Querrey Continues Dominant Delray Beach Form

Fourth seed Sam Querrey moved forward with his title defence on Thursday at the Delray Beach Open, scoring a convincing 6-2, 6-3 win over fellow American and doubles partner Jared Donaldson to reach the quarter-finals.

“I was just swinging freely through everything and did a good job of committing to it,” said Querrey. “Even if I’m missing, I’m trying to keep doing it if it’s the right play. That’s what I’ve been working on a lot the past couple of days.”

Querrey fired 13 aces and didn’t drop serve, breaking his opponent three times to wrap up victory in exactly one hour. He improved his FedEx ATP Head2Head record over Donaldson to 2-0. The American pair will take the court again during the night session for their first-round doubles match against top seeds Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan.

The fourth seed has been in top form this week, dropping eight games combined in his first two matches. Next up for the American is either Juan Martin del Potro or Damir Dzumhur. Querrey defeated del Potro in last year’s Delray Beach semi-finals en route to the title, but the Argentine leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry 2-1.

“In a way, I’d rather play Dzumhur,” laughed Querrey. “But it’s great to see del Potro back. He’s definitely at a different level now than he was a year ago. I’ll have to elevate my game if I play him again.”

2015 Delray Beach finalist Donald Young continued his top form at this event, defeating #NextGenATP star Taylor Fritz 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in their second-round clash.

Young’s quarter-final spot quickly turned into a semi-final berth after his next opponent, Steve Darcis, was forced to withdraw. The Belgian advanced earlier in the day 6-3, 7-5 over Nikoloz Basilashvili. 

In their first ever meeting, Young managed to fend off 13/15 break points to defeat World No. 112 Fritz in two hours.

“It’s all a bit of a blur right now. I was just trying to compete, to fight, and I was able to win. I don’t know how,” said Young. “It’s tough playing these young guys, it brings a different pressure. They want to beat you bad, you don’t want to lose to them. I’ve been there before, the older guys didn’t let me in, so I’m trying to hold them off for as long as possible.”