Novak Djokovic’s allergies (really–allergies?) has been a bonus for a number of players, most notably, Filip Krajinovic, also a Serb, who reached his first ATP semi against Sam Querrey.  Because of Djokovic’s retirement in the quarterfinals, and because Isner upset Wawrinka, the stage was set for something rather unusual.  An All-American final on clay.

Krajinovic, despite being Serbian, spends about as much time in the US as Querrey or Isner.  He trains at the Bollettieri academy.  Indeed, due to his recent success in Belgrade, Bollettieri flew out to see his pupil play.  One would imagine that Krajinovic might prefer to train in Spain instead.  This means his clay prowess is probably not much better than Querrey’s.

For a while, this match seemed lopsided as Querrey was overpowering Krajinovic off the ground and Krajinovic was making a few too many errors.  Querrey and Isner have essentially adopted the Federer strategy.  Serve big, and then try to end the points off big groundies, and not get too involved in neutral rallies.  When they get weak replies, they can hit the ball hard to either corner.

Krajinovic eventually earned a game at the end of the first set, but it was still, 6-1.  The second set wasn’t much better with Querrey winning 6-2.

Just how rare has an all-American clay final been?  The last time two Americans reached the final of a clay event was 1991 when Jim Courier met Andre Agassi in the finals of the French Open.  The last time any American won a clay event was 2006 when Mardy Fish won at Houston.  Querrey came close this year in Houston when he reached the finals but lost to Juan Ignacio Chela.

Due to the weather, this match finished nearly 5 hours after the Isner-Wawrinka semifinal and had to be played under lights.  The Serbian crowd was, nonetheless, rather sizable and came out to support their man, although the Americans seem quite popular as well.

Djokovic retired due to allergies and said that he is going to skip Madrid to recover and train.  Since Djokovic was a semifinalist last year, this means Nadal has a good chance of reaching number 2 by the French Open.  This would be a relief for Roger Federer who, quite frankly, has bigger problems than worrying about whether he will face Nadal (in particular, when will he stop losing to players outside the top 10).  This is quite the contrast from last year when Federer’s surprise win at Madrid at least gave some hope that he might fare well in Paris.  By comparison, Federer is playing much poorer this year than last.

Estoril also had weather problems causing the semifinals to be delayed.  Hometown favorite, Frederico Gil, won in 3 sets over Garcia-Lopez.  He wasn’t the only unlikely finalist.  He will face defending champ, Albert Montanes, who has a chance to repeat as champion after upsetting Roger Federer in straight sets.

CORRECTION: It seems the second semifinal with Sam Querrey was originally scheduled at 8 PM, Belgrade time, and did not immediately follow John Isner’s match.