Photo Credit: Mark Howard

(April 10, 2010)  Defiance accompanied Sam Querrey on court today: the typically laid-back Californian said he "refused to lose" to Wayne Odesnik.

The pair squared off in the Houston semifinals today and a stubborn Querrey held off 2009 finalist Odesnik, 7-6(3), 1-6, 7-5, in two hours, 48 minutes to advance to his first career clay court final at the US Men's Clay Court Championships on the red clay of River Oaks.

Querrey came back from a break down in the final set to fight off Odesnik in a match played with edgy animosity on both sides.

"I was a little streaky at times, but when I was down a break at 1-0 in the third, I started to hit my forehand a little bigger, especially inside-out to his forehand. I started controlling the points," said Querrey.

The third-seeded Querrey will take on 30-year-old Juan Ignacio Chela in Sunday's final. It is the first meeting between the pair.

In an all-Argentine semifinal, Chela conquered sixth-seeded Horacio Zeballos, 7-5, 6-2, on the strength of six service breaks.


Querrey made it clear he was relishing a shot at Odesnik, who pled guilty to importing eight vials of HGH into Australia in January. Odesnik has denied using HGH.

When Odesnik hit an ace down the middle in the first-set tie breaker, Querrey walked over to check the mark. Informed it touched the line by Odesnik, Querrey replied: "I don't need your input."

Querrey cracked an ace and won the breaker when Odesnik mis-hit a forehand that sailed long.

Odesnik took a bathroom break after the opening set and the delay seemed to unsettle Querrey, who became so frustrated he appeared to drill a bill at Odesnik on his second set point in the second set.

Serving effectively throughout the final set, Querrey hit five of his 12 aces and won 17 of 19 points played on his first serve in the last set.

The pivotal point came with Querrey down break point at 3-all. Querrey, who hit six of his seven double faults in the final set, stunned Odesnik by ripping a 131 mph second serve.

"I just said, ‘Whatever. I’m going to hit this one as hard as I can and see what happens,’ " Querrey said. "It’s tough to do that at 3-all in the third set but, you know what, it worked."

Chela, who dispatched defending champion Lleyton Hewitt in the quarterfinals, advanced to his first final since he won Acapulco in 2007. All four of Chela's career titles have come on clay.



The 25th-ranked Querrey is bidding for his second title of the season. He beat doubles partner John Isner to win Memphis in February. Querrey is aiming to become the first American man to win Houston since Mardy Fish in 2006.