Tennis players don't come any more patient than Sam Querrey. The 16-year-old from Thousand Oaks CA allowed his fellow finalist Alexander Clayton to escape three 0-40 service game holes, including three set points, yet Querrey showed no frustration. He calmly surveyed the large crowd at sunny Stowe Stadium and continued to play his power baseline game until he found the right moment to pounce.

Having hit 120 on the radar gun in his semifinal win over Jamie Hunt, Clayton was reduced to hitting spin serves for the remainder of the match.

"I wasn't serving that great before I hurt my hand," said Clayton, "then after, I couldn't grip the racquet properly on my forehand and serve." The trainer diagnosed the injury as a possible fractured right hand, leaving a distraught Clayton wondering what might have been. "Sam played really well, but I couldn't hit out," lamented Clayton. Querrey went up two service breaks to take a 3-0 lead in the second set, but Clayton broke and held to get back in the set. "I knew after his injury that I had to make him hit a lot of balls," said Querrey. "It was important to keep it in play." When asked to compare his win in Kalamazoo with his 16s singles championship in the Easter Bowl Nationals this spring, Querrey offered, "There is nothing to compare with this-- it's much more exciting."

Source: Colette Lewis (Tournament Office)