Querrey falls to Cilic in Wimbledon semifinals

Marin Cilic, serving at Indian Wells last year, reached his
second Grand Slam final. He won the 2014 U.S. Open.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   The task was too tall for Sam Querrey.
   In more ways than one.
   Coming off three consecutive five-set victories, the 29-year-old San Francisco native faced a Grand Slam champion today in a semifinal matchup of 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) players at Wimbledon.
   Marin Cilic, 28, triumphed 6-7 (6), 6-4, 7-6 (3), 7-5 to reach his second major final. He overpowered Kei Nishikori of Japan for the 2014 U.S. Open title.
   Querrey, the first player to win three straight five-set matches at Wimbledon since Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia 10 years ago, must settle for becoming the only active U.S. man to advance to a Grand Slam semifinal and earning $719,451. The champion will pocket $2,877,805.
   "Before I go for major titles, I need to take some baby steps,” Querrey, who now lives in Santa Monica in the Los Angeles area, told reporters. “I do feel I can. I feel that if I play well, my level is at a high enough point where I can beat those top guys.”
   Querrey beat Novak Djokovic in the third round at Wimbledon last year, Rafael Nadal in the Acapulco final in March and Andy Murray in the Wimbledon quarterfinals this year.
   Djokovic, who remains in a slump, had just won the French Open to complete a career Grand Slam, and personal problems may have contributed to his loss to Querrey. Murray hobbled with a sore hip after leading Querrey by a set and a break on Thursday.
   Cilic, the seventh seed and tallest Wimbledon finalist since the Open Era began in 1968, will face Roger Federer, seeded third, on Sunday at 6 a.m. PDT (ESPN). Federer, a father of four who will turn 36 on Aug. 8, beat Tomas Berdych, the Wimbledon runner-up in 2010, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (4), 6-4.
   Federer, the oldest finalist at the All England Club since 39-year-old Ken Rosewall in 1974, seeks his first Wimbledon singles title since 2012. He shares the record of seven with Pete Sampras (1993-2000) and William Renshaw of Great Britain (1881-89). Federer would be the oldest Wimbledon men's champion in the Open Era.
   The Cilic-Querrey match lasted "only" 2 hours, 56 minutes. Cilic outlasted Querrey 17-15 in the fifth set in 5 1/2 hours in the third round at Wimbledon in 2012. It's the second-longest match by time in Wimbledon history behind John Isner's 11-hour, 5-minute victory over Nicolas Mahut spanning three days in 2010.
   Cilic improved to 5-0 against Querrey (3-0 at Wimbledon) and became the first Croat to reach a Wimbledon singles final since Goran Ivanisevic edged Pat Rafter of Australia 9-7 in the fifth set in 2001.
   Cilic played brilliantly today. He had 25 aces and only one double fault, won 88 percent of the points on his first serve (69 of 78) and 67 percent on his second delivery (28 of 42), ripped 70 winners and committed 21 unforced errors. Cilic converted 4 of 14 break-point opportunities.
   Querrey, seeded 24th, finished with 13 aces and three double faults. He won 48 percent of the points on his second serve (26 of 54) and had only three break-point chances, capitalizing on two.
   Federer leads Cilic 6-1 in their head-to-head series, In their last meeting, Cilic led two sets to none and held three match points before falling in the Wimbledon quarterfinals last year. Cilic dominated Federer 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 in the semifinals of the 2014 U.S. Open.
   Cilic, one of the nicest guys on the tour, served a four-month doping suspension in 2013. He said he inadvertently ingested a stimulant in a glucose tablet bought at a pharmacy.

