OPEN SUD DE FRANCE: PREVIEW & DAY 1 MEDIA NOTES Monday, February 1, 2016
The Parks & Suites Arena, Montpellier, France | February 1 –7, 2016 Draw: S-28, D-16 | Prize Money: € 520,070| Surface: Indoor Hard
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OPEN SUD DE FRANCE TALKING POINTS
INDOOR SWING – The first European ATP World Tour tournaments of 2016 get underway this week with the first-time event in Sofia and Montpellier, which plays host to the Open Sud de France for the sixth time. Leading the way in Montpellier is top seed, World No. 10 and reigning champion Richard Gasquet, No. 2 seed Marin Cilic, No. 3 Gilles Simon and No. 4 Benoit Paire. The other seeds are: No. 5 Gael Monfils, No. 6 Joao Sousa, No. 7 Borna Coric and No. 8 Marcos Baghdatis. Overall, five of the Top 20 in the Emirates ATP Rankings are playing in the 28-player field.
DAY ONE MATCHES -- There are four final round qualifying matches, three including a French player, and three main draw singles matches on Monday’s schedule. In the first main draw match on Centre Court, Luca Vanni of Italy squares off with German teenager Alexander Zverev for the first time. In the next match, Lukas Lacko of Slovakia brings a 2-1 head-to-head advantage against No. 8 seed/wild card Marcos Baghdatis, who won the last meeting in Washington in August 2013. In the final match on, Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan, a quarter- finalist the last two years, plays Japanese No. 2 Taro Daniel for the second time. Istomin won the previous meeting in three sets in the 1R of Tokyo in 2014.
RICHARD RETURNS – Gasquet, who has reached the final the last three years, winning in 2013 and last season (runner-up in ’14), is making his 2016 debut on the ATP World Tour. The 29-year-old Frenchman has been sidelined the first month with a back injury. He comes in with a 13-3 career record in Montpellier. Last year Gasquet finished in the Top 10 Emirates ATP Rankings for the fourth time in his career at No. 9 with a 43-17 match record. He won ATP World Tour titles here and Estoril in May. He also advanced to his second (’07) semi-final at Wimbledon. This is the 12th time in his career Gasquet is seeded No. 1 in an ATP World Tour tournament. He has won titles in ’07 Mumbai and ‘13 Moscow as top seed.
FRENCH SUCCESS – French players have won four of the previous five titles in Montpellier with Gasquet winning twice and Monfils capturing two titles (2010, ’14). The only time a Frenchman didn’t win the title was in 2012 when Tomas Berdych defeated Monfils in the final.
FRENCHMEN IN TOP 50 – There are a tournament-high eight French players in the main draw (not including qualifying), four of top five are seeded. Here are the countries with the most players in the Top 50 Emirates ATP Rankings: No. - France, Spain 7 - United States 4 - Croatia 3
FRENCH WILD CARDS – Rising young Frenchman 19-year-old Quentin Halys and 34-year-old Julien Benneteau are two of the three wild cards in the main draw. Halys comes in ranked a career-high No. 171 after reaching the 2R at the Australian Open (l. to eventual champion Djokovic). Benneteau, who reached the quarter-finals here in 2013, is coming back from a groin injury which kept him sidelined most of last year. The other wild card is Cypriot and No. 8 seed Marcos Baghdatis, who is making his tournament debut.
Open Sud de France Day 1 – Monday, February 1, 2016 Page 2 of 4 www.ATPWorldTour.com
TITLE HUNT-- Frenchmen have reached the final in the previous five editions in Montpellier, winning on four of those occasions.
FORMER CHAMPIONS AND FINALISTS:
YEAR WINNER FINALIST SCORE Bold = Denotes 2015 Richard Gasquet Jerzy Janowicz 3-0 Ret. those in 2014 Gael Monfils Richard Gasquet 6-4, 6-4 this year’s draw 2013 Richard Gasquet Benoit Paire 6-2, 6-3 2012 Tomas Berdych Gael Monfils 6-2, 4-6, 6-3
2010 Gael Monfils Ivan Ljubicic 6-2, 5-7, 6-1
FORMER DOUBLES CHAMPIONS:
2015: Marcus Daniell & Artem Sitak 2014: Nikolay Davydenko & Denis Istomin 2013: Marc Gicquel & Michael Llodra 2012: Nicolas Mahut & Edouard Roger-Vasselin 2010: Stephen Huss & Ross Hutchins
SEEDS TO WATCH THIS WEEK
SINGLES
SEED PLAYER RECORD BEST FINISH
1. Richard Gasquet (FRA) 13-3 W 2013, ‘15 2. Marin Cilic (CRO) 0-0 Debut
3. Gilles Simon (FRA) 6-5 SF 2012-13 4. Benoit Paire (FRA) 5-3 F 2013 5. Gael Monfils (FRA) 15-3 W 2010, ’14
6. Joao Sousa (POR) 4-2 SF 2015
7. Borna Coric (CRO) 0-0 Debut 8. Marcos Baghdatis (CYP) 0-0 Debut WILDCARDS (3): YOUNGEST: No. 54 Marcos Baghdatis (CYP) Borna Coric (CRO) – 19 yrs., 2 mons. No. 693 Julien Benneteau (FRA) No. 171 Quentin Halys (FRA) OLDEST: Julien Benneteau (FRA) – 34 yrs, 1 mon.
