Friday, March 3, 2017

Red-hot Querrey to face Nadal in Acapulco final

Sam Querrey, shown in 2014, defeated a top-20 player
for the third straight day. Photo by Paul Bauman
   Sam Querrey defeated a top-20 player for the third straight day to reach the final of the Mexican Open in Acapulco.
   The 29-year-old San Francisco native outlasted sixth-seeded Nick Kyrgios of Australia 3-6, 6-1, 7-5 tonight after beating fifth-seeded David Goffin of Belgium in the second round and fourth-seeded Dominic Thiem of Austria in the quarterfinals.
   Thiem is ranked ninth, Goffin 11th and Kygrios 17th. The right-handed Kygrios, who ousted top-seeded Novak Djokovic in the quarters, was treated for a right elbow problem after the second set.
   The 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) Querrey and the 6-foot-4 (1.93-meter) Kyrgios combined for 24 aces and only two double faults. Querrey pounded 13 aces, committed both double faults and converted all four of his break points against Kyrgios.
   The unseeded Querrey, ranked 40th, will face Rafael Nadal, seeded second and ranked sixth, on Saturday at 7 p.m. California time (Tennis Channel) for the title. Nadal dismissed third-seeded Marin Cilic of Croatia 6-1, 6-2, saving all seven break points against him.
   Nadal, who is 4-0 against Querrey, seeks his first hardcourt title since Qatar in January 2014. Querrey will try to win his ninth ATP singles title and first since Delray Beach on hardcourts in February 2016.
   Pacific Coast Doubles in La Jolla, Calif. -- Unseeded Roy Lederman and Brandon Sutter (El Dorado Hills) of Stanford surprised eighth-seeded Peter Smith and Colter Smith 8-1 to reach the round of 16.
   Lederman and Sutter will play top-seeded Lucas Gerch and Arjun Kadhe of Oklahoma State.
   Also advancing were No. 5 seeds Andre Goransson of Cal and Cal associated head coach Tyler Browne, No. 6 Thomas Fawcett of Stanford and Gregory Ouellette, No. 7 Michael Genender and Sameer Kumar of Stanford, and No. 9 Brett Bacharach, a former UC Davis standout, and Michael Meyer, an assistant coach at UCD.    

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