Third-seeded Sam Querrey reached the final of the US Men’s Clay Court Championships on Saturday with a victory over Wayne Odesnik, who was playing with the threat of a drugs ban looming.
Querrey, who said before the match that he would “refuse to lose” to Odesnik, triumphed 7-6 (7/3), 1-6, 7-5, rallying from a third-set deficit.
Odesnik pleaded guilty in an Australian court on March 26 to importing human growth hormone into Australia.
He has denied taking the banned performance enhancer and is playing pending an investigation by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) that could result in a suspension.
Regardless of the outcome of the probe, Querrey said Odesnik owed the sport an apology.
“I think you have to wait and find the verdict at the end of it all,” Querrey said. “Yeah, he should apologize.”
Odesnik made the most of Querrey’s struggles with his serve, but surrendered the match along with his own serve in the final game.
In the final, Querrey will face Argentina’s Juan Ignacio Chela, who beat sixth-seeded Argentine Horacio Zeballos 7-5, 6-2.
Querrey shook hands with his compatriot at the end of their match, but he was brusque with him during the contest.
When Querrey questioned an Odesnik ace in the first-set tiebreaker, Odesnik said: “It was good.”
Querrey retorted: “I don’t need your input, buddy.”
Odesnik had the upper hand after breaking Querrey in the fifth game of the third set, but Querrey broke back in the sixth and overcame two double-faults to hold his serve in the seventh.
Odesnik won only one point in the final game as Querrey closed it out with an overhead.
■MPS CHAMPIONSHIPS
AFP, PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA
Caroline Wozniacki had one foot out the door on Saturday, but managed to hang on for a three-set victory over Elena Vesnina and a chance for a second straight title at the WTA Tour green clay tournament.
“I thought I was out already,” said the top-seeded Dane, who trailed 5-3 in the second set, before rallying for a 1-6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-4 victory. “I said: ‘Keep fighting, do what you can,’ but it didn’t look like my day at the office.”
Wozniacki will play Olga Govortsova in the final. Govortsova defeated Dominika Cibulkova 6-4, 7-5 in the other semi.
Russia’s Vesnina used a precision game to build her second-set lead and was serving for the match when Wozniacki broke her and began her climb back.
“That’s when I felt like I had a chance,” Wozniacki said. “I was just missing everything by one, two inches and once I said: ‘OK, I’m back in the rally,’ she killed the shot, so I didn’t feel like I could do anything. It has to turn around at some point. I need to get the chance at some point, but it just didn’t look like it until 5-3.”
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