Querrey falls in five sets to Wawrinka

Young American Sam Querrey wanted to be in the goldfish bowl of Arthur Ashe Stadium and got more than just a captive audience on the U.S. Open's show court Tuesday.

He got a petri dish that tested his Grand Slam mettle, a dance floor that analyzed his footwork, a cauldron that singed his competitive cool, a wind tunnel that fooled with the game's aerodynamics. Most of all, he got indefatigable Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka across the net in a five-set, four-hour, 28-minute fracas.

Wawrinka eventually prevailed, 7-6 (9), 6-7 (5), 7-5, 4-6, 6-4, and, at 27, crawled into a major tournament quarterfinal for the first time. Querrey, only 22 and on the rise throughout 2010, left the Open having received the full measure of a big-time tennis experience, to which he contributed mightily.

"I was pretty sad in the locker room for a little while," Querrey said. "But it was an unbelievable match. Stan played great.

"I'll let it go," he said. "Those [two missed] volleys in the third set were a little disappointing. I didn't get to the quarters; I'm bummed. But I did everything I could."

By the time the two combatants reached the fifth set, they had been through two whiplash tiebreaks in which the early leader at 3-0 lost both times. They had squandered 17 set points between them - Querrey nine and Wawrinka eight.

They generally had gone from crossing bridges to burning them, with Wawrinka saving 12 of 15 break points and Querrey saving four of eight. They battled each other, themselves and a nasty, vacillating wind, and took the crowd along for the wild ride.

"For sure the crowd was hoping that he can win and stay in the tournament," Wawrinka said of the last American male standing. "But they were very fair. For me, it was great to play that kind of match with that crowd."

Through it all, neither man backed down. Wawrinka, ranked 25th and known for his power game, unbalanced the No. 20 Querrey with occasional changeup serves and softball ground strokes, while Querrey offered physical and mental surprises. Just as his height, 6-6, did not hint at his ability to cover the court, neither did his calm demeanor jive with his playing grit.

In danger of falling behind 4-2 in the fifth set, Querrey finished a winning forehand pass on his knees to save a break point and held on for the game. Wawrinka, coming off an upset of No. 4 seed Andy Murray, soldiered on despite a heavy wrap on his right thigh.

Both Querrey and Wawrinka found the swirling winds to be "really tough," but Wawrinka's advance to a Slam quarterfinal was enough to leave him "very happy."

And Querrey wasn't about to trade the Ashe Stadium experience, with a crowd that "energized me.

"I'd much rather play on a court like that," he said, "with everyone cheering for me, than in [he paused] Switzerland."