QUALIFIERS (4): TOP COUNTRY BREAKDOWN: To be completed Monday France (8), Germany (3), Belgium (2), Croatia (2). Countries in total: 13
Open Sud de France Day 1 – Monday, February 1, 2016 Page 3 of 4 www.ATPWorldTour.com
DOUBLES
SEED PLAYER BEST FINISH 1. Lukasz Kubot & Marcin Matkowski Debut 2. Mate Pavic & Michael Venus Debut 3. Oliver Marach & Fabrice Martin Debut 4. Jonathan Erlich & Colin Fleming Debut
EMIRATES ATP RANKING POINTS AND PRIZE MONEY
W F SF QF R16 R32 SINGLES RANKING POINTS 250 150 90 45 20 0 SINGLES PRIZE MONEY (€) 82,450 43,430 23,525 13,400 7,900 4,680 DOUBLES RANKING POINTS 250 150 90 45 0 — DOUBLES PRIZE MONEY (€) 25,070 13,170 7,140 4,080 2,390 —
DAY 1 FEDEX ATP HEAD 2 HEADS – In Order of Play Court Central
Luca Vanni (ITA) vs Alexander Zverev (GER) First Meeting
Vanni FastFacts: 2015 Highlights: F: Sao Paulo (l Cuevas) 2016 W-L: 1-1 YTD Titles: 0 / Career Titles: 0 Date of Birth: June 4, 1985 Emirates ATP Ranking: 103 Montpellier W-L (Best Result): Main draw debut
Zverev FastFacts: 2015 Highlights: SF: Bastad (l Robredo); QF: Washington (l Cilic) 2016 W-L: 0-1 YTD Titles: 0 / Career Titles: 0 Date of Birth: April 20, 1997 Emirates ATP Ranking: 83 Montpellier W-L (Best Result): Main draw debut
Lukas Lacko (SVK) vs [8-WC] Marcos Baghdatis (CYP) Lacko Leads 2-1 10 Wimbledon (Great Britain) Grass R128 Lukas Lacko 6-3 2-6 6-3 6-1 12 Zagreb (Croatia) Hard SF Lukas Lacko 7-5 7-6(3) 13 Washington (U.S.A.) Hard R32 Marcos Baghdatis 6-7(2) 6-2 6-4
Lacko FastFacts: 2015 Highlights: 2016 W-L: 0-0 YTD Titles: 0 / Career Titles: 0 Date of Birth: November 3, 1987 Emirates ATP Ranking: 109 Montpellier W-L (Best Result): Main draw debut
Open Sud de France Day 1 – Monday, February 1, 2016 Page 4 of 4 www.ATPWorldTour.com
Baghdatis FastFacts: 2015 Highlights: F: Atlanta (l Isner); SF(3): Zagreb (l Garcia-Lopez); Nottingham (l Istomin); Stockholm (l Berdych) 2016 W-L: 0-1 YTD Titles: 0 / Career Titles: 4 Date of Birth: June 17, 1985 Emirates ATP Ranking: 53 Montpellier W-L (Best Result): Main draw debut
Denis Istomin (UZB) vs Taro Daniel (JPN) Istomin Leads 1-0 14 Tokyo (Japan) Hard R32 Denis Istomin 7-6(2) 6-7(5) 7-5
Istomin FastFacts: 2015 Highlights: W: Nottingham (d Querrey); QF(3): Montpellier (l Gasquet); Bastad (l Paire); St. Petersburg (l Thiem) 2016 W-L: 0-3 YTD Titles: 0 / Career Titles: 1 Date of Birth: September 7, 1986 Emirates ATP Ranking: 61 Montpellier W-L (Best Result): 4-2 (QF – 2014-15)
Daniel FastFacts: 2015 Highlights: 2016 W-L: 0-2 YTD Titles: 0 / Career Titles: 0 Date of Birth: January 27, 1993 Emirates ATP Ranking: 97 Montpellier W-L (Best Result): 0-1 (1R – 2015)
OTHER FIRST ROUND FEDEX ATP HEAD 2 HEADS – In Draw Order (not including qualifiers)
Ernests Gulbis (LAT) vs Quentin Halys (FRA) First Meeting
Nicolas Mahut (FRA) vs Jan-Lennard Struff (GER) Struff Leads 2-0 15 Marseille (France) Hard R32 Jan-Lennard Struff 6-1 6-7(6) 7-6(1) 15 GER vs. FRA WG 1st RD (Germany) Hard RR Jan-Lennard Struff 7-6(3) 6-3
Ruben Bemelmans (BEL) vs Joao Sousa (POR) First ATP Meeting Other meeting: 10 Recanati CH (Italy) Hard R32 Joao Sousa 7-6(5) 3-6 6-2
Julien Benneteau (FRA) vs John Millman (AUS) First Meeting
Borna Coric (CRO) vs Michael Berrer (GER) Berrer Leads 1-0 14 Zagreb (Croatia) Hard R32 Michael Berrer 6-4 3-6 6-4 Other meeting: 13 Zagreb Q (Croatia) Hard -- Michael Berrer 6-2 6-2