Querrey, Fish are only hope on men's side

NEW YORK --- Sam Querrey wants to put the "U.S." back in the U.S. Open.

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Kathy Willens/Associated Press

Venus Williams returns the ball during her 7-6 (3), 6-3 victory over Shahar Peer, sending her to the U.S. Open quarterfinals for the 10th time. She will face Francesca Schiavone next.

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It's been seven years since a man from the United States won the country's most important tennis tournament. Indeed, it's been that long since an American man won any Grand Slam singles title.

Querrey is all-too-aware of such statistics -- and the chatter about such droughts. Cheered on by a boisterous, partisan crowd, the 20th-seeded Querrey beat 14th-seeded Nicolas Almagro of Spain 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 on Sunday to reach the fourth round at Flushing Meadows for the second time in three years.

At the 2009 U.S. Open, zero U.S. men reached the quarterfinals for the first time in the history of an event that began in 1881. This time, of 15 Americans that entered the tournament, there are two who are still around for the fourth round -- Querrey and No. 19 Mardy Fish -- after No. 18 John Isner lost to No. 12 Mikhail Youzhny of Russia 6-4, 6-7 (7), 7-6 (5), 6-4 despite hitting 33 aces Sunday night.

Isner, the former Georgia star best known for winning the longest match in tennis history at Wimbledon in June, got broken early in each of the first two sets, then was down 5-1 in the second, before making things interesting. But Youzhny came up with one of his five aces to end the third-set tiebreaker, then broke the 6-foot-9 Isner again early in the fourth.

Querrey never has been to the quarterfinals at a major tournament, nor has his next opponent, No. 25-seeded Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland.

Wawrinka upset No. 4 Andy Murray of Britain 6-7 (3), 7-6 (4), 6-3, 6-3 in the only significant surprise on a day that saw No. 1 Rafael Nadal and four other Spaniards advance: No. 8 Fernando Verdasco, No. 10 David Ferrer, No. 23 Feliciano Lopez, and unseeded Tommy Robredo.

There is only one American woman left, and it's seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams, who struggled with her serve and kept yanking at the hemline of her sequin-dotted dress but still beat 16th-seeded Shahar Peer 7-6 (3), 6-3 to reach the quarterfinals in New York for the 10th time.

Williams was the last woman to win the U.S. Open two years in a row, in 2000 and 2001, and defending champion Kim Clijsters is trying to match that feat. Clijsters easily got past former No. 1 and 2008 French Open champion Ana Ivanovic 6-2, 6-1 Sunday.