Wake Forest Athletics
W-S Open Quarterfinals: Querrey, Monfils Advance
8/23/2013 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Aug 22, 2013
By Ben Helms, Wake Forest Athletic Communications
Winston-Salem Open Official Site
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Quarterfinals day saw the crowd favorite American Sam Querrey and the always-entertaining Gael Monfils advance to the semifinals of the Winston-Salem Open.
Following is a recap of the day's most exciting action.
Querrey ousts Birankis, advances to semifinals
Headlining the night session with his commanding service play, American Sam Querrey took down Ricardas Birankis by a score of 6-3, 6-4 on Thursday to reach the semifinals of the Winston-Salem Open.
Querrey had a few hiccups early in the first set, falling behind 15-40 in his second service game, but saved both to get to deuce. With two serves of 134 and 133 miles per hour, Querrey held serve and broke in the next game to take the lead.
The last remaining American in the draw attacked early in the second set, breaking Berankis in the first game. Berankis kept the match interesting with a break of his own, but both players could not hold in their service games. Querrey earned a break to go up 5-4 and serve for the match. After an ace and two no-return serves, he converted on his first match point opportunity.
"I think I was just frustrated at the previous two service games. He broke me both of those and that doesn't happen often...I just turned the dial up a little bit and told myself I'm not getting broken a third time in a row," said Querrey.
Querrey said the fans have a great semifinal round to look forward to on Friday.
"Both [semifinals] are good matches. You've got four guys with four different styles. It's great for the crowd, great for the tournament. The tournament's got four great players and two great matches tomorrow."
Monfils claims comeback victory for semifinal berth
Crowd favorite Gael Monfils pulled out a big win against Fernando Verdasco by a score of 6-7(8), 6-4, 6-4 on Center Court to advance to the semifinals.
The 15-seeded Frenchman fell behind earlier, when the seven-seeded Verdasco outlasted Monfils in a big tiebreaker. Monfils was serving for the set at 6-4, but wasn't able to convert his chances. Verdasco eventually took the tiebreaker by a score of 10-8.
Both players seemed to lack energy in the second set due to the heat and humidity in the afternoon session, but Monfils took a break early to go up 2-1. He held serve for the rest of the set, forcing a deciding third.
Verdasco and Monfils found new life in the final set. The Spaniard broke early to go up 2-1, only to see his break erased in his next service game. At 4-4, Monfils picked up his second break of the set, giving him an opportunity to serve for the match. Monfils could not convert on his first match point try, but fought off a Verdasco advantage and clinched a semifinal berth.
"It's always good to be in the semifinals of the tournament with two big wins. This one was good as well today so I'm happy and hopefully I will keep winning," said Monfils.
Next in line for Monfils is Alexander Dolgopolov, who advanced over Yen-Hsun Lu earlier Thursday.
"It's going to be a tough match. [Dolgopolov is] always tough to play against because he's very tricky, he has so many shots he can [use.] I expect a big match and a fun match," said Monfils.
In other action...
In the first quarterfinal of the day, Alexander Dolgopolov defeated Yen-Hsun Lu by a score of 7-6(2), 6-3. Dolgopolov smacked nine aces while winning 84% of his first services. He plays Gael Monfils in the semifinals on Friday.
Ninth-seeded Jurgen Melzer advanced on a 6-4, 6-3 victory over 13 seed Dmitry Tursunov. He will play Querrey in the semifinals.
