Sam Querrey beat Andy Murray at Wimbledon Wednesday to become the first American man to reach the semis of a Grand Slam since 2009.
Sam Querrey has recorded the best win of his career. The San Francisco-born player reached the semifinal of a major event for the first time, at the 42nd time of asking. He also knocked out the defending champion, world No. 1 and home crowd favorite to boot.
Querrey reaches his first Grand Slam semifinal on his 42nd attempt, breaking the men's Open Era record set by Mark Woodforde (38) #Wimbledon
— Gracenote Olympic (@GracenoteGold) July 12, 2017
Querrey won 3-6, 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-1, 6-1, and will play Marin Cilic in the semifinal on Friday. Wimbledon is clearly the American’s favorite major tournament. He has yet to go past the fourth round in any of the other showpiece events.
And yet, this outcome had looked unlikely for the first hour of the match. After 52 minutes of an entertaining encounter, Murray was one set up and had just broken to lead 4-3 in the second. Querrey broke straight back though, and eventually took the set.
The world No. 1 may have prevailed in the third set tiebreak, but thereafter it was one way traffic. Querrey won both of the last two sets 6-1, and won a total of 53 points compared to just 22 for Murray in those.
It must be noted though that Britain’s favorite tennis son was clearly playing with an injury. His hip has been troubling him for some time, and it was clear that his movement was severely restricted.
His serve lacked power, and by the end he was visibly grimacing between every point. A sad sight for British tennis fans, but the world No. 28 played well regardless and can now look forward to the semifinal. Needless to say, both Querrey and Murray were trending on Twitter as soon as the match was over.
GRAND SAM: For second year in row, Sam Querrey knocks out #Wimbledon defending champ and top seed.
— Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) July 12, 2017
Beat Murray 3-6, 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-1, 6-1.
https://twitter.com/bet365_aus/status/885150318757105664
Holy Sam Querrey!
— Mardy Fish (@MardyFish) July 12, 2017
https://twitter.com/SI_Tennis/status/885150597535715330
What a tremendous effort from Yosemite Sam to dominate sir Muzzard the last 2sets and move on to his 1st career semis
— Brad Gilbert (@bgtennisnation) July 12, 2017
1st American through to a grand slam semi since 2009! Thank you, Sam Querrey, it has been too long! #Wimbledon #excitedtennisfan #UStennis 🙌
— Michele Brady Schwab (@michele_ring) July 12, 2017
Hard lines @andy_murray - you'll always be our champion! #wimbledon
— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) July 12, 2017
"This is a dream come true - to be in the semi-finals at #Wimbledon makes it even more special"
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 12, 2017
- Sam Querrey pic.twitter.com/Yhzv6lYSGM
Here's the moment Sam Querrey knocked out defending #Wimbledon champion Andy Murray pic.twitter.com/ckMtEWoTuW
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) July 12, 2017
Murray is asked about Querrey being first American player to reach Grand Slam semis since 2009, interrupts reporter with: "male player". pic.twitter.com/j76vh820td
— Coral (@Coral) July 12, 2017
Sam #Querrey's reaction after reaching career's 1st Grand Slam semi-final #Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/RPJujXsQr3
— We Are Tennis (@WeAreTennis) July 12, 2017
Next: Rafael Nadal first of the Big Four to go out of Wimbledon
Andy Murray had never previously lost to a player ranked lower than 19th in the world at Wimbledon. Thanks to Sam Querrey, he now has. The American will again be an underdog against Cilic in the semifinal, but will approach it full of confidence after the biggest win of his career.