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WESTERN & SOUTHERN FINANCIAL GROUP MASTERS

August 17, 2007

Sam Querrey

CINCINNATI, OHIO

SAM QUERREY: Can we start without Pete?
Q. Sure. Big difference. Was it him cutting down on the unforced errors after the first set?
SAM QUERREY: Combination of both of he definitely picked up his game. I played well the whole time. My first serve percentage wasn't as high as I would have liked it, but it was a great match. This week has been great. Four matches here and making quarterfinals is awesome.
Q. To make it this far in this tournament, what does that do for you?
SAM QUERREY: Boosted my confidence going into the US Open in a couple weeks. That's the main goal.

Q. Being under the spotlight like you have been the last couple days, and especially tonight, do you feel like you learned anything out there tonight?
SAM QUERREY: Yeah. I mean, that was kind of my first time playing on ESPN with a night match and everything like that.
Yeah, I mean, I wasn't really nervous or anything but it's something that hopefully I'll have to get used to and it'll just get better and easier every time.

Q. What do you have to get used to?
SAM QUERREY: Just playing the night matches. Hopefully I have to get used to that. You know, and possibly playing on TV again. I mean, I had a blast out there. Even though I lost, it was one of most fun matches I've ever played.

Q. How come?
SAM QUERREY: Just, you know, TV first of all. That was -- that's pretty cool. Just playing the featured match, the night match in America, the Masters Series against James Blake, another great American. It was just really fun.

Q. Is it hard to kind of get into a flow when both players are making so many unforced errors back and forth?
SAM QUERREY: A little bit. Not too bad, though. That happens so you kind of have to deal with it and try to focus on keeping the ball in play.

Q. When you beat him a couple weeks ago, obviously you had 4 aces and that played a huge role. Did you feel like you needed something like that again tonight?
SAM QUERREY: I don't know how many aces I had tonight, but I definitely didn't have as many as a couple weeks ago when I beat him. My first serve percentage wasn't as high. I definitely knew I needed to serve well to beat him, but even though I didn't serve my greatest it was still a tight match. Both of us played relatively well I thought, and it was -- could have gone either way.

Q. Once he broke you in that last set, how much control did you feel like he had gained in the match and you had lost?
SAM QUERREY: I definitely kind of knew I was down a little bit. But that following game I had it back to deuce and I missed that return into the net, and I can't remember what happened on the next point.
But I had my chances in that game and it was right there. That last game he held easily, but match point was pretty cool.

Q. Talk about match point. Just chasing down a couple balls.
SAM QUERREY: Yeah. I'm hoping that makes Sports Center tonight. We'll see though. I don't know, it was fun. It was one of the best points I've ever had. I just had a good time.

Q. What have the last three weeks been like for you?
SAM QUERREY: It's been great. Good confidence booster and a great way to head into the Open in a couple weeks playing 13 or 14 matches, whatever it was. I couldn't have asked for much more.

Q. Did you feel like he settled down and just started playing better in the second and third sets? In the first set he seemed to have all the errors and missed a lot on the forehand side.
SAM QUERREY: Yeah. A little bit of that and he was winning some of the bigger points, and in the first set I was winning some of the bigger points.

Q. What is it about you two that you seem to always play three-set matches?
SAM QUERREY: Yeah, I know. If tennis was just one set I would be 4-0 against him but it's not. Yeah, all four times have been pretty close three-setters, so maybe it's just the way our games match up.

Q. I notice that the shorts that you wear, does that prevent you from putting a second serve ball in the pocket?
SAM QUERREY: I could if I wanted to. You know, the pockets are a little small so I'm afraid the ball is going to come out, and it kind of affects me on the backhand. The ball kind of sticks out.
The last few weeks I've been getting the ball, you know, on the second serve from the ball kid. I don't think it's changed anything.

Q. So it doesn't like bother you on your first serve?
SAM QUERREY: No. Yeah. It's just something that I've had to kind of change because the pockets were small in these shorts.

Q. Did you feel like today you played as well as you have the rest of the week, or was there any slippage?
SAM QUERREY: I definitely thought this week I played my best match against Youzhny. But I still thought I played great tonight, and James played great, and the whole week has been awesome to make quarterfinals here.
Q. When you threw up that last lob, were you just waiting for it to be over?
SAM QUERREY: The first lob I hit it as hard and high as I could. I thought it was going to go out of the stadium. Then it landed in and we kept going. The next lob I just kind of popped it up, and I thought it was going to tip the tape and roll over, but it just missed and he just put it away easily at the end.

Q. Can you talk about the crowd energy here? Did you feed off that any?
SAM QUERREY: I probably didn't feed off it, but it was exciting. Seemed like it was sold out, or close, to so that was the biggest crowd I've ever played in front of. It's definitely fun to play in front of a sold out stadium like that.

Q. It was actually beyond capacity. About 10,600. Do you have any idea what the biggest crowd you've in front of before tonight was?
SAM QUERREY: 8,224.

Q. You're kidding me.
SAM QUERREY: No, I just made that up.

Q. Have you done anything besides tennis here in Cincinnati?
SAM QUERREY: I've seen a couple movies and I went to the Reds/Padres game the other day, or over the weekend. Sat next to Pete Holtermann over there. That was it. Kind of relaxed a little bit. Went to Jimmy John's a couple times.

Q. After the French Open when America kind of had just a collective performance, do you think you've kind of reclaimed the summer?
SAM QUERREY: Yeah. A little bit. I mean, I've been doing well, James has been doing well, Andy has been doing well. John Isner made the finals there.
So there's definitely a group of Americans that are doing well and playing well on the hard courts.

End of FastScripts

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