Key Biscayne: For the final few games, the fellow frustrating Novak Djokovic from across the net wore a lavender shirt, a red sweatband, black shoes with lime trim and a blue cap. Tommy Haas won ugly, becoming the oldest man to beat a No. 1-ranked player in 30 years.
Eight days shy of his 35th birthday, tour veteran Haas defeated three-time champion Novak Djokovic in the fourth round of the Sony Open, 6-2, 6-4. The upset on Tuesday night snapped Djokovic's 14-match winning streak at Key Biscayne, where he won the tournament the past two years. The top-ranked Djokovic has lost two of his past four matches after winning 22 in a row, including the Australian Open for his sixth Grand Slam title.
Haas improved to 2-14 against No. 1-ranked players. His only other win came against Andre Agassi in 1999. The oldest player in the top 50, Haas is making his 13th appearance at Key Biscayne and advanced the tournament's quarterfinals for the first time. His opponent Wednesday will be No. 11 Gilles Simon, who rallied past No. 7 Janko Tipsarevic 5-7, 6-2, 6-2.
With temperatures in the 50s for the final match of the night, Djokovic appeared out of sorts from the start. During his second service game he became annoyed at fans shouting as he was about to serve.
Djokovic hit consecutive forehand errors to lose serve and fall behind 3-2, the start of a stretch where Haas won six consecutive games. The German hit three spectacular winners to break again for a 5-2 lead, and Djokovic double-faulted to lose serve once more in the opening game of the second set.
Djokovic broke for the only time to reach 3-all, but lost his serve again. Haas closed out the victory with a forehand winner, then shared a warm exchange at the net with a gracious Djokovic, who gave the crowd a wave as he left the court.
Haas didn't look his age from the start, and not just because he played with his cap on backward. He played patiently from the baseline, mixing the pace of his shots to win a succession of long rallies, and he repeatedly whacked winners when Djokovic tried to force the issue by coming forward.
Sam Querrey lasted only 50 minutes in the fourth round and lost to Tomas Berdych, 6-1, 6-1. Querrey was playing his first tournament as the No. 1 American on the ATP Tour, and his elimination means that for the first time, the 28-year-old tournament will have no U.S. men in the quarterfinals. The shutout is the latest sign of declining fortunes for American tennis.
"I guess you could say it's been somewhat of the norm the last couple of years," Querrey said. "It's not like we had guys in the quarters week in, week out."
American results on the women's side have been better lately, thanks mostly to No. 1-ranked Serena Williams. The five-time Key Biscayne champion advanced to Thursday's semifinals and tied the women's record for career victories in the tournament by beating No. 5-seeded Li Na 6-3, 7-6 (5). Williams' opponent in the semifinals Thursday will be defending champion Agnieszka Radwanska, who hit a desperation shot behind her back for a winner en route to a win over No. 30 Kirsten Flipkens, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.
While Williams continues to dominate the WTA Tour, no American man has reached the past five Grand Slam quarterfinals. The outlook wasn't helped by the retirement of Andy Roddick, whose 2003 U.S. Open championship is the most recent major title by a U.S. male.
Querrey was playing his first tournament as the top American, and he managed his best showing in eight appearances at Key Biscayne, aided by a walkover in the third round. His serve and forehand let him down against Berdych, however. The 6-foot-6 Querrey came into tournament second on the tour in aces this year, but he had only four against Berdych, and made only 39 percent of his first serves.
"Just one of those awful days," Querrey said. "The more you miss, the harder it gets to get the ball in. It just kept getting worse."
No. 2 Andy Murray, the champion in 2009 and runner-up last year, beat No. 16 Andreas Seppi 6-2, 6-4. His opponent Wednesday will be No. 9 Marin Cilic, who defeated No. 6 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-5, 7-6 (4). No. 8 Richard Gasquet hit 17 aces, including three in the final tiebreaker, defeated No. 10 Nicolas Almagro 6-7 (3), 7-5, 7-6 (3). Gasquet will next face No. 4 Berdych.
No. 3 David Ferrer beat No. 13 Kei Nishikori 6-4, 6-2. Ferrer's opponent Wednesday will be unseeded Jurgen Melzer, who rallied past Albert Ramos 2-6, 6-3, 6-3. While Querrey heads to the sideline, he'll remain No. 1 in the United States next week and stay close to his current ranking of 20th. Last week he overtook fellow American John Isner, who is ranked 23rd and lost in the third round Monday.
But Querrey, 25, wants more. He has yet to reach a Grand Slam quarterfinal in 24 tries, he's 11-37 against top-10 players, and he has reached only one final since 2010. He realizes some might see his U.S. ranking as tainted, given the nation's rich tradition of tennis achievement.
"The goal is not to be the No. 1 American," Querrey said. "I want to be one of the best players in the world. With this No. 1, I'd feel better if I was ranked higher. If you look at the previous No. 1 Americans, they have all, for the most part, hit the top 10. But I feel like I'm just going to keep getting better and hopefully improving, and hopefully I can hit the top 10 while being the No. 1 American."
Querrey is part of the Davis Cup team that will face Serbia and top-ranked Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals April 5-7 in Boise, Idaho.
"I know the U.S.," Querrey said. "We get ripped a lot for not having a lot of guys in the top 20. If we were to win a Davis Cup, I think that would silence some people even if we didn't have guys in the top 10 or even a few guys in the top 20."
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