paolo Lorenzi finally cracked the fascade today on Armstrong, but the Italian fell in four sets.
