Sam Querrey rallies in third set, moves to Farmers Classic final

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Defending champion and second-seeded Sam Querrey seemed to hardly notice the highs and grumbled and bumbled his way through some lows Saturday, but eventually the 22-year-old from Thousand Oaks advanced to the final of the Farmers Classic with a 6-7 (3), 7-6 (5), 6-4 win over sixth-seeded Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia.

Querrey was down 5-1 in the second-set tiebreak and seemed to be on his way home. He was down 3-1 in third set as well before asking for some snacks -- a bag of food was dispatched to the court -- and finding his aggressiveness. With Querrey going for broke, Tipsarevic, whose new wife watched from the stands at the Los Angeles Tennis Center wearing large sunglasses and bringing loud vocal support for her husband, finally was unable to catch up to Querrey’s power.

If Querrey beats either top-seeded Andy Murray or fourth-seeded Feliciano Lopez in Sunday’s final, it will be his fourth title of the year. Only top-ranked Rafael Nadal has more (five) on the ATP Tour. The last player to win back-to-back titles at the Los Angeles tournament was Andre Agassi in 2001 and 2002.

Querrey’s win took 2 hours 47 minutes, making this the longest match of the tournament, and one telling statistic was Querrey’s 19 aces versus five for Tipsarevic.

Murray and Lopez will play Saturday night to determine the other finalist.

-- Diane Pucin