Article

  • Querrey faces tough opening test in Berdych

    8/26/08 7:41 AM | Ricky Dimon
    - The draw did American Sam Querrey no favors, putting him against Tomas Berdych in the first round. It will be a big-serving, hard-hitting showdown.

    Any match featuring Sam Querrey and Tomas Berdych has all the makings of a hard-fought thriller with massive serves and spectacular forehands. That, however, did not exactly turn out to be the case in the only previous encounter. Berdych brings 1-0 record in the head-to-head series into New York, having destroyed Querrey 6-1, 6-2 earlier this year at the Masters Series Miami.

    Querrey has all the tools to make things far more competitive this time around, but which Querrey will come to the table on Tuesday afternoon. Will it be the the same one who showed up in Miami--the one who got destroyed by Stefan Koubek in the first round here last year--or will it be the one who captured the Las Vegas title in February? The 6'6'' American has been wildly up-and-down in 2008. He reached the quarterfinals in Monte-Carlo and the semifinals in both Delray Beach and Indianapolis to go along with his Las Vegas performance, but he has won just one of his last four matches and has been bounced from eight tournaments in the first round.

    Berdych, 22, is far more accomplished than his 20-year-old opponent, but he is no less erratic. The 6'5'' Czech has been as high as No. 9 in the world, but he currently sits and is in the midst of a mediocre year. Berdych reached the semifinals at the Masters Series Miami and the final on the clay courts of Bastad, but he has not made it out of the fourth round at any Grand Slam and he suffered disappointing second-round losses in both of the U.S. Open Series Masters events (Toronto and Cincinnati).

    It's hard to predict what's going to happen between these two--even looking at their previous meeting--because you never know what you are going to get from either player. Querrey's first serve is one of the biggest on tour and it can keep him in any match when it is clicking. The knock on Berdych is that while he can take care of players he is supposed to be beat, he rarely comes up with a huge win on a big stage against a top player. For now Querrey remains in the former category, and there is even more reason to think Berdych will take this match if Querrey can't put the Miami setback out of his mind. Berdych in four is the pick.

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