A trip to Houston may have been just what the doctor ordered to revive Sam Querrey's sagging spirits.  Perhaps boosted by the home crowd, Querrey has reached his first clay semifinal in nearly four years.  He has played the clutch tennis this week that had eluded him throughout a disappointing start to 2014.

To be sure, Querrey's three-set victory over Dustin Brown did not lack tense moments and edgy play.  After upsetting John Isner in the previous round, Brown charged into their quarterfinal brimming with confidence.  But he could not threaten Querrey for most of the first two sets, earning only a single break point.  While the California native saved the break point, he could break Brown only once.  That break gave Querrey the first set, but the two men held serve throughout the second set en route to a tiebreak.

Neither quarterfinalist produced his best tennis in a tiebreak littered with squandered opportunities.  Querrey yielded two double faults from his previously dominant serve, and Brown could not convert two set points on his own serve.  The German finally eked out the tiebreak on his fourth set point, played on his opponent's serve, and he entered the third set with the momentum in his favor.

That situation did not change in the early stages of the third set, when Querrey faced three break points.  The match threatened to slip away after it had rested within his control, an all-too-familiar pattern for him this season.  Mustering his courage, however, Querrey saved all three of the break points.  He then broke Brown at a crucial crossroads in the eighth game and served out the quarterfinal without ado.  

Able to regroup from his second-set lapse, Querrey found more resilience than recent results would have led anyone to expect.  He likely will need not just emotional resilience but more sustained quality of play in a semifinal against Nicolas Almagro.  The three-time Roland Garros quarterfinalist has won their last five meetings, two on clay, and he holds a clear surface edge over the American.  Ranked just inside the top 20, Almagro lost five total service points on Friday as he dismissed Jack Sock in 73 minutes.

Unless Querrey scores an upset on Saturday, an all-Spanish final may loom in Houston.  Former top-10 man Fernando Verdasco reached his first semifinal in the United States since February 2011 after ending a solid week by Donald Young.  The home hope served for the first set at 5-3 but faded swiftly once that chance evaporated.  Verdasco will be heavily favored in his semifinal against unseeded Colombian Santiago Giraldo, who never has won an ATP title. 

That said, none of the Houston semifinalists has won a title since 2012.  (Querrey curiously was the most recent, claiming the Los Angeles tournament that summer.)  Each man should approach the weekend eager to seize this opportunity with both hands.