U.S. Open: Sam Querrey out in five sets to Wawrinka

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It was over just like that even though it took four hours, 28 minutes. Stanislas Wawrinka, who asked for the trainer, whose thigh was wrapped in enough tape to cover a mummy, who seemed at moments unable to move, struck with the suddenness of a rattlesnake.

His right arm flicked a wicked volley past the 6-foot-6 Sam Querrey, the end of an aggressive play where Wawrinka put in a chip return off a second serve, and then the winning shot for the 25-year-old from Switzerland to beat the 22-year-old Querrey, 7-6 (9), 6-7 (5), 7-5, 4-6, 6-4, in the U.S. Open.

Querrey, seeded 20th, had seemed in control after he had clinched the fourth set with an ace that roused the Arthur Ashe Stadium court. Wawrinka, seeded 25th, was walking as if he was 80 years old.

It would have been his first Grand Slam quarterfinal had Querrey, who is from Thousand Oaks, won. He would have been the only American man into the quarterfinals and if his hang dog on-court appearance made it seem as if Querrey was giving up on himself after he squandered a 3-0 lead in the first set tiebreak, if he seemed resigned to losing after Wawrinka broke him late in the third set to go up 2-1, appearances were wrong.

As the match progressed, Querrey began pumping his fists. He broke his racket in anger after losing that fourth set and began running out of his chair on changeovers in the fourth set.

But Wawrinka seemed to play possum. Just when it seemed he couldn’t make it from side to side, Wawrinka became aggressive on Querrey’s last service game. He missed one match point but not the second and after the volley, Wawrinka howled.

He will next play Russian Mikhail Youzhny, who beat Tommy Robredo, 7-5, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 earlier in the afternoon.

-- Diane Pucin, reporting from New York