Best buddies Sam Querrey and Mardy Fish will have to put friendship aside for an hour or so after reaching the Queen's Club grasscourt final.
The two big-serving Americans are the unlikely survivors for Sunday's final at the Wimbledon warm-up event after world number one Rafa Nadal, defending champion Andy Murray and Andy Roddick all fell early.
Towering seventh seed Querrey was made to work hard by 34-year-old German Rainer Schuettler on Saturday, eventually prevailing 6-7, 7-5, 6-3 in an entertaining scrap at the homely west London club just a few miles away from Wimbledon.
The 22-year-old then watched the unseeded Fish beat eighth-seeded Spaniard Feliciano Lopez, conqueror of Nadal, 6-3, 6-4 to set up the first all-American final here since Todd Martin beat Pete Sampras in 1994.
Fish and Querrey have only met once before, in 2007 when the former won in straight sets.
"It will be fun to play Mardy in the final," Querrey told reporters after reaching the fourth final of an encouraging year for the Californian.
"It's never easy playing a friend," said Fish who upset the locals on Thursday when he walked off court citing bad light at 3-3 in the deciding set of his match with Murray.
"Whoever wins will just have to buy dinner."
MADE FOR GRASS
At 1.98 metres tall and with a wrist-snapping serve, Querrey's game looks made for grass but the world number 23 struggled to subdue Schuettler, a former Wimbledon semi-finalist who had plenty of tricks up his sleeve.
Schuettler countered Querrey's power with silky volleys and clever angles and eeked out five set points in the 10th game only for the American to serve his way out of trouble.
A double fault by Querrey at 9-9 in the tiebreak handed Schuettler an eighth opportunity to take the first set and this time he succeeded with a dinked drop shot after his opponent's drive had flicked the net tape.
Querrey had made little impression on the Schuettler serve but seized his one chance at 6-5 in the second set to level the match when the German fired a forehand over the baseline.
The American then broke for a 3-0 lead in the third at which point his mum and sister, part of a large family gathering, got up to catch a flight to the south of France.
It did not bother Querrey though as he cruised through the decider, wrapping up victory with a backhand winner.
"I saw them get up, my mum waved to me," he said. "She asked me to call her and tell her how it went."
Fish secured single breaks in each set against the rangy left-handed Lopez.
A sensational backhand topspin lob earned the break in the sixth game of the first set and he struck again with some eye-catching winners midway through the second.
