Querrey could face Djokovic early in U.S. Open

Sam Querrey could meet top seed Novak Djokovic
in the third round of the U.S. Open. 2014 photo
by Paul Bauman

   Sam Querrey has a good chance to reach the third round of the U.S. Open.
   But then the San Francisco native could face top seed Novak Djokovic. The Serbian star has reached the last four finals at Flushing Meadows, winning in 2011.
   The U.S. Open draw was held Thursday, and play is scheduled for Monday through Sept. 8.
   Querrey, a former Sacramento Capital in World TeamTennis, will meet Maximo Gonzalez of Argentina for the first time in the opening round.
   The 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) Querrey is ranked 56th after reaching a career-high No. 17 in 2011. Gonzalez, only 5-foot-9 (1.75 meters), is ranked 83rd.  
   The winner likely will play 28th-seeded Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain in the second round. Querrey improved to 4-0 lifetime against Garcia-Lopez with a 6-7 (3), 6-2, 6-4 victory on Thursday in the quarterfinals at Winston-Salem, N.C. Their last three meetings, however, have gone to 6-4 in the third set.
   Querrey, 26, has never advanced past the fourth round of singles in a Grand Slam tournament. He got that far at the U.S. Open in 2008 and 2010 and at Wimbledon in 2010.
   Two players coming off injuries, Dmitry Tursunov and Bradley Klahn, also drew unseeded opponents in the first round.
   Tursunov, a Russian veteran based in the Sacramento suburb of Granite Bay, will take on Alejandro Gonzalez of Colombia. Klahn, who graduated from Stanford in 2012, will play Andrey Kuznetsov of Russia.
   On the women's side, wild card and former Stanford star Nicole Gibbs will go against Caroline Garcia of France. Catherine Bellis, a 15-year-old wild card from Atherton (near Stanford), will face 12th-seeded Dominika Cibulkova, the runner-up to Li Na in this year's Australian Open.
   Modesto product Maria Sanchez advanced to the last round of qualifying with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over 20th-seeded Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan. Sanchez, 24, will meet 16th-seeded Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus today.
   Collin Altamirano, an 18-year-old wild card from Sacramento, lost in the second round of men's qualifying to eighth-seeded Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania 2-6, 6-1, 6-1.