The top four seeds are all through to the San Jose semifinals to make for a blockbuster lineup on Saturday. John Isner is facing Tommy Haas and Milos Raonic is going up against Sam Querrey.
(4) Tommy Haas vs. (2) John Isner
Haas and Isner will be squaring off for the fifth time in their careers when they clash in the SAP Open semifinals on Saturday afternoon. Isner leads the head-to-head series 3-1, but all three of his wins have come in three sets–two in third-set tiebreakers. They have not faced each other since the 2009 Cincinnati Masters, where Isner prevailed 7-6(5), 5-7, 7-6(3). Haas’ lone victory in the series, the entirety of which has been contested on hard courts, was a 6-3, 6-4 decision at the 2008 Indianapolis event.
Current form is just about as close as their matches. Both men were on fire throughout the first half of last season before cooling off in a hurry starting with the U.S. Open. Prior to this week, Isner had a won a mere three matches since New York. Haas, ranked six spots behind his opponent at No. 22 in the world, headed into San Jose with a meager 1-2 record for this season–the same mark as Isner. Both men–especially Isner–have always played well on American hard courts and more of the same is continuing this week. The No. 2 seed booked his spot in the last four with relatively hard-fought victories over Vasek Pospisil and Xavier Malisse. Haas did not have any trouble whatsoever with either Jesse Levine or Steve Johnson.
Isner’s win over Malisse was probably his best since beating none other than Malisse in the first round of last summer’s U.S. Open. His knee is still not 100 percent and this is a big step up in competition for the big man. This won’t be routine like Haas’ previous matches, but the fourth seed should have a slight edge.
Pick: Haas in 3
(1) Milos Raonic vs. (3) Sam Querrey
Something will have to give when Milos Raonic and Sam Querrey go head-to-head in the semifinals of the SAP Open on Saturday afternoon. Querrey has won both of their previous encounters; 6-7(3), 7-6(7), 7-6(8), 6-4 last summer at Wimbledon and 6-3, 7-6(1) a few months later at the Paris Masters. Raonic, however, has never lost a single match–or even a set–in San Jose. The two-time defending champion is 10-0 in matches, 20-0 in sets, and 9-0 in tiebreakers.
Raonic’s quest for a third straight title out west is off to a routine start. The 13th-ranked Canadian cruised past Michael Russell before getting the best of Denis Istomin on Friday evening in a rematch of last year’s final. Querrey is playing stellar tennis to begin his 2013 campaign. The 6’6” American owns an 8-2 record, which includes a third-round showing at the Australian Open and some Davis Cup heroics against Brazil. Querrey, seeded second this week, outlasted Lleyton Hewitt in a third-set tiebreaker then saved a match point to survive Alejandro Falla 6-3, 4-6, 7-5.
The world No. 20 said after his win over Falla that he hoped his serve and forehand would be on fire against Raonic. They’ll have to be, because Raonic is too good–especially at this event–for anyone to beat him without that opponent’s absolute best performance. Based on form this week and Raonic’s incredible past history in San Jose, the top seed has to get the nod for the ‘W.’
Pick: Raonic in 2
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