Sam Querrey Advances To The Fourth Round Of Wimbledon, 2 Other Americans Still On The Hunt For A Title

In what could be a record of sorts, Sam Querrey needed only two minutes to advance to the fourth round of Wimbledon. The American Querrey essayed a gritty 5-set win against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France to lead two other Americans still in the hunt for a Wimbledon title.

According to the Washington Post, the 24th-seeded Sam Querrey defeated the 12th-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 1-6, 7-5, to earn his second consecutive fourth round appearance at Wimbledon. The five-set marathon was cut short Friday due to low-visibility. The 29-year-old American was leading 6-5 in the fifth set with Tsonga serving 40-30 when darkness set in. Querrey, the world number 28 and a native of San Francisco, California, reportedly offered to play on, but Tsonga opted to continue the match Saturday.

And continue the match they did, at least for the next two minutes of the next day. With Tsonga down 5-6 in the fifth set, but serving 40-30, Querrey lined up a pinpoint backhand winner to level the game. On Tsonga’s next serve, the French rushed to the next for a backhand volley error and gave Querrey a match point. At match point, Tsonga put a forehand wide to give the match to Querrey. Their third round match took a total of 2 hours and 58 minutes to complete, but as mentioned above, it only took two minutes to finish the match the following day following play suspension.

Up next for Querrey is Kevin Anderson of South Africa. Anderson, ranked number 42 in the world, beat Ruben Bemelmans of Belgium in straight sets 7-6 (7-3), 6-4, 7-6 (7-3), to reach the fourth round. If Querrey manages to get past Anderson, he is lined up for his first quarterfinals appearance at the All England Club against the top-seeded and defending champion Scot Andy Murray or Benoit Paire of France.

In the Women’s Singles, Querrey’s fellow American Venus Williams is scheduled to play the 19-year-old Croatian Ana Konjuh in the fourth round. The 10th-seeded Williams defeated Naomi Osaka of Japan in straight sets to reach the fourth round of Wimbledon while Konjuh upset the 8th-seeded Dominika Cibulkova in a thrilling 3-set match.

The only other American left standing in the Men’s Singles, Jared Donaldson is scheduled to play Dominic Thiem of Austria on Saturday at 12:45 p.m. EST. Donaldson, ranked number 67 in the world, defeated the higher ranked Paolo Lorenzi of Italy in four sets to reach the third round of Wimbledon while Thiem also needed four sets to dispatch Gilles Simon of France and set up a third-round date with the American Donaldson. The winner of the Donaldson-Thiem third-round match will face the 11th-seeded Tomas Berdych of Czech Republic in the fourth round. Berdych won in straight sets against David Ferrer of Spain in the third round.

[Featured Image by Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP Images]