Late-night tennis: Clutch Anderson prevents latest-ever U.S. Open finish

The bottom half of the men’s U.S. Open draw has been tarred, feathered, and straight-up laughed at over the past two weeks. Kevin Anderson and Sam Querrey are the ones laughing now.

An unheralded quarterfinal matchup on Tuesday night–and Wednesday morning–resulted in a big-hitting, high-quality contest won by Anderson 7-6(5), 6-7(9), 6-3, 7-6(9) after three hours and 27 minutes. Anderson blasted 22 aces compared to only three double-faults and played two–almost three–incredibly clutch tiebreakers to earn a place in his first career major semifinal.

Both players recorded more winners than unforced errors–Anderson 67 to 45 and Querrey 44 to 36. Querrey also reached the 20-ace mark.

Those numbers would have ballooned even higher and the match, which ended at 1:50 in the morning, would have ended even later if a wild fourth-set tiebreaker had swung the other way. Querrey had a set point at 7-6, but Anderson erased it on his serve and eventually took the final three points of the entertaining to fling himself across the finish line.

Had the 6’6” American forced a fifth, it almost certainly would have led to the latest finish in the history of the U.S. Open (currently three matches tied at 2:26 a.m.).

“It feels really good,” Anderson said. “It was an incredible match. It was a great match. You know, I have put in a lot of work. It definitely feels good that I have reached some milestone that I haven’t before.”

“It’s fun,” Querrey said when asked about playing in the early hours of the morning. “I mean, it’s so late, so I know it’s tough for people to stay. But the people that stayed, they were in it, they were loud, they were fun to play in front of. You know, can’t expect a stadium to be full at 2:00 a.m. on a Tuesday.”

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