Querrey Checks Off Career First In Indian Wells

Before the 2018 BNP Paribas Open, Sam Querrey had played in 12 editions of the BNP Paribas Open. Yet the American had never reached the quarter-finals of the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament.

That changed on Wednesday evening. Querrey outplayed Feliciano Lopez for the third consecutive time in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 6-3, 6-4 to reach his maiden quarter-final in Indian Wells and only his fourth ever Masters 1000 quarter-final (2007 Cincinnati, 2008 Monte-Carlo, 2012 Paris).

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The 6’6” American threw down 14 aces and faced only one break point against the 28th-seeded Lopez, who had upset eighth seed Jack Sock to advance to the Round of 16.

“It’s the best I played so far. My first-serve percentage was a little low. But other than that, I did everything really well. Really aggressive. I thought I returned pretty well against the guy. He’s got a tough serve,” said Querrey, who broke the Spaniard three times.

He will next meet Canadian Milos Raonic, who advanced to the quarter-finals by walkover against Marcos Baghdatis (illness). “I woke up and felt a bit ill. I have some stomach issues. I came to have a hit and didn’t feel myself. I didn’t feel well to go out there. I’m really sorry to the fans who wanted to see this match. I’m a bit disappointed myself,” Baghdatis said.

Raonic and Querrey have split their four FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings. “He’s got a great serve and a lot of things he can do to take the racquet from you, so it’s going to be about staying very disciplined with myself, which is something I needed to improve from my last matches, and being sharp out there throughout the whole duration of the match,” Raonic said.

The Canadian reached the 2016 Indian Wells final (l. to Djokovic), and he’s feeling confident in the Coachella Valley once again. Raonic has been recently working with 2001 Wimbledon titlist Goran Ivanisevic.

“He’s just kept it very simple. And I think probably the situation I was coming from, that’s probably what I have needed the most in the sense of, you know, first I was questioning what do I need to do regarding my body. How can I train without putting it at risk? How much can I train? How much can I do and not do? After that, okay, why isn’t the tennis clicking? What should I be doing more?” Raonic said.

“He just kept it really simple. Really, it’s been about just hit the serve. When you decide on a shot, hit it. Don’t half commit to anything. Don’t think too much. Just play.”