Sam Querrey overcomes Michael Shahbaz to enter the quarterfinal – Tulsa Challenger 2011
Top seeded Sam Querrey from United States battled past compatriot Michael Shahbaz 7-5, 7-5 on Thursday to book his place in the quarterfinal of 2011 Tulsa Challengers tournament here in Oklahoma, United States.
Querrey looked in top form in a match that lasted for only one hour and thirteen minutes on the hard courts of Oklahoma. Breaking the serve at regular intervals, he put himself in the driving seat. Converting three out of three
break points during the contest, the American made most of the available chances. Querrey’s excellent serves combined with his unmatchable defensive skills proved to be the main difference between the contestants.
Shahbaz, on the other hand, put up a great fight but he was unable to handle the pressure at crucial moments. Converting only one out of seven break points, he wasted too many opportunities to let his opponent take control of things.
Although he served brilliantly, he lacked firepower in finer details of the game. Although he lost the match, he should take a lot of confidence from his performance against the best player of the tournament.
Looking for a place in the last eight at the Association of Tennis Professionals tournament, Querrey made a bright start to the match. Breaking his rival in the very first game of the opening set, he took an early 3-1 game score
lead. Shahbaz also lifted his spirits and he broke straight back to even the games core at 4-4. Leading the game score 6-5, Querrey needed a break of serve to pocket the set.
Although Shahbaz showed great fighting skills, he made a costly double fault at 5-6, 15-30 to give his opponent two match points. Showing his determination and class, the 23-year-old converted his second break point of the match
to take 1-0 set score lead.
The second set also followed a pretty similar pattern. Both players hit a combined 23 serve aces to hold on to their service games. After none of the players managed to break the serve, the set entered a very interesting phase
with the game score levelled at 5-5.
Querrey raised the level of his game to break Shahbaz for the third time in the match to take 6-5 lead, serving for the set. Converting a couple of long rallies in his favour, he made two match points available to him and then
converted the first one to close out the match.