Querrey hopes he can lead American assault

The 22-year-old dispatched Fish, his close friend and Davis Cup team-mate, 7-6 (7-3) 7-5 to win his third tournament of the season – all on different surfaces.

The final may have lacked box-office appeal with the top seeds at Queen's long gone, but big-serving world No 23 Querrey emerged as a star in the making.

In three visits to Wimbledon he has never progressed beyond the second round but retains high hopes of making an impact this year – along with his compatriots Fish and Andy Roddick.

"I hope it can be America's year. I'll do the best I can at Wimbledon – I know Mardy and Andy will as well," said the seventh seed.

"Hopefully we can all make a run. It may be a good omen that the Wimbledon final is on Independence Day, July 4.

"Hopefully our soccer team will also make a run at the World Cup.

"This win has given me a lot of confidence heading to Wimbledon and it's the best possible preparation.

"I've been playing well on grass and now I have another week to practice.

"I'll regroup and am looking forward to Wimbledon starting. I'd love to win it but I'm still making baby steps."

Despite his lowly ranking, impressive victories over Andy Murray and Feliciano Lopez had made Fish the talk of Queen's this week.

But when it came to the first all-American final since 1994, the 28-year-old failed to deliver at key moments.

The first came in an opening set dominated by the serve when Fish had an early chance to break in the second game.

Amassing three break points, he failed to convert any of them and neither player was troubled on serve again until the inevitable tie-break.

Querrey double faulted after going 3-0 up but reasserted himself during a baseline duel, securing three break points and only needing the first with Fish hitting long.

Querrey hit four successive aces as the first game of the second set took just 32 seconds to settle, but his serve came under pressure in the fifth.

A lovely angled backhand gave Fish two break points and though he initially struck the net, it was Querrey who blinked first on the second when he overhit to conclude a lengthy rally.

Fish became nervy in the 10th game and his form suffered as a result as he struck the net and then fired a wild backhand to see Querrey break back.

Serving to stay in the match, Fish's collapse continued with Querrey dominating at the net to claim three championship points.

A blistering forehand from Querrey did the damage on the second with Fish's return failing to even reach the net.

Shell-shocked, Fish struggled to come to terms with his sudden demise in the second set.

"I'm not sure what just happened. I felt like I was taking care of my serve pretty well and here we are now," he said.

Fish had demolished eighth seed Feliciano Lopez 6-3 6-4 in a highly-impressive semi-final display on Saturday while Querrey had to dig deep to see off Rainer Schuettler of Germany 6-7 (9-11) 7-5 6-3.

Top seed Li Na celebrated moving back into the world's top 10 with a straight sets victory over Maria Sharapova in the final of the AEGON Classic in Birmingham.

The 28-year-old Chinese woman was a comfortable 7-5 6-1 winner to claim her third career title.

Li, who beat Sharapova at the semi-final stage last year, had trailed 3-1 in the opening set but rallied to claim it before racing through the second in 24 minutes.

It meant she moved back into the top 10, after becoming the first Chinese to achieve the feat following her run to the semi-finals of the Australian Open in January.

Li was pleased to go one better after losing last year's final to Magdalena Rybarikova.

"Last year I beat Maria and then was so excited I forgot I had another match," Li said.

"I'm excited again. If I had another match this time, I think I would probably lose that too."

Second seed Sharapova had ended Alison Riske's fantastic run in their semi-final meeting.

Nineteen-year-old Riske qualified for the tournament having never previously won a main-draw match on the WTA Tour, and she claimed a major scalp when she knocked Belgium's Yanina Wickmayer out at the quarter-final stage on Friday.

The American's hopes of advancing to a maiden Tour final were given a major jolt when her Russian opponent eased through the first set 6-2.

However, she launched a spirited effort in the second set and she claimed the only break of serve to edge it 6-4. But Sharapova, the 2004 Wimbledon champion, reasserted her authority to take the deciding set 6-1.

Li Na, the top seed, came through a three-set semi-final with France's Aravane Rezai 6-1 3-6 6-3.v