Three-set thrillers for Fish and Querrey in LA

 

Originally published on: 26/02/10 11:39

Mardy Fish had to save three match points before beating Chris Guccione 6-7(3) 7-6(12) 6-4 to reach the LA Tennis Open quarter-finals.

He will now face Leonardo Mayer on Friday after the Argentine came through two tie-breaks of his own to shock No.5 seed Igor Kunitsyn 7-6(5) 6-7(7) 6-3.

Fish, the No.2 seed, survived a 16-minute second set breaker, denying the Aussie victory three times.

A backhand drop volley winner saved the third and took him to 10-10, before Guccione hit a forehand long to level the score. When the American broke at the start of the third – the only break of the entire match – the fate of the match was sealed.

Dudi Sela, the No.4 seed, defeated American Robert Kendrick 6-4 3-6 6-1.

The Israeli will now face Sam Querrey on Friday after the American beat compatriot Ryan Sweeting 6-3 6-7(5) 6-3.

Querrey, twice a runner-up at Newport and Indy the past two weeks, went 5-0 behind in the second set, but responded by winning five himself before dropping the tie-break. But like Fish, an early service break in the third sparked the win.

“I kind of lost focus in the second set then I think he kind of lost focus,” Querrey said afterwards. “He let me right back into it without me really playing well, then he picked it up in the tiebreaker.

“You’ve just got to stay positive and bounce back and I thought I did a good job of that in the third set.”

Tommy Haas and Marat Safin meet on Friday for a place in the semi-finals against either Querrey or Sela.

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