Querrey Saves M.P. To Reach Final, Where He Will Meet Murray

Defending champion Sam Querrey needed to call on all his fighting abilities Saturday, saving a match point in the second set en route to a 6-7(3), 7-6(5), 6-4 win over sixth-seeded Serbian Janko Tipsarevic at the Farmers Classic. Chasing his fourth title of the season, Querrey will face top seed Andy Murray in the final following the Scot's roller-coaster 6-0, 1-6, 6-4 victory over Spaniard Feliciano Lopez.
Tipsarevic grabbed the lead after erasing five set points in the 12th game of the opening set, and had a chance to complete the upset with a match point at 5-4 in the second set, only to see Querrey serve his way out of trouble.

With Tipsarevic up 5-1 in the ensuing tie-break, the second-seeded American dug deep to win the next six points and send the match to a decisive set.

Querrey continued to fight in the third set, recovering an early service break and saving nine of 10 break points faced on serve. He broke Tipsarevic in the final game to clinch the victory in two hours and 47 minutes - clocking in as the longest match of the tournament.

"That was an awesome match," Querrey said afterwards. "A lot of fun, a lot of drama in there, down 5-1. It was exciting."

Meanwhile, Tipsarevic rued his missed opportunities: "I'm happy by the way I played, but I should have never lost this match. I didn't use the chances that I had. As in every sport, if you don't take your chances, there's somebody else who would do that instead of you."

The 22-year-old Querrey also went the distance in a three-set win over German Rainer Schuettler on Friday afternoon, twice denying his opponent from serving out the match, and needed three sets to overcome Kevin Anderson in his second-round opener.

"All three of these matches I've kind of been down in a way and I've battled back and let myself know that it's never over, even down 5-1 in the breaker, you got to make the guys earn it," said Querrey. "That's what I was trying to do, and it's not over till that last point."

Querrey, the only player this season to have won three titles on as many surfaces, said about playing Murray next: "I'm going to have to take some chances. I'm going to try to go out there with nothing to lose, and hopefully play well. I hope I can serve well again. You have to serve well against him because he returns so well."

Murray advanced to his first final since the Australian Open when he improved his perfect record against Lopez to 3-0. Murray failed to convert two match points on Lopez's serve at 5-3 in the third set but closed out the match on his fourth match point in the following game.

"When you haven't played much over the last month you're not going to be particularly consistent," said the Scot. "I played some really good stuff, I played some bad stuff, and just did enough to win."

World No. 4 Murray, who won six titles in 2009, is chasing his first title since Valencia at the end of last season. Murray leads Querrey 4-0 in career meetings, winning all nine sets contested by the pair.

"It was a pretty late decision to come here, so obviously I wanted to come and try to win this event, but you have to have realistic expectations," said Murray. "I wasn't expecting to play my best tennis, but try and play as many matches as possible. It's a lot better playing tournaments of this caliber than practising with my friends in Miami, obviously. I'm glad I came and I played some good tennis, and definitely it'll help me for Toronto and Cincinnati."

Sunday's final will be the first 1 vs. 2 Los Angeles title match since 1999, when Pete Sampras took out Andre Agassi in two tie-breaks.