Querrey reaches first Grand Slam quarterfinal

No. 28 seed Sam Querrey, a San Francisco native, beat Nicolas Mahut
6-4, 7-6 (5), 6-4 on Monday at Wimbledon. 2014 photo by Paul Bauman

   Sam Querrey continued his improbable Wimbledon run on Monday and reached a Grand Slam singles quarterfinal for the first time.
   Querrey, whose No. 28 seeding matches his age, eliminated 34-year-old Frenchman Nicolas Mahut 6-4, 7-6 (5), 6-4.
   Six years ago at Wimbledon, Mahut lost to American John Isner in the first round in the longest match in history. Isner triumphed 70-68 in the fifth set in 111 hours, 5 minutes over three days.
   Querrey defeated Mahut, who has won all four of his career singles titles on grass, for the first time in three matches and avoided a letdown after ending Novak Djokovic's Grand Slam winning streak at 30 matches.
   In the first round, Querrey rallied from a two-sets-to-none deficit against Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic to win 12-10 in the fifth set.
   Rosol stunned two-time Wimbledon champion Rafael Nadal in the second round in 2012 at the All England Club.

Milos Raonic, shown at Indian Wells in
March, came back from two sets down
for the first time on Monday. Photo by
Paul Bauman

   Querrey is scheduled to face sixth-seeded Milos Raonic, who came back from two sets down for the first time, in an intriguing match on Wednesday.
   Raonic, a Wimbledon semifinalist two years ago, topped 11th-seeded David Goffin of Belgium 4-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.

   Querrey and Raonic, a 25-year-old Canadian, are both tall players with thunderous serves and strong Northern California ties.
   Querrey, 6-foot-6 (1.98 meters), was born in San Francisco and grew up in nearby Santa Rosa before moving to Las Vegas at 7 and Thousand Oaks in the Los Angeles area at 10.
   At 18, Querrey became the first player to win a Challenger, equivalent to Triple A in baseball, in his professional debut. It came in Yuba City, 42 miles (68 kilometers) north of Sacramento.
   Querrey played part-time for the now-defunct Sacramento Capitals of World TeamTennis in 2012 and 2013. In late 2014, he swept the singles titles in Napa, Sacramento and Tiburon on the three-week Challenger swing through Northern California.
   Raonic, 6-foot-5 (1.96 meters), never lost a set in 13 career matches in the SAP Open in San Jose, winning the last three titles (2011-13) before the tournament was discontinued. It had been held in various locations in Northern California for 125 years.
   Querrey is 2-1 against Raonic, including a four-set victory in the second round at Wimbledon in 2012. This will be their first meeting since Raonic won 6-4, 6-2 in the semifinals of the 2013 SAP Open on an indoor hardcourt.
   In the second round of women's doubles at Wimbledon, Johanna Konta of Great Britain and Modesto product Maria Sanchez defeated Darija Jurak of Croatia and Anastasia Rodionova of Australia 6-4, 6-1.
   Konta and Sanchez will meet fifth-seeded Timea Babos of Hungary and Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan for a quarterfinal berth.