BILL KISER
Associated Press
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) — Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic and Jerzy Janowicz of Poland advanced to the Winston-Salem Open final with three-set victories on Friday.
The seventh-seeded Rosol edged Taiwan’s Yen-Hsun Lu 7-5, 4-6, 6-4, and Janowicz defeated Sam Querrey 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 in the final tuneup for next week’s U.S. Open.
“I’ve been trying to get ready for the hard-court season, but the practice matches were no good for me,” said Rosol, who should crack the top 30 in the world rankings for the first time after Friday’s win. “But I’m happy with my results this week. I hope I’m not finished yet.”
Rosol took a key service break from Lu to go up 5-4 in the third set, and then saved three break points while serving out the match to advance to his third ATP Tour final this year.
“All the games were pretty tough,” said Rosol, who made it to the semifinals after top-seed John Isner of the U.S. withdrew Thursday because of a sprained ankle. “On my serve, there was a couple times when I went down 30-love and came back. There was a time when (Lu) went down 40-love on his serve and came back.
“It was always up and down, so we had to stay with our mind on the court and stay focused all the time.”
Janowicz broke Querrey four times in the final six games of the second and third sets.
“It definitely was an extremely tough match,” Janowicz said. “I didn’t play my best tennis today. I was fighting to the end. It’s always nice to win that kind of match.”
Despite serving 18 aces, Querrey had trouble controlling his serve, making just 52 percent of his first serves with six double faults. While he broke Janowicz’s serve four times, he also blew three break opportunities.
“A lot of them, he hit a serve that was too big or hit a serve that I barely got in,” said Querrey, who was trying to make his first tournament final of the year.
Janowicz had a scare early in the third set, calling out a trainer for treatment on his left foot. But he managed to stay in the match.
Lu, who had beaten Rosol in their only previous meeting last year in Thailand, had his chances in the tight semi. He used a service break to go up 4-1 in the first set before Rosol rallied, and nearly blew a 5-2 advantage in the second set before winning the set.
“It was a very close match,” said Lu, who was playing in his third semifinal this year. “We both had many, many chances. There’s nothing to complain about, but if I had done better on some points, the score would have turned to my side.”
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