London, Jun 16: Sam Querrey reached his first semifinal since he went on to win the Los Angeles event in August 2010, defeating Ivan Dodig of Croatia 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 at Queen's Club on Friday.
The American took the opening set after Dodig double-faulted to give Querrey a 6-5 lead. In the second set, a netted forehand at 4-3 earned Dodig the only break, and in the final se
t a forehand error at 3-2 left Querrey in charge.
“Tough match,” Querrey said. “We both served very well so it was just a matter of a couple of points here and there. I'm proud of myself after losing the second set to come back strong in the third.”
Querrey will next face sixth-seeded Marin Cilic of Croatia, who advanced 6-4, 2-0 when Yen-hsun Lu of Taiwan retired due to groin pain.
Lu made the more positive start and led 2-0, but Cilic responded by winning 16 of the next 18 points to lead 4-2.
Cilic broke serve to lead 1-0 in the second set and won the last seven points of the match.
Lu had earlier upset third-seeded Janko Tipsarevic 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (5) in a third-round match that was suspended overnight due to rain.
Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov reached his first career semifinal by upsetting ninth-seeded South African Kevin Anderson 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, closing out the match on his third match point.
“He's one of the biggest servers I've ever played,” Dimitrov said. “I had to just kind of find a way to put the ball in the court somehow here and there. I think that's what happened in the second and third set.”
David Nalbandian twice came from behind to reach the semifinals, first overcoming Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 in a third-round match postponed on Thursday, and then beating Xavier Malisse of Belgium 4-6, 7-6 (2), 6-4.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga's participation at Wimbledon remains in doubt after his injured finger was examined at a clinic in Geneva.
The Frenchman injured the little finger of his right racket hand when he fell during the final set of his third-round defeat to Dodig on Thursday.
Although there is no break as Tsonga feared, the finger is severely strained. He will undergo a further examination on Monday.