Venus avenges Stanford loss to Konta

Venus Williams, shown during the Bank of the West Classic
at Stanford last July, today reached her first Wimbledon final
since 2009. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Venus Williams today reached her first Wimbledon final since 2009 and avenged a loss to Johanna Konta in the Bank of the West Classic final at Stanford last July.
    Williams, 37, outslugged Konta
6-4, 6-2 to become the oldest Wimbledon singles finalist since Martina Navratilova lost to Conchita Martinez of Spain in 1994 at the same age.
   The sixth-seeded Konta, 26, was trying to become the first woman from Great Britain to win Wimbledon since Virginia Wade 40 years ago. Konta was born to Hungarian parents in Sydney, Australia, moved to Great Britain at 14 and became a British citizen in May 2012.
   Five of Williams' seven Grand Slam singles titles have come at Wimbledon. Her last major crown came at the All England Club in 2008. She was diagnosed with Sjogren's syndrome, which saps energy and causes joint pain, in 2011.
   Williams was involved in a two-car accident near her home in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., last month in which a 79-year-old man later died. She broke down when asked about the crash in her initial news conference at Wimbledon last week.
   Williams, seeded 10th, will face Garbine Muguruza, seeded 14th, for the title on Saturday at 6 a.m. PDT (ESPN). Muguruza, a 23-year-old Spaniard, dismissed unseeded Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia 6-1, 6-1.
   Muguruza will be playing in her third Grand Slam singles final. She lost to Serena Williams at Wimbledon in 2015 and won the French Open last year.
    Venus Williams, 6-foot-1 (1.85 meters), is 3-1 against Muguruza, 6 feet (1.82 meters). This will be their first meeting on grass. Williams won the first three encounters on hardcourts, and Muguruza triumphed 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 on clay in the quarterfinals of the Italian Open in May.
   Muguruza heads the field in this year's Bank of the West Classic, July 31-Aug. 6 at Stanford's Taube Family Tennis Stadium. Also entered are former world No. 1s Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka, but Venus Williams and Konta are not.
   Serena Williams, who has won the last two Wimbledon titles and seven overall, is not playing in this year's tournament because she is pregnant.

Querrey ousts ailing Murray in Wimbledon quarters

Sam Querrey, playing in the 2014 Sacramento Challenger, today
reached his first Grand Slam semifinal. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Sam Querrey achieved the biggest victory of his career today, ousting top seed and defending champion Andy Murray 3-6, 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-1, 6-1 at Wimbledon to reach his first Grand Slam semifinal in 42 appearances.
   Murray, who also won Wimbledon in 2013 to end Great Britain's 77-year title drought in men's singles at the All England Club, struggled with a nagging hip injury after leading Querrey by a set and a service break.
   Still, the 24th-seeded Querrey told reporters that his victory is "a really big deal. It's my first (major) semifinal. To beat Andy, to have it be at Wimbledon, was even a little more special. (It was) just an incredible match. I'm just so happy right now.
   "I was a little nervous at first when we got out there," added Querrey, who stunned Novak Djokovic in the third round at Wimbledon last year en route to the quarterfinals. "I had a little bit of a shaky game, my first service game. But then when I broke back in the second set, (I) kind of took a deep breath and settled in a little bit. As the match kept going, I just felt more and more confident, more and more like I belonged (out there).
   The 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) Querrey pounded 27 aces, and the 6-foot-3 (1.90-meter) Murray had eight. Both players committed two double faults.
   Querrey won 84 percent of the points on his first serve (62 of 74) to Murray's 73 percent (60 of 82). Querrey had 70 winners and 30 unforced errors vs. Murray's 33 and 19, respectively.
   Although Querrey graduated from Thousand Oaks High School in the Los Angeles area and lives in nearby Santa Monica, he has strong Northern California ties.
   Querrey was born in San Francisco and briefly lived in nearby Santa Rosa before moving to Las Vegas and then Thousand Oaks. In his professional debut just after graduating from high school in 2006, he won the $50,000 Yuba City Challenger.
   Querrey reached the semifinals in the now-defunct SAP Open in San Jose in 2010 and the final edition in 2013, and won the doubles title there in 2010 with Mardy Fish.
   Querrey also played part-time for the now-defunct Sacramento Capitals of World TeamTennis in 2012 and 2013, and swept the three-week NorCal Challenger swing through Napa, Sacramento and Tiburon in 2014.
   Another San Francisco native, 18-year-old CiCi Bellis, lost today in the women's doubles quarterfinals, and Sacramento native Sam Riffice was eliminated in boys singles and doubles.

Andy Murray, playing at Indian Wells in 2015, struggled with a nagging hip
injury after leading Sam Querrey two sets to one today. Photo by Paul Bauman

