QUERREY CLAIMS THIRD LOS ANGELES TITLE
econd-seeded American Sam Querrey captured his third title at the Farmers Classic, defeating first-time finalist Ricardas Berankis 6-0, 6-2 on Sunday in Los Angeles. He has now won 13 straight matches at this ATP World Tour 250 tournament.
“I feel like I always play well here,” said Querrey. “I grew up kind of playing around this area and I’m really comfortable out there on the courts. It’s fun to play in front of my friends and family. It all came together this week, and especially today.”
By titling at the second event of the 2012 Emirates Airline US Open Series, the 24 year old moves into a first place tie with countryman and last week's Atlanta champion Andy Roddick atop this summer's Bonus Challenge standings. Querrey won the US Open Series in 2009.
The Southern California native joins four-time champions Andre Agassi and Jimmy Connors as the only players in the Open Era to have won three or more Los Angeles titles. Querrey claimed back-to-back titles in 2009-10, but missed last year's event after undergoing wrist surgery in June.
In his first final appearance since winning the Farmers Classic two years ago, Querrey needed a mere 18 minutes to wrap up the first set. He won the first nine games of the match, facing down double break point at 2-0 in the second set, before Berankis managed to get on the scoreboard. Querrey broke his 141st-ranked opponent for a fifth time to clinch the victory after 51 minutes.
Querrey is projected to move 20 spots in the South African Airways ATP Rankings to No. 37 with his victory. He improves to a 7-5 mark in ATP World Tour finals and to an 18-15 season record.
“I’m hoping I can just keep this up and play well the entire summer and keep going,” he said. “I’ve got Washington D.C. next week, so I’m just trying to continue to ride the train and hopefully play well all the way through the US Open.
“I’d love to be seeded at the Open, that’s one of my goals. I’m going to be pretty close after this week so hopefully with a few more good weeks I can make it into the Top 32 and be seeded there. And I’d love to get back into the Top 20, where I was a year-and-a-half ago, so that’s my big goal right now.”
Berankis, the first Lithuanian-born player to reach an ATP World Tour final, became the 11th different first-time title hopeful to lose in a title match this season.
Prior to qualifying for the BB&T Atlanta Open last week, the 22 year old had not played a tour-level match in nearly a year. He had been sidelined with a pelvis stress fracture for four months before coming back on the Challenge circuit.
2012 Emirates Airline US Open Series Bonus Challenge Standings
Through Sunday, 29 July 2012
Position Player Country Total Points
T-1 Andy Roddick USA 70
Sam Querrey USA 70
T-3 Ricardas Berankis LTU 45
Gilles Muller LUX 45
5 Michael Russell USA 30
T-6 John Isner USA 25
Marinko Matosevic AUS 25
Rajeev Ram USA 25
Go Soeda JPN 25
