AEGON Champs: Querrey guts Fish

 

Originally published on: 13/06/10 17:26

Sam Querrey won his fifth career title and his third of the year with a 7-6(3) 7-5 victory over compatriot Mardy Fish to clinch victory at the AEGON Championships on Sunday.

It is the third time this year that Querrey has defeated a close friend for a title – having beaten doubles partner and world No.19 John Isner in the Memphis and Belgrade final’s earlier this year.

Both of those matches went the distance, but Querrey found his fourth final of the year a little more straightforward in West London, winning the first all-American final at Queen’s Club since 1994 in straight sets.

Fish had appeared destined to force a deciding set after grabbing the first break of the match in the fifth game of the second set. But when serving for the set at 5-4, the world No.90 made some loose errors on his ground strokes, gifting the 22-year-old a break, before promptly losing the next two games.

“To be honest, I’m not really sure what just happened,” admitted a dazed Fish in his post match on-court interview, having spent the previous five minutes with his head buried under a towel while a swarm of photographers captured his despair.

For Querrey, it was a satisfying end to a promising week on grass, and having failed to really master the surface before this week, his triumph inevitably spawned questions of whether he can do as Rafael Nadal did in 2008 and follow his Queen’s win with a Wimbledon triumph.

“I’d love to win Wimbledon – but baby steps here – I’ll try and make the third round this year, because the second round is the best I’ve ever done,” he said.

“It’s possible, but I’ve still got some work to do and there’s still some great competitors out there that you’ve got to beat to win the Wimbledon title.”

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