Los Angeles: Second seed and champion Sam Querrey overcame an erratic serving display to reach the LA Open semi-finals with a nail-biting 6-2 3-6 7-6 victory over German veteran Rainer Schuettler on Friday.
The American smashed two rackets in frustration and trailed 4-5 in the deciding set but twice broke the German as his opponent served for the match before clinching the tiebreak 7-4 at the LA Tennis Centre.
Querrey will next meet sixth seed Janko Tipsarevic after the Serb upset third-seeded Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis 6-3 7-5.
Top seed and British world number four Andy Murray survived two set points before booking his place in the semi-finals with a 7-6 6-1 win against Colombia's Alejandro Falla in the late match.
Seeking his first ATP title of the year and still showing signs of rust in his first tournament back since Wimbledon, Murray eased through the tiebreak 7-3 before crushing Falla in the second set.
In Saturday's semi-finals, the Scot will take on fourth-seeded Spaniard Feliciano Lopez, who beat American wildcard James Blake 3-6 7-6 6-4.
"It feels good," Murray said after wrapping up victory in one hour 37 minutes on the hardcourt surface. "It was a tricky match. Alejandro has been playing very well the last few months," he said.
"I played well but those were difficult conditions," added Murray, who was a late wildcard entry after the withdrawal last week of second-ranked Novak Djokovic.
"It was pretty cool tonight and I hit a lot of balls in the net," he surmised.
Murray repeatedly clutched his right leg late in the match but said it was just "a little sore" on the joints after switching from the grass to the US hardcourts.
Champion tested
Querrey, who needed three sets to beat South African qualifier Kevin Anderson in the previous round, raced through his opening set but lost the first three games of the second before the German levelled the match.
Both players held serve in the third set until the ninth game when Schuettler hit a searing backhand service return winner to earn his seventh breakpoint, which he converted when Querrey netted a forehand.
Serving for the match at 5-4, Schuettler failed to hold but he immediately broke back when a Querrey crosscourt backhand sailed wide.
Schuettler again failed to serve out the match, a flicked forehand ending up in the net for Querrey to force a tiebreak, which the American dominated with his booming first serve before sealing victory when a Schuettler backhand sailed long.
"I kind of got lucky to get through," the 22-year-old American said after the topsy-turvy two-hour-20-minute match.
"I was pretty frustrated the whole time but I then did a great job of playing the 5-4 and 6-5 games. My serve sucks right now," he added after recording 14 aces and nine double faults in bright sunshine.
"I just don't have that consistency of the knee bend and fluid motion. It's not as comfortable as it was at Queens and Wimbledon," he said.
"It's getting better every day, though. When I needed it, I got it. I served well in that tiebreaker."
Results
LA Open Quarter-finals: 1-Andy Murray (GBR) beat Alejandro Falla (COLOMBIA) 7-6 (7/3), 6-1; 2-Sam Querrey (USA) beat Rainer Schuttler (GERmany) 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (7/4); 6-Janko Tipsarevic (SERBIA) beat 3-Marcos Baghdatis (CYPRUS) 6-3, 7-5; 4-Feliciano Lopez (SPAIN) beat James Blake (USA) 3-6, 7-6 (8/6), 6-4.
Croatia Open Quarter-finals: 4-Juan Carlos Ferrero (Spain) beat 6-Alexandr Dolgopolov (Ukraine) 6-1 6-2; 8-Juan Ignacio Chela (Argentina) beat 1-Nikolay Davydenko (Russia) 6-2 6-1; Andreas Seppi (Italy) beat 2-Juergen Melzer (Austria) 6-1 6-4.
Second round: 3-Ivan Ljubicic (Croatia) beat Ivan Dodig (Croatia) 4-6 6-4 6-2; Andreas Seppi (Italy) beat Olivier Rochus (Belgium) 6-4 6-2; Potito Starace (Italy) beat Bjoern Phau (Germany) 6-4 6-0; 2-Juergen Melzer (Austria) beat Jan Hajek (Czech Republic) 6-1 6-0.
