Querrey gives US 1st men’s quarterfinalist since 2011
Sam Querrey was about as perfect as can be en route to becoming the first American man in the US Open quarterfinals since 2011.
Not that Querrey feels any sort of burden when it comes to the carrying-the-flag aspect of his career-best run at Flushing Meadows.
“I never once thought about that this whole tournament or that match out there tonight,” he said. “I don’t feel any extra pressure.”
Querrey never faced a break point and wound up with 55 winners and only eight unforced errors while easily beating 23rd-seeded Mischa Zverev of Germany 6-2, 6-2, 6-1 on Sunday night.
He delivered 18 aces and needed only 77 minutes to finish off Zverev, a left-hander who had that shoulder treated by a trainer during the match.
“Felt good out there from the beginning,” said Querrey, who had never played a night match in Arthur Ashe Stadium. “I felt like even when I was warming up, the ball was coming off clean. I felt like I was going to play well before the first point started.”
Querrey, a 29-year-old from California, reached the first Grand Slam semifinal of his career at Wimbledon in July, knocking off 2016 champion Andy Murray in the process.
Karolina Pliskova powered her way into the US Open women’s quarterfinals, overwhelming American Jennifer Brady 6-1, 6-0 in just 47 minutes.
Two days after fighting off a match point to advance, the No. 1 seed won 22 of 24 points on her first serve and broke her unseeded opponent’s serve six times.
The US Open runner-up last year, Pliskova advanced to face either No. 20 CoCo Vandeweghe or unseeded Lucie Safarova.
She raced to a 4-0 lead and never let Brady get into the match in a much better performance than Saturday, when she struggled past No. 27 Zhang Shuai 3-6, 7-5, 6-4.