All-North American Semifinals in Indianapolis

With a draw that had fallen into disrepair with the withdrawal of Andy Roddick, this is about the best final four Indianapolis tournament organizers could have hoped for.

Frank Dancevic (right), streaky as ever but always a threat on a fast surface, is the player who makes that "North" necessarily in the headline, born just on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls.  He's still got the goofy looking bandanas, and he still hasn't cut his hair in what seems like years, but Dancevic appears to have turned a corner this summer, making the finals in Eastbourne and now the semifinals in Indianapolis. 

Dancevic made the semifinals by defeating #1 seed Dmitry Tursunov, the player who beat him a month ago in the Eastbourne final, by the score of 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-2.  Dancevic only managed to win eight points on Tursunov's first serve during the entire match, but managed to notch eighteen aces to the Russian's four.

Dancevic's opponent in the semifinals will be third-seeded American Sam Querrey, the only seed to make it to Saturday.  Querrey dispatched #7 seed Marc Gicquel by the score of 6-4, 7-5, in straight sets that were more routine than the score might let on.  Ever since he got attacked by homeless men (twice) at Wimbledon, Querrey's gone 7-1.  Maybe more players should give that motivational tactic a shot.

It's also worth noting that Querrey is in the doubles semifinals in Indianapolis with partner Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan, a pairing that seems based on the theory that doubles success is directly related to how valuable each player's surname is in Scrabble.

Querrey has been solid, but Dancevic plays the kind of flashy game that will annoy him, so I like the Canadian to make it to the final.

Playing the winner of the Querrey-Dancevic semifinal will be either John Isner or Robby Ginepri, each of whom defeated his respective American opponent in the quarterfinals.

6'9'' Isner (right) defeated fellow American prospect Wayne Odesnik 7-5, 6-7(2), 7-5, in a match that showed that giants and elves are more evenly matched than one might think.

Both players looked sharp throughout, but I was most impressed by Isner's vastly improved ground game.  His serve still gets him an incredible number of quick points (including one where he bounced the ball straight over Odesnik's head), but his return game and follow up shots are a lot more potent and confident-looking than I had ever seen.

Ginepri, who needed a wild card to get into the event, is indeed the wild card of the remaining four.  It was in Indianapolis in 2005 where Ginepri won the title that started an incredible summer hard court stretch, one that led him all the way to the semifinals of the US Open.  Now seemingly clear of the injuries that have dogged him for years now, Ginepri could use his huge edge in experience to take this title and parlay it into a renaissance of a US Open Series.

Ginepri will get a lot of balls back against the often impatient Isner, so I like his chances to get through that one, and play in his first final since at this very same tournament back in 2005.