   In Friday's men's singles semifinals, Querrey will face another 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) player, No. 7 seed Marin Cilic of Croatia, and No. 3 Roger Federer will meet No. 11 Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic.
  Cilic, the 2014 U.S. Open champion, ended the run of Gilles Muller, 3-6, 7-6 (6), 7-5, 5-7, 6-1. Muller, a 34-year-old left-hander from Luxembourg, had ousted Rafael Nadal in the fourth round.
   Federer, who won the last of his seven Wimbledon singles titles in 2012, eliminated No. 6 seed Milos Raonic, last year's runner-up.
   Berdych led Djokovic, a three-time Wimbledon champion, 7-6 (2), 2-0 when the 30-year-old Serb retired with a right shoulder injury.
   Querrey became the first player since Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia 10 years ago to win three consecutive five-set matches at Wimbledon. And he could make it four straight.
   Cilic, 28, is 4-0 against Querrey, 29, but each match (three on grass and one on a hardcourt) has been close. They have met twice at Wimbledon, and both encounters were marathons. Cilic prevailed 7-6 (6), 6-4, 6-7 (2), 6-7 (3), 17-15 in 5 1/2 hours in the third round in 2012 and 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-4 in the second round in 2009.
   The 2012 clash between Cilic and Querrey is the second-longest by time in Wimbledon history, trailing John Isner's victory over Nicolas Mahut, 70-68 in the fifth set, in 2010. That epic lasted 11 hours, 5 minutes over three days.
   Bellis and 18-year-old Czech Marketa Vondrousova lost to No. 9 seeds Hao-Ching Chan of Taiwan and Monica Niculescu of Romania 6-3, 6-4.
   Riffice fell to Constantin Bittoun Kouzmine of France 7-6 (8), 7-6 (5) in the second round and teamed with Duarte Vale of Portugal in a 6-4, 6-4 loss to Americans Vasil Kirkov and Danny Thomas in the first round.
   Both Bellis and Riffice are now based at the new USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla.

Konta, Venus to meet in rematch of Stanford final

Johanna Konta, playing in last year's U.S. Open, became the first
British woman to reach the Wimbledon semifinals since Virginia
Wade in 1978. Photo by Paul Bauman

   The Wimbledon semifinal between Johanna Konta and Venus Williams on Thursday will have a familiar feel for Northern California fans.
   Konta defeated Williams in three sets in the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford last July for her first WTA tour title.
   The sixth-seeded Konta, from Great Britain, edged the second-seeded Simona Halep, from Romania, 6-7 (2), 7-6 (5), 6-4 today to become the first British woman to reach the Wimbledon semis since Virginia Wade in 1978.
   Halep's loss ensures that Karolina Pliskova, a Czech who lost in the second round at Wimbledon, will replace Angelique Kerber at No. 1 when the new world rankings are released on Monday. Pliskova narrowly lost to Kerber in the 2015 Bank of the West final. Halep would have ascended to No. 1 with a victory.
   The 10th-seeded Williams eliminated 13th-seeded Jelena Ostapenko, a 20-year-old Latvian, 6-3, 7-5 in the previous match on Center Court.
   Williams, who has won five of her seven Grand Slam singles titles at Wimbledon, is the second-oldest woman to reach the semifinals there at 37 years, 29 days. Martina Navratilova was 37 years, 258 days old when she advanced to the 1994 final.
   Ostapenko shocked Halep to win the French Open last month for her first tour-level title.
   Williams was involved in a car accident near her home in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., last month in which a 79-year-old man later died. She broke down while trying to discuss the tragedy during a post-match news conference last week.

Venus Williams, practicing at the BNP Paribas
Open in Indian Wells in March, is the second-
oldest woman to reach the Wimbledon semis.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   Neither Konta nor Williams is scheduled to play in this year's Bank of the West Classic, July 31-Aug. 6 at Stanford's Taube Family Tennis Stadium.
   In the other Wimbledon semifinal, 14th-seeded Garbine Muguruza of Spain will face unseeded Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia.
   Muguruza, the 2015 Wimbledon runner-up to Serena Williams, dismissed seventh-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia 6-3, 6-4.
   Rybarikova, who had never advanced to the second week of a Grand Slam tournament, outclassed 24th-seeded CoCo Vandeweghe, the runner-up to Serena Williams in the 2012 Bank of the West Classic, 6-3, 6-3.
   Rybarikova, 28, underwent wrist and knee surgery last year and fell to No. 453 earlier this year. She is now No. 87.
   Konta, 26, is 3-2 against Williams, 37. If the seventh-ranked Konta wins their first meeting on grass, she will become the fourth British woman to crack the top five.
   Konta was born to Hungarian parents in Sydney, Australia, moved to Great Britain at 14 and became a British citizen in May 2012.
   In boys singles at Wimbledon, Constantin Bittoun Kouzmine of France leads Northern California product Sam Riffice 7-6 (8), 3-2 in a second-round match that was suspended by rain.
   Riffice, 18, was born in Sacramento and lived in nearby Roseville until age 15, when he moved to Florida to train full-time with the USTA. Ranked ninth nationally in the 18s, Riffice has given a verbal commitment to the University of Florida for the fall of 2018.

