TOPSHELF OPEN: DAY 6 MEDIA NOTES Saturday, June 13, 2015 Autotron Rosmalen, 's-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands | June 8-14, 2015 Draw: S-28, D-16 | Prize Money: €604,155 | Surface: Grass ATP Info: Tournament Info: ATP PR & Marketing: www.ATPWorldTour.com www.topshelfopen.nl Alice Stenger: [email protected] @ATPWorldTour @TopshelfOpen Press Room: +31 617 589 997 facebook.com/ATPWorldTour facebook.com/TopshelfOpen1 HAASE-MAHUT, MULLER-GOFFIN SQUARE OFF IN SEMI-FINALS DAY 6 PREVIEW: The semi-finals of the Topshelf Open on Saturday feature local wild card Robin Haase against qualifier and 2013 champion Nicolas Mahut and unseeded Gilles Muller against No. 2 seed David Goffin. In the first match, Haase and Mahut meet for the first time. Haase is trying to become the first Dutchman to reach the final here since Raemon Sluiter in 2009. Haase is looking to reach his fifth career ATP World Tour final (2-2), the first on grass. Mahut is also attempting to reach his fifth career ATP World Tour final (2-2), the first since winning in Newport in 2013. In the second match, Muller and Goffin square off for the second time. Muller won the previous meeting 76 67 63 in the 1R of Rotterdam in February. Both players are trying to advance to their fourth career ATP World Tour final and first on grass. Goffin is 2-1 in finals, all coming last season, while Muller is 0-3 in title matches, the last coming in Atlanta in 2012 (l. to Roddick). HAASE LEADS DUTCH TITLE HOPES – Haase, who is also the country’s top player at No. 83 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, is appearing in his first Topshelf Open semi-final in eight attempts (6-7 record). He is the first Dutchman to reach the semi-finals or better here since wild card Raemon Sluiter, who was runner-up in 2009 (l. to Becker). A pair of Dutchmen have lifted the champion’s trophy with Richard Krajicek triumphing in 1994 and '97 and Sjeng Schalken clinching back-to-back titles in 2002-03. QUALIFIERS IN SEMI-FINALS – This is the fourth straight year a qualifier has advanced to the semi-finals. It’s the second time in three years Mahut is among the final four here. Mahut won his maiden ATP World Tour title here two years ago as a qualifier (d. Wawrinka). Here is a look at the qualifiers to reach the semi-finals or better here since 2012: 2015 – Nicolas Mahut in SF 2014 – Joao Sousa (SF) 2013 – Nicolas Mahut (Winner) 2012 – Philipp Petzschner (Runner-up) Qualifiers have enjoyed success here in the past 10 years with Benjamin Becker winning the title in 2009 and Mahut in 2013. Philipp Petzschner was runner-up in 2012 and Peter Wessels in 2007. This season Viktor Troicki (Sydney) and Jiri Vesely (Auckland) have won ATP World Tour titles as qualifiers. There have been three other finalists: Aljaz Bedene (Chennai), Mikhail Kukushkin (Sydney) and Luca Vanni (Sao Paulo). FIRST-TIME ATP WINNERS (4) – Muller is trying to add his name to the list of first-time ATP World Tour title winners this season: Age Tournament Jiri Vesely 21 Auckland Victor Estrella Burgos 34 Quito Jack Sock 22 Houston Dominic Thiem 21 Geneva Topshelf Open Day 6 – Saturday, June 13, 2015 Page 2 of 3 www.ATPWorldTour.com DAY 6 FEDEX ATP HEAD 2 HEADS – In Order of Play Center Court (WC) Robin Haase (NED) vs (Q) Nicolas Mahut (FRA) First Meeting Haase FastFacts: 2015 Highlights: QF: Estoril (l Kyrgios) YTD W-L: 8-12 YTD Titles: 0 Career Titles: 2 Date of Birth: April 6, 1987 Emirates ATP Ranking: 83 ‘s-Hertogenbosch W-L (Best Result): 6-7 (SF - 2015) Haase, 28, is appearing in his first semi-final in ‘s-Hertogenbosch after wins over Blaz Kavcic 62 75, No. 7 seed Fernando Verdasco 76 63 and No. 5 seed Ivo Karlovic 67 64 76 (saving match pt. and all eight break pts.). His previous best result was 2R three times here Has held serve 36 of 38 times this week (95%), saving 16 of 18 break pts. (89%) He is the first Dutch semi-finalist here since 2009 when wild card Raemon Sluiter reached the final (l. to Becker). The last Dutch champion here was Sjeng Schalken in 2003 (also ’02) The No. 1 Dutchman is making his first ATP World Tour semi-final showing of the season and his previous best was the QFs in Estoril (l. to Kyrgios) in May. This is his first