Gasquet and Moya are two very quality scalps on dirt that belie everything we so far know about Querrey, from his past results to his tennis upbringing. The 6-6 Californian grew up on hard courts and has shown no particular penchant for playing on clay, winning just one of seven ATP career matches on it before this week. Conventional wisdom says this is not the kind of player who should thrive on a slippery, slow, granular surface.

But conventional wisdom may not apply, and a closer look suggests that Querrey could be the most promising claycourter of the younger U.S. male generation. A good starting point to this idea can be found in an interesting discussion posted yesterday by Peter Bodo about style versus technique. As Michael Chang (SoCal native reared on hardcourts), Andre Agassi (Las Vegas native reared on hardcourts) Jim Courier (basher-turned patient dirtballer) and others have proved, it’s not so much whether one grows up on clay, it’s how your particular style adapts to the surface. There is no inherent advantage or disadvantage to early exposure to dirt, though I do think it can make movement more natural. Conversely, ask Becker, Edberg or many others if a childhood dominated by red clay impeded their aggressive games. I don't think so.

As Querrey himself noted in his post-match press conference, surprising as his wins this week are, his game is in some ways suited to clay. “My serve still goes through the court,” he said. “When I get my first serve in, it's pretty effective here. Then on my groundstrokes, I just have a little more time to set up and take a swing at the ball.”

Despite his size and capacity for first-strike winners, the 50^th-ranked Querrey also has the laid-back, surfer personality that might translate well for grinding out long rallies -- so called “shot tolerance,” a term one of Bodo’s astute readers coined. 

I think the gradual homogenization of surfaces should not be overlooked, either. Clay is faster than it used to be; cement and grass are slower. This means more players have a chance to do well on a variety of surfaces, and big servers like Querrey can get more free points on clay than in the Vilas-Borg days.

If nothing else, Querrey’s performance validates his decision to come early to Europe and test his mettle against the globe’s best claycourters – something Andy Roddick, James Blake and Mardy Fish have decided not to do by again skipping the early part of the European claycourt swing. “I’ll tell them to come” next year, Querrey quipped. Will it pay off where it most counts, at Roland Garros? Time will tell. One also has to wonder if Querrey might make the trip to Spain in September when the USA faces Nadal & Co. on dirt in the Davis Cup semifinals if his success continues.

The blond bomber will get a chance to really see where his claycourt game is when he takes on Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals. The third-ranked Serb was a semifinalist at Roland Garros last year and brushed aside Andy Murray 6-0, 6-4 in his fourth round match. A defeat of Djokovic would be a huge upset.

Coming back from the Brink

In beating James Blake for last week’s title in Houston, Spaniard Marcel Granollers became the sixth player this year to win an ATP title after saving match points (two vs. American Wayne Odesnik in the semifinals). The others are David Ferrer (Valencia), Nikolay Davydenko (Miami), Sam Querrey (Las Vegas), Kei Nishikori (Delray Beach) and Francisco Gonzalez (Vina del Mar). According to ATP stat guru Greg Sharko, who has been keeping track since 2001, the most on record in a season is 10 in 2002, so that record is in jeopardy if the current pace continues.