Querrey (singles), Bellis (doubles) reach quarters

Sam Querrey, right, plays doubles with Gilles Muller of Luxembourg at Indian Wells
in March. Both players today reached the Wimbledon singles quarterfinals. Muller
ousted two-time champion Rafael Nadal, seeded fourth, 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 15-13
in 4 hours, 48 minutes. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Two San Francisco natives today reached the Wimbledon quarterfinals, one in singles and one in doubles.
   And another Northern California product scored an upset in the first round of boys singles.
   No. 24 seed Sam Querrey, 29, outlasted Kevin Anderson of South Africa 5-7, 7-6 (5), 6-3, 6-7 (11), 6-3 to advance to the Wimbledon quarters for the second consecutive year. Both players were trying to reach their second Grand Slam quarterfinal.
   Meanwhile, CiCi Bellis teamed with fellow 18-year-old Marketa Vondrousova, from the Czech Republic, to defeat Ukrainians Lyudmyla Kichenok and Lesia Tsurenko 6-4, 6-2.
   Also, Sam Riffice, who grew up in the Sacramento suburb of Roseville, topped fourth-seeded Yu Hsiou Hsu of Taiwan 6-4, 7-5.
   Querrey now lives in Santa Monica in the Los Angeles area. Bellis recently bought a house in Orlando, Fla., the home of the USTA National Campus.
   Anderson saved four match points in the fourth-set tiebreaker and one at 2-5 in the fifth set.
   Both Querrey, 6-foot-6 (1.98 meters), and Anderson, 6-foot-8 (2.03 meters), hammered 31 aces in the 3-hour, 7-minute battle. Querrey committed only one double fault to Anderson's five. Querrey had 59 winners and only 18 unforced errors versus Anderson's 66 and 28.
   Querrey, who stunned Novak Djokovic in the third round at Wimbledon last year, now must overcome a huge obstacle to reach his first Grand Slam semifinal. He is scheduled to face top seed and defending champion Andy Murray, a 7-6 (1), 6-4, 6-4 winner over volatile Frenchman Benoit Paire, on Wednesday.
   "This match was by far the best, the cleanest, I have hit the ball here," Murray, who advanced to the Wimbledon quarterfinals for the 10th consecutive year, crowed to reporters. "I has happy about that. Last couple of days, practice has been really good as well. I didn't feel great during my last match. I didn't feel like I played so well, not loads of rhythm in the first two matches. I definitely felt better today."
   Murray, a 30-year-old Scot, withdrew from two exhibitions before Wimbledon with a sore hip and hobbled between points against Paire.
   "I said at the beginning of the tournament, I'll be able to get through seven matches, if that's what I have to do," Murray said. "Obviously I want to try to get to the final. And, yeah, I've done a good job so far here."
   Murray is 7-1 against Querrey. They have met only once since 2014, with Murray winning 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 in the third round of this year's Australian Open. They also faced each other in the fourth round at Wimbledon in 2010, with Murray triumphing 7-5, 6-3, 6-4.
   "He makes a ton of balls," Querrey said. "He plays great defense. ... Hopefully I can make that extra ball or close out a little harder at the net, try not to let him dictate with his defense.
   "It's going to be tough. I've played him in the past, like in Australia, many times before that. He's playing at a high level. He's the defending champion, No. 1 in the world. He loves playing here. The crowd is going to be behind him. But sometimes it's fun to go out there and play where the crowd is behind the other player 100 percent. I'm going to try to play aggressive, hopefully play well, and sneak out a win."
   Bellis and Vondrousova, the girls runners-up in the 2014 French Open, are set to take on ninth-seeded Hao-Ching Chan of Taiwan and Monica Niculescu of Romania on Wednesday. Chan and Niculescu held off Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil and Ana Konjuh of Croatia 6-7 (2), 6-3, 6-4.
   Riffice is scheduled to face Constantin Bittoun Kouzmine of France on Tuesday. Bittoun Kouzmine defeated Anton Matusevich of Great Britain 6-3, 3-0, retired.

