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2/14/09 2:25 AM | Ricky Dimon
James Blake and Mardy Fish scored quarterfinal victories at the SAP Open on Friday afternoon. They will play each other in Saturday's semis.
James Blake d. Sam Querrey 7-6(9), 6-3
Blake withstood a monstrous first set of serving by Querrey and that propelled the No. 3 seed into the SAP Open semifinals. Querrey fired 14 aces in the opening frame of play and won 23 of 24 first-serve points, but the two Americans traded breaks of serve en route to a tiebreaker. The 6'6'' Querrey had set points at 7-6, 8-7 (on his own serve), and 9-8 in the 'breaker, but Blake saved all three. Blake went on to close out the dramatic decider 11 points to nine. With momentum in hand and Querrey's serve losing juice, Blake broke for a quick 2-0 lead in the second. He consolidated the break for a 4-1 advantage, at which point he had chances to add yet another. Querrey, however, kept himself within striking distance by holding serve and that seemed to rejuvenate him just a little bit. After failing to win a single return point in Blake's first three service games of the second set, Querrey suddenly seized a break point at 2-4. But when Blake saved it and held for 5-2, Querrey's hopes were dashed. One final routine service game at 5-3 finished off the proceedings for Blake in one hour and seven minutes. Next up for Blake is a semifinal date with fellow American and San Jose doubles partner Mardy Fish.
Mardy Fish d. Juan Martin Del Potro 6-3, 6-4
Fish broke the 1-1 tie in his head-to-head series with Del Potro by pulling off a surprising straight-set victory on Friday afternoon in San Jose. The American's serve was overwhelming right from the start. Despite nine aces in the first set, he faced faced two break points; but by saving them both he ensured that his single break of Del Potro would be enough to take a one-set advantage. More of the same continued throughout the second frame of play, with Fish becoming even more and more dominant on serve. The No. 5 seed added 10 more aces and faced no break points en route to a one-break lead at 5-3. Del Potro held for 5-4, thus forcing his opponent to close out the proceedings on serve. Fish did so successfully, but not before he had to save two break points. In his upset of the second-seeded Argentine, Fish fired 19 aces and even won more than 60 percent of the points in which he had to throw in a second serve. Fish and Blake will also be playing with each in the doubles semifinals on Saturday.
Radek Stepanek d. Todd Widom 5-7, 6-0, 6-0
An interesting scoreline was the result of this match between the 2008 San Jose runner-up and a little-known American qualifier, as Stepanek served up a double-bagel following a surprising loss in the first set. Widom started off strong in his first ATP quarterfinal, but he had to save one break point en route to 6-5 in the opening set, while Stepanek won far more return points and had one break point. Out of nowhere at 6-5, however, Widom broke serve to take a one-set advantage. Equally stunning, he did not win another game the rest of the match. Stepanek made every single one of his first serves in the second frame of play, losing just three service points and eight points total. The fourth-seeded Czech dominated the final set in similar fashion, dropping three points on serve and seven total. Next up for Stepanek is a semifinal date with No. 1 seed Andy Roddick. It will be a rematch of last year's SAP Open final, which Roddick won 6-4, 7-5.
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I only got Blake right, which was not a hard pick.
Del Potro's game is not great for indoors. He should fare better at the MS in Indian Wells and Miami.
RickyDimon , 2/14/09 5:33 AM
well at least thats some gud news... those are more important neway. thx
kaitepai , 2/14/09 7:53 AM
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I HATE it when ur right, Ricky. I'm so annoyed at del Potro for losing, hope he makes a really decent run at the Master's series. I do know that Fish can play out of his skin at times, but it sucks for delPos confidence. And what the hell happened to Tsonga?
kaitepai , 2/14/09 4:07 AM