Querrey Struggles, Narrowly Defeats Nieminen At Winston-Salem Open
Sam Querrey nearly saw his preparations come to an early end Wednesday, struggling early before edging Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen 4-6, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (12) to advance to the Winston-Salem Open quarterfinals. Querrey had 19 aces, but lost the first set to the left-handed Nieminen after leading 4-1. Querrey then had to overcome five match points in the third-set tiebreaker to advance to his fourth tournament quarterfinals this season.
The 29th-ranked Querrey will face unseeded Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania, a 6-3, 6-3 winner over Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut.
In the night match at the Wake Forest Tennis Center, France’s Gael Monfils took advantage of two key service breaks in the third set to beat 22nd-ranked Tommy Robredo of Spain 7-6 (7), 4-6, 6-2.
Monfils, ranked seventh in the world in 2011, broke serve in the third and seventh games of the final set to get a measure of revenge over Robredo, who rallied from a two-set deficit to beat Monfils at the French Open nearly three months ago.
The 20-year-old American Sloane Stephens ranked 17th in the world moved into the quarterfinals of the New Haven Open with a 7-5, 2-6, 6-1 victory over Germany’s Julia Georges.
After losing the second set, Stephens won the next four games and cruised to the win.
She is one of just three seeded players to advance past the second round. The others are defending champion Petra Kvitova, who beat American qualifier Alison Riske 7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-3; and four-time champion Caroline Wozniacki, who turned back Italy’s Karin Knapp 6-1, 7-5.
Top-seeded Sara Errani fell to Russia’s Ekaterina Makarova 7-5, 6-1, becoming the fifth of the tournament’s eight seeds to lose in the final WTA tuneup before next week’s U.S. Open.
Stephens and Wozniacki, who has won the event four of the last five years, will meet in the marquee matchup of the quarterfinals.
