By Palm Beach Business.com
DELRAY BEACH — It will be an all American singles final at the Delray Beach Open, featuring Rajeev Ram and Sam Querrey. Ram defeated Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, the tournament's fourth seed, 6-4, 6-3, and Querrey ended Juan Martin del Potro's comeback run 7-6, 7-5 Saturday at the Delray Beach Tennis Center.
In the doubles competition, the Bryan brothers, Bob and Mike, beat Jeremy Chardy of France and Leander Paes of India 6-2, 6-3, and Oliver Marach of Austria and Fabrice Martin of France beat Treat Huey of the Philippines and Max Mirnyi of Belarus 3-6, 6-1, 10-5.
The doubles final will begin at 1 p.m. and the singles will begin at 3 p.m., or later.
Querrey vs. del Potro proved to be the match of the day. Del Potro's return to competitive tennis after missing nearly a year because of a wrist injury and subsequent surgery has been the story of the tournament. The 27-year-old Argentine who, before a series of problems with his wrists. ranked as high as fourth in the world, exceeded expectations, including probably his own, by winning his first three matches without losing a set.
Querrey, on the other hand, made it to the semifinals of the Memphis Open a week ago, losing to to eventual tournament winner Kei Nishikori. The 28-year-old native of San Francisco made it through the tournament with the help of a strong serve.
It proved to be the key to the match with del Potro.
“I just did a really good job of taking care of my own serve,” Querrey said. “Then I just kind of happened to claw my way into a couple of late breaks in each set and that was basically it. It was such a simple match with a couple of chances here and there, and I just happened to get those. I thought I served great. I needed to do that against him. (Del Potro's) such a tough player.”
"He served too fast for me," del Potro said of Querrey, "and he was really, really smart playing against me tonight. I don't think I played well ... he was at a higher level than me."
But as del Potro said all week, the score was secondary to the fact that he was healthy enough to be playing.
"I always try to win, for sure," del Potro said. "But this week I won more than a tournament. I'm so happy to be playing again."
The two sets were nearly identical. Neither player could break the other— until Querrey broke del Potro's final service in each set.
For Ram, the key was to keep Dimitrov on the defensive and not run around chasing shots.
"I felt I had a good game plan going out," Ram said. "I felt like I had gone through some tough matches this week, and that always seems a help in feeling good about yourself.
"I thought I was pretty good all the way through.
Sunday's final will feel familiar for both players. Ram defeated Querrey in the finals of the ATP Hall of Fame Championship in Rhode Island for his first title. However, in head to head matches, Querrey leads 5-2. They last played against each other in 2012. If Ram wins, it won't be his first Delray title. He teamed with Eric Lipsky to win the doubles tournament in 2011.
One thing to watch will be how Querrey adapts to how the court plays. It's different day vs. night, and Querrey has played at night. Winds tend to be stronger during the day, and warmer daytime temperatures affect how the ball plays. Querrey said it could take a few games to adjust. Ram, on the other hand, has played afternoon matches.
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