Querrey beats Schuettler 6-7 (9), 7-5, 6-3 at Queen’s Club to gain 4th final of year

Querrey beats Schuettler to gain Queen’s final

LONDON — American Sam Querrey advanced to his fourth final of the season Saturday, beating Rainer Schuettler of Germany 6-7 (9), 7-5, 6-3 at the Queen’s Club grass-court tournament.

Querrey won in Memphis and Belgrade and was a finalist in Houston. He will play in Sunday’s final against the winner of Saturday’s second semifinal between American Mardy Fish and eighth-seeded Feliciano Lopez of Spain.

“I didn’t really think about being in the final,” seventh-seeded Querrey said. “I just wanted to come out here and play well and that’s what I’ve done so far. You can’t really control the outcome of the other matches. I’ve never seen this many upsets in one tournament before.”

All top six seeds are missing from the semifinal lineup in west London, a traditional warmup for Wimbledon, which begins June 21.

There were few rallies and even fewer openings in the first two sets. Games went easily with serve until Schuettler held five set points at 5-4. After Querrey fought off that threat, he held two set points of his own in the tiebreaker, at 6-5 and 8-7, but he double-faulted at 9-9 and Schuettler served out the set on his eighth set point.

The second set was equally close with neither player earning a break point until, with Querrey leading 6-5, Schuettler hit a forehand long to concede the set.

Querrey then hit a backhand volley to break for a 1-0 lead in the final set.