Querrey Battles as Tsonga Breezes into Winston-Salem Semis

By Erik Gudris

(August 23rd, 2012) -- Tennis fans at the Winston-Salem Open love cheering on the American players and they could get an all-American final on Saturday - but only if the top two seeds are upset in tomorrow's semifinals.

Today's quarterfinals started off with a rematch between No. 2 seed Tomas Berdych against Steve Darcis who defeated Berdych in their opening round match at the Olympics several weeks ago. Though Berdych had not been broken yet during the week, Darcis surprised the Czech by breaking him twice to take the first set.

But Berdych recovered to reel off 12 of the next 14 games to complete a 4-6, 6-2, 6-0 win.

Facing Berdych will be No. 7 seed Sam Querrey who continued his impressive summer on the hard courts with a hard fought 7-5, 4-6, 7-6(3) win over No. 4 seed Alexandr Dolgopolov who beat the American earlier in Washington.

“It feels good to get that win today, and the matches are just going to get tougher,” said Querrey afterwards. “I’m going to have to keep playing better if I want to keep winning. It looks like Berdych played well today, especially the second and third sets, so it’s going to be a tough one.”

Querrey keeps his hopes alive to possibly pass current leader Novak Djokovic in the 2012 Emirates Airline U.S. Open Series Bonus Challenge standings. If Querrey wins the title on Saturday, he will win the Bonus Challenge.

Top seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga had no trouble in his quarterfinal match against Spain's Marcel Granollers as he raced away with a 6-1, 6-2 win in just under 53 minutes on court.

Tsonga will next meet No. 3 seed John Isner faced Belgian David Goffin in the final quarterfinal of the day. Isner claimed a slim mini-break lead in the first set tiebreak and used to win it seven points to five. Isner broke Goffin's serve midway through the second set and in the final game to seal a 7-6(5), 6-3 win.

Isner leads Tsonga 2 to 1 in their overall head to head with the last meeting being a win for Isner in the France versus U.S.A. Davis Cup tie earlier this spring.

(Photo Credit: Getty)