Querrey upsets Tsonga to reach Wimbledon last 16

   Sam Querrey needed only one game today to pull off a big upset in the third round at Wimbledon for the second consecutive year.
   The 24th-seeded Querrey broke 12th-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga's serve to win 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (5), 1-6, 7-5 in the completion of a match that had been suspended by darkness on Friday night.
   Querrey, a 29-year-old San Francisco native, avenged a marathon loss to Tsonga, a two-time Wimbledon semifinalist, three years ago at the All England Club and improved his career record against the 32-year-old Frenchman to 2-4. Tsonga won 4-6, 7-6 (2), 6-7 (4), 6-3, 14-12 in the second round at Wimbledon in 2014.
   Querrey stunned Novak Djokovic in the third round at Wimbledon last year en route to the quarterfinals. Djokovic was ranked No. 1 at the time and had won the past two Wimbledon titles.
   Another San Francisco native, 18-year-old CiCi Bellis, reached the round of 16 in women's doubles. But the Grand Slam drought of former Stanford stars Bob and Mike Bryan continued in men's doubles.
   Querrey now lives in Santa Monica in the Los Angeles area, and Bellis is based in Orlando, Fla.
   Querrey, ranked No. 28, will try to return to the quarterfinals when he meets Kevin Anderson, unseeded at No. 42, on Monday. The winner will play either top seed and defending champion Andy Murray or Benoit Paire of France.
   Anderson, a 31-year-old South African and former NCAA doubles champion at Illinois, eliminated qualifier Ruben Bemelmans of Belgium 7-6 (3), 6-4, 7-6 (3) on Friday. Bemelmans, a 29-year-old left-hander, won the $25,000 Burlingame (Calif.) Futures title last October.
   Querrey and Anderson have much in common and know each other well on the court. Both:
   --Are tall. Anderson is 6-foot-8 (2.03 meters), and Querrey is 6-foot-6 (1.98 meters).
   --Are former top-20 players who have fought back from injuries. Their career highs are No. 10 (Anderson in 2015) and No. 17 (Querrey in 2011).

   --Have reached one Grand Slam quarterfinal. Anderson advanced to the quarters in the 2015 U.S. Open, ending Murray's streak of reaching at least the last eight in 18 straight Slams.

   --Played part-time for the now-defunct Sacramento Capitals of World TeamTennis, Querrey in 2012 and 2013 and Anderson in 2012.
   Querrey leads the head-to-head series 8-5, but Anderson has won four of the past six matches. Their last meeting came more than two years ago, a 6-7 (5), 7-6 (3), 6-4 victory by Anderson in the second round at Miami in 2015.
   The players have met once on grass, a 7-5, 6-3 win by Querrey in the second round at Queen's Club in London in 2009. Their first meeting occurred 10 years ago in the opening round of the Sacramento Challenger as Querrey prevailed 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.
   In women's doubles today, Bellis and Marketa Vondrousova, an 18-year-old Czech, defeated Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine and Aleksandra Krunic of Serbia 6-2, 6-4.
   Bellis and Vondrousova, the girls doubles runners-up in the 2014 French Open, will play Ukrainians Lyudmyla Kichenok and Lesia Tsurenko on Monday.
   Kichenok and Tsurenko received a walkover against top-seeded Bethanie Mattek-Sands of Phoenix and Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic following Mattek-Sands' gruesome knee injury in singles.
   The fifth-seeded Bryan twins, 39, lost to Marcin Matkowski of Poland and Max Mirnyi, 40, of Belarus 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 in the second round. It was the Bryans' second consecutive loss in the second round of a Slam after their runner-up finish in the Australian Open. They won the last of their record 16 major men's doubles titles in the 2014 U.S. Open.

Querrey-Tsonga marathon suspended by darkness

   Sam Querrey and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga are locked in another Wimbledon marathon.
   Querrey, a San Francisco native seeded 24th, led 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (5), 1-6, 6-5 today when the third-round match was suspended by darkness after 2 hours, 54 minutes.
   Tsonga, a Frenchman seeded 12th, will serve when the battle resumes on Saturday, not before 5 a.m. PDT, on Court 2 (ESPN). There are no tiebreakers in the fifth set at Wimbledon.
   As another indication of the closeness of the match, Querrey has 52 winners and 27 unforced errors to Tsonga's 51 and 27. Both players have five double faults, but the 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) Querrey has 22 aces to the 6-foot-2 (1.88-meter) Tsonga's 12. Querrey has won 88 percent of the points on his first serve (69 of 78) to Tsonga's 82 percent (77 of 94).
   Tsonga, 32, is 4-1 against Querrey, 29. But one of the victories went to 14-12 in the fifth set in the second round at Wimbledon in 2014. The encounter lasted 3 hours, 49 minutes.
   Tsonga reached the Wimbledon semifinals in 2011 and 2012 and the quarterfinals there in 2010 and last year.
   Querrey shocked Novak Djokovic in the third round at the All England Club last year en route to the quarterfinals, his best Grand Slam result. Djokovic was ranked No. 1 at the time and had won the past two Wimbledon titles.
   The loss to Querrey marked the beginning of an ongoing tailspin for Djokovic, who has tumbled to No. 4.
   Querrey grew up in Santa Rosa (north of San Francisco), Las Vegas and Thousand Oaks in the Los Angeles area. He now lives in the Los Angeles suburb of Santa Monica.