Sam Querrey pulled off an impressive five-set victory over Viktor Troicki to tie the opening day of the Davis Cup quarterfinals with Serbia 1-1 in Boise.
Querrey, down 2 sets to 1, came storming back to beat the Serb 7-6 (1), 3-6, 4-6, 6-1, 6-1. The win was crucial as world number one Novak Djokovic had earlier given Serbia a 1-0 lead with a comfortable straight set 7-6 (5), 6-2, 7-5 victory over the big-serving John Isner.
"In the second and third set, I had too many errors," Querrey was quoted as saying by the Associated Press. "But in the fourth set, I got an early break and I felt I had the momentum back in my favor. I played a great fourth set, and a great fifth set.
"The crowd helped a ton and my teammates helped a ton and we're back to even."
U.S. coach Jim Courier was happy with Querrey's performance, particularly with how the 25-year-old fought back from a hole.
"When we lost the first match, the pressure shifted onto Sam's shoulders," Courier said. "Sam was relaxed in the locker room, confident on the court and kept his head the whole way through."
Earlier, it was all about Djokovic as the Australian Open champion took control after initially finding himself in some trouble early in the first set.
Djokovic looked a little nervous in the first set, going a break down, before finding his usual rhythm. Once he won the tie break, there was no looking back as Isner had no answer to the world's best player.
"I was a little bit nervous at the start and was being too cautious with my play and not really taking the ball early," Djokovic said. "That resulted with being a break down.
"There's a lot at stake because there's a lot of emotions and you're playing for your country," Djokovic said. "You really want to start well and want to bring the first point to Serbia."
Isner felt once he let go of his advantage in the first set it was really going to be difficult to get back into the game against an opponent who always plays the big points well.
"I think after the first set he became a lot more comfortable," Isner said. "He started playing really well.
"I think I could've served better and I didn't. The mistake on my part is I had to do my best to that little lead I had and I let him back in it.
"To do that against this guy is not a good recipe."
The doubles match on Saturday becomes really important with the U.S. holding the upperhand as they have the Bryan brothers Mike and Bob. Doubles specialist Nenad Zimonjic is scheduled to take court for Serbia with the unknown Ilija Bozoljav, although there is a possibility of Djokovic coming in instead of the rookie.
In the other quarterfinals, Canada and Italy are tied 1-1, while Argentina and France are also locked together. Czech Republic holds a comfortable 2-0 advantage over Kazakhstan.