LOS ANGELES: Two-time champion Sam Querrey won his 12th straight match in the Farmers Classic on Saturday night, beating fellow American Rajeev Ram 6-3, 7-6 (4).
The second-seeded Querrey, the 2009 and 2010 winner who missed the event missed last year because of a right shoulder injury, will face Lithuania’s Ricardas Berankis.
Berankis beat sixth-seeded Marinko Matosevic of Australia 7-5, 6-1 in the day semifinal at the Los Angeles Tennis Center.
“He’s been playing great all week,” Querrey said about Berankis. “He came through qualifying, so he’s already won seven matches and that’s tough to do anywhere. He’s going to be ready to go and playing well, I’m sure. He hits the ball pretty big for a guy that’s only 5-8. He’s not lacking for pop on his serve or his groundstrokes.”
The 6-foot-6 Querrey rallied after dropping the first three games in the second set. He raced to a 3-0 lead in the tiebreaker on a forehand pass, an ace and Ram’s forehand error.
“It was tough,” Querrey said before returning to the court to join Steve Johnson in a doubles semifinal against Ruben Bemelmans and Xavier Malisse. “Rajeev is one of the few guys that still kind of serves and volleys and uses his slice well, so he makes it kind of uncomfortable out there and makes it tough to play. Fortunately I got that one break in the tiebreaker and then served well the rest of the way.”
Before qualifying for the event on UCLA’s campus, Berankis had played only two tour matches in the past year because of pelvic injuries.
“It’s really amazing,” Berankis said. “I really didn’t even think of it before coming here. You still have it in your mind a little bit, but when you come to play qualies it’s difficult to think of the final. Still, I had that belief in myself. I’m feeling great on the court at the moment and looking forward to tomorrow.”
Berankis, ranked 141st going into the event, will move inside the top 100 after his four straight-set wins over seventh-seeded Bjorn Phau, Igor Andreev, No. 4 Nicolas Mahut and No. 6 Matosevic and could go up to about No. 75 by winning the championship. His career high is No. 73 on Jan. 31, 2011, before his injuries.
Berankis took control of a tight opening set by breaking his Australian opponent at love for a 6-5 lead, then opened the second set with a service break and a hold that seemed to demoralize Matosevic.
“When a guy gets broken at the end of the first set, he’s not so good emotionally,” Berankis said. “I think I tried to use it as quick as possible, one or two mistakes (by Matosevic) and here it comes, it’s 15-all or 15-30, and also to put pressure on his second serve. That’s when you get chances to break again.”
