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  • Mix of Veterans and Youngsters Advance to Vegas Semifinals

    3/8/08 4:16 PM | Ricky Dimon
    - Human backboard Guillermo Canas is the only seeded player still alive at the Tennis Channel Open, joining Robby Ginepri as one of two experienced players in the semifinals. They will be joined by up-and-coming Sam Querrey and little-known Kevin Anderson.

    Kevin Anderson d. Evgeny Korolev 6-2, 6-0
    First Kei Nishikori. Then Sergiy Stakhovsky. Now Kevin Anderson? Who? Well, the 21-year-old South African still has two wins to go if he wants to duplicate the title-winning feats of Nishikori (Delray Beach) and Stakhovsky (Zagreb), but it’s already a shock that he is into the semifinals of the Tennis Channel Open. One day after defeating fellow former college player John Isner in the second round, the 6’7’’ Anderson destroyed Korolev 6-2, 6-0 in just 53 minutes. Korolev was slightly hobbled by a foot problem, but all credit goes to Anderson, who had never won an ATP match prior to this event. He put his huge first serve in the court 68 percent of the time and blasted eight aces compared with just one double-fault, while saving the only two break points he faced in the match. Korolev just never got going the way he did on Thursday in an upset of top-seeded Fernando Gonzalez, in part because Anderson kept him off balance with powerful groundstrokes.

    (4) Guillermo Canas d. Amer Delic 6-4, 6-4
    The rock-solid Canas was up to his old tricks on Friday afternoon, much to the chagrin of his opponent. Delic did not have the same luck as the other former University of Illinois player—Anderson—enjoyed on Friday, but Anderson did not have to go up against a ridiculously tough player like Canas. The Argentine made just one unforced error throughout the entire first set and he did not make another until the fifth game of the second set! That’s hard for a power player like Delic, who would much rather hit fewer balls and finish points early, to contend with. It also does not help Delic that Canas is one of the best returners in the game and that was also on full display. Canas won 10 points against Delic’s first serve and 48 percent of the points when Delic had to deliver a second offering. In a sign of how dominant Canas was from the baseline, he lost just 11 total points in his 10 service games despite not owning a serve that can win him a lot of free points.

    Sam Querrey d. Julien Benneteau 7-5, 6-2
    Benneteau pulled off one of the big surprises of the tournament when he dispatched second-seeded Lleyton Hewitt 6-3, 7-5 in the second round. The Frenchman played awesome tennis both in that match and in his opening-round victory over Jonas Bjorkman, but it was not to be on Friday against Querrey. His only chance to stay in the match was putting almost all of his first serves in, because he managed very little against Querrey anywhere else. Benneteau won just 40 percent of his second-serve points and just 27 percent of the points on Querrey’s serve, including 0-for-2 when he had break chances. Always an aggressive player, the 6’5’’ American especially went for his big shots early in the points on Friday night and it paid off. Benneteau simply provided no resistance against Querrey’s power and did not keep balls deep enough in the court to prevent his opponent from completely dictating rallies.

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