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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Thursday, August 27, 2009

Querrey wins Open series


Associated Press

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Hard-serving Sam Querrey won the U.S. Open Series championship yesterday by moving into the quarterfinals of the Pilot Pen tennis tournament with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over Bjorn Phau of Germany.

The series ranks players using a points system based on their play in 10 selected tournaments throughout the year.

The victory gives Querrey 145 series points, enough to tie Andy Murray, who is not playing in New Haven. Querrey wins the title because he has 14 match wins in series events, to eight for Murray.

The title gives Querrey a chance to earn a bonus of between $15,000 and $1 million, to be determined by his finish in the U.S. Open.

Querrey said there won't be any added pressure because of that.

"The most pressure I felt all summer was probably today, knowing that if I won it, I would win (the series) and if I didn't it was third place," he said.

Querrey will play top-seeded Nikolay Davydenko in the quarterfinals. The Russian advanced in straight sets, 7-5, 6-3 over Fabrice Santoro of France.

Second-seed Fernando Verdasco also won in straight sets, 7-6 (2), 6-2 over Andreas Seppi in a night match that was halted twice by rain in the second set.

In the women's draw, top-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova needed a third-set tiebreaker to beat Belgian teenager Yanina Wickmayer 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (2).