By Randy Walker
The “Casino Curse” continues.
While not quite as famed – or lethal – as the Curse of King Tut’s tomb, the curse of the top-seeded player competing at the Hall of Fame Championships at the Newport Casino not winning the tournament continued Wednesday as top-seeded Sam Querrey was eliminated in the second round.
The dread-locked Jamaican Dustin Brown dismissed Querrey 6-4, 6-3, ensuring that Newport’s No. 1 seed will not be the champion in the 34th year of the event.
Brown, ranked No. 108 in the world, stunned Querrey in only 47 minutes. Querrey, a finalist in Newport last year and a member of the U.S. Davis Cup team, is currently ranked a career-high of No. 19 in the world and fresh off two strong grass court results. He reached the round of 16 at Wimbledon and won the event at Queen’s Club, which next to Wimbledon is the most prestigious grass court title in tennis.
Brown served impeccably hitting 14 aces, connecting on 66 percent of his first serves and losing one point when he got his first serve in (33 of 34 first-serve points). Querrey hit only 49 percent of his first serves and hit only three aces.
“Kudos to him and his service game,” said Querrey. “There was never a point that went more than two shots.”
Defending champion Rajeev Ram, who beat Querrey 6-7 (3), 7-5, 6-3 in last year’s final, was also defeated Wednesday, losing to qualifier Raven Klassen of South Africa 5-7, 6-1, 7-6 (3) after squandering a 5-0 third-set lead and two match points. Nicolas Mahut of France, playing in his first event since his record-breaking 11 hour, 5 minute 70-68 in the fifth-set loss to John Isner in the first round at Wimbledon, was also defeated Wednesday, losing 7-6, 6-3 to Canada’s Frank Dancevic. Also eliminated Wednesday was No. 2 seed Santiago Giraldo of Colombia, who lost to Richard Bloomfield of Great Britain 6-3, 7-6 (5).
Querrey joins a list of interesting top-seeded players in Newport who failed to fulfill their seeding at the Hall of Fame Championships. The tournament’s top seeds since 1977 and their results are listed below.
1977 – Dick Crealy (lost in second round to John James)
1978 – Arthur Ashe (lost in the quarterfinals to Bernie Mitton)
1979 – Tim Gullikson (lost in the quarterfinals to Hank Pfister)
1980 – John Sadri (lost in the semifinals to Vijay Amritraj)
1981 – Brian Teacher (lost in the first round to Anand Amritraj)
1982 – Johan Kriek (lost in the second round to Nduka Odizor)
1983 – Steve Denton (lost in the first round to Bruce Kleege)
1984 – Tim Mayotte (lost in the final to Vijay Amritraj)
1985 – Johan Kriek (lost in the quarterfinals to Tom Gullikson)
1986 – David Pate (lost in the first round to Nduka Odizor)
1987 – David Pate (lost in the second round to Dan Goldie)
1988 – Dan Goldie (lost in the second round to Mike Lee)
1989 – Paul Annacone (lost in the quarterfinals to Glenn Layendecker)
1990 – Tim Mayotte (lost in the second round to Robbie Weiss)
1991 – Peter Lundgren (lost in the second round to Todd Martin)
1992 – David Wheaton (lost in the second round to Brian MacPhie)
1993 – Bryan Shelton (lost in the first round to Shuzo Matsuoka)
1994 – Greg Rusedski (lost in the second round to David Witt)
1995 – David Wheaton (lost in the final to David Prinosil)
1996 – Byron Black (lost in the quarterfinals to Leander Paes)
1997 – Alex Radulescu (lost in the quarterfinals to Leander Paes)
1998 – Jason Stoltenberg (lost in the semifinals to Neville Godwin)
1999 – Wayne Ferreira (lost in the second round to Leander Paes)
2000 – Chris Woodruff (lost in the second round to Mardy Fish)
2001 – Vladimir Voltchkov (lost in the first round to James Blake)
2002 – James Blake (lost in the final to Taylor Dent)
2003 – James Blake (lost in the first round to Gregory Carraz)
2004 – Vince Spadea (lost in the quarterfinals to Alexander Popp)
2005 – Taylor Dent (lost in the second round to Wesley Moodie)
2006 – Andy Murray (lost in the semifinals to Justin Gimelstob)
2007 – Mardy Fish (lost in the first round to Aisam Qureshi)
2008 – Mardy Fish (lost in the second round to Rohan Bopanna)
2009 – Mardy Fish (withdrew from the event, replaced by lucky loser)
For more information on the Hall of Fame and the Campbell’s Hall of Fame Championships, go to www.TennisFame.com
Randy Walker is a communications and marketing specialist, writer, tennis historian and the managing partner of New Chapter Media – www.NewChapterMedia.com. He was a 12-year veteran of the U.S. Tennis Association’s marketing and communications division where he worked as the press officer for 22 U.S. Davis Cup ties, three Olympic tennis teams and was an integral part of USTA media services team for 14 US Opens. He is the author of the book ON THIS DAY IN TENNIS HISTORY (www.TennisHistoryBook.com).