semi-final since Gstaad last July (l. to Monaco) Trying to reach his fifth career ATP World Tour final (2-2), first on grass. His last final came in Vienna in October 2013 (l. to Haas) and last title came in Kitzbuehel in 2012 (d. Kohlschreiber) Mahut FastFacts: 2015 Highlights: YTD W-L: 5-4 YTD Titles: 0/Career Titles: 2 Date of Birth: January 21, 1982 Emirates ATP Ranking: 97 ‘s-Hertogenbosch W-L (Best Result): 11-2 (Winner – 2013) Mahut, 33, is the oldest player remaining in the draw and appearing in his first ATP World Tour semi- final of the season after posting wins over former Topshelf Open champions Lleyton Hewitt (2001) 63 64 and last year Roberto Bautista Agut 62 64. Then beat countryman, No. 6 seed Adrian Mannarino 61 63. Leads tournament in return games won (13 of 26, 50%) and has been broken four times (saved eight of 12 BPs). Has an 11-2 record here and two years ago captured his maiden ATP World Tour title (d. No. 10 Wawrinka) Appearing in his first ATP World Tour semi-final since Metz in September 2013 Looking to reach his fifth ATP World Tour final (2-2), all on grass. Both of his titles came in 2013, here and in Newport (d. Hewitt). Also runner-up at Queen’s (l. to Roddick) and Newport (l. to Santoro) in 2007 Gilles Muller (LUX) vs (2) David Goffin (BEL) Muller Leads 1-0 15 Rotterdam (Netherlands) Hard R32 Gilles Muller 7-6(5) 6-7(6) 6-3 Muller FastFacts: 2015 Highlights: SF: Sydney (l Troicki); QF(3): Chennai (l Wawrinka); Rotterdam (l Wawrinka); Estoril (l Carreno Busta) YTD W-L: 18-11 YTD Titles: 0/Career Titles: 0 Date of Birth: May 9, 1983 Emirates ATP Ranking: 53 ‘s-Hertogenbosch W-L (Best Result): 5-5 (SF – 2015) Topshelf Open Day 6 – Saturday, June 13, 2015 Page 3 of 3 www.ATPWorldTour.com Muller, 32, is appearing in his first semi-final here after posting wins over Marsel Ilhan 60 75, No. 9 seed Vasek Pospisil 64 46 76 and wild card Marius Copil 76 61. His previous best result here was QF in 2012. Leads tournament in service games won (97%, 34 of 35), No. 2 in first serve pts. won (84%) and No. 3 in aces (36) Comes in with an 18-11 match record on the season and appearing in second ATP World Tour semi- final. Best result came in the second week in Sydney where he reached SFs (l. to eventual champ Troicki) Looking to reach his fourth career ATP World Tour final (0-3), first since July 2012 in Atlanta (l. to Roddick). Also runner-up in Washington (l. to Hewitt) in 2004 and Los Angeles in ’05 (l. to Agassi) Goffin FastFacts: 2015 Highlights: SF: Chennai (l Wawrinka); QF(2): Munich (l Kohlschreiber); ATP Masters 1000 Rome (l Ferrer) YTD W-L: 16-12 YTD Titles: 0/Career Titles: 2 Date of Birth: December 7, 1990 Emirates ATP Ranking: 15 (Career-high) ‘s-Hertogenbosch W-L (Best Result): 2-2 (SF – 2015) Goffin, 24, opened the tournament (after a bye) defeating Jurgen Melzer 76 62 and followed with a 46 76 62 victory over Ukrainian qualifier Illya Marchenko. The top Belgian in the Emirates ATP Rankings is at a career-high No. 15 this week and appearing in his second semi-final of the season. In the opening week in Chennai, reached SFs (l. to eventual champ Wawrinka) Has a 17-12 match record on the season and already has tied his second-most wins in a season (17 in ’12, 25 in ’14) Last year won the first two ATP World Tour titles of his career in Kitzbuehel (d. Thiem) and Metz (d. Sousa). Also runner-up in Basel (l. to Federer). Finished a year-end best No. 22 POTENTIAL FEDEX ATP HEAD 2 HEADS – Robin Haase (NED) vs Gilles Muller (LUX) First Meeting Robin Haase (NED) vs David Goffin (BEL) Goffin Leads 1-0 13 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Miami (U.S.A.) Hard R128 David Goffin 7-6(4) 3-6 6-1 Nicolas Mahut (FRA) vs Gilles Muller (LUX) First ATP Meeting Other meetings (Mahut leads 4-2): 03 France F7 (France) Carpet R16 Nicolas Mahut 6-4 6-4 03 Napoli CH (Italy) Clay R32 Gilles Muller 4-6 6-3 6-4 03 Bronx CH (U.S.A.) Hard R32 Gilles Muller 6-7(3) 6-3 6-2 07 Orleans CH (France) Hard QF Nicolas Mahut 7-6(4) 6-4 10 Cherbourg CH (France) Hard F Nicolas Mahut 6-4 6-3 11 Courmayeur CH (Italy) Hard F Nicolas Mahut 7-6(4) 6-4 Nicolas Mahut (FRA) vs David Goffin (BEL) Goffin Leads 1-0 12 Winston-Salem (U.S.A.) Hard R64 David Goffin 7-6(3) 6-1 .