AEGON CHAMPIONSHIPS: DAY 5 MEDIA NOTES Friday, June 19, 2015 Queen’s Club, London, Great Britain | Jun 15 – 21, 2015 Draw: S-32, D-16 | Prize Money: €1,574,640 | Surface: Grass ATP Info: Tournament Info: ATP PR & Marketing: www.ATPWorldTour.com www.lta.org.uk Richard Evans: [email protected] @ATPWorldTour @BritishTennis #AegonChampionships Thomas Troxler: [email protected] facebook.com/ATPWorldTour facebook.com/britishtennislta DAY 5 TALKING POINTS • QUARTER-FINAL DAY: Just three seeds remain on Day 5 at the Aegon Championships: No. 1 Andy Murray, No. 3 Milos Raonic and No. 7 Gilles Simon. The last time only three seeds advanced to the QF at this event was in 2012. Murray’s pursuit of a fourth Queen’s title continues against the big-serving Gilles Muller, who knocked out defending champion Grigor Dimitrov in the previous round, while Raonic and Simon go up against each other. The unseeded duo of Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and Kevin Anderson open play on Centre Court, with Viktor Troicki and John Isner clashing in the evening. The top four seeds in doubles have all advanced to the SF. • MURRAY EYEING HISTORY: Murray is set to contest his fifth QF at the Aegon Championships. He is bidding for a fourth title at the Queen’s Club this week. If successful, the 28-year-old will join an elite group of players to have won a quartet of titles here. John McEnroe, Boris Becker, Andy Roddick and Lleyton Hewitt are currently tied at the top of the Open Era tournament leaderboard with four crowns apiece. All three of Murray’s titles have come in odd years: 2009 (d. Blake), 2011 (d. Tsonga) and 2013 (d. Cilic). He is also one of seven men to complete the Queen's-Wimbledon double in the same year: McEnroe (‘81, ‘84), Jimmy Connors (‘82), Becker (‘85), Pete Sampras (‘95, ‘99), Hewitt (‘02), Rafael Nadal (‘08) and Murray (‘13). • GRASS-COURT LEADERS: Among active players, Murray has the third-most match wins on grass courts, sitting behind Roger Federer (133) and Lleyton Hewitt (128). Murray is second, however, in career winning percentage on grass (83.3%) with Federer once again leading the way on 87.5%. Here’s a look at the five active match WIN leaders on the surface: W-L Index Titles Roger Federer 133-19 .875 14 Lleyton Hewitt 128-40 .762 8 Andy Murray 80-16 .833 5 Novak Djokovic 60-15 .800 2 Feliciano Lopez 59-31 .656 2 • SERVING UP A RECORD: Isner and Feliciano Lopez set a new ace record in their tightly contested 2R clash. The pair combined for 65 aces, the most in a best-of-three set ATP World Tour match since the ATP began tracking aces in 1991. The previous record was set by Daniel Brands (32) and Juan Martin del Potro (30) in the 2R of Vienna in 2012. Isner’s 36 aces were also the most in his career in a best-of-three set match. Aegon Championships Day 5 – Friday, June 19, 2015 Page 2 of 6 www.ATPWorldTour.com DAY 5 FEDEX ATP HEAD2HEADS CENTRE COURT Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP) vs Kevin Anderson (RSA) FedEx ATP Head2Head: Anderson leads 2-1 2011 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Miami Hard R64 Kevin Anderson 6-3 5-7 6-4 2011 Stockholm (Sweden) Hard R32 Kevin Anderson 7-6(1) 7-6(4) 2015 Estoril (Portugal) Clay R16 G Garcia-Lopez 6-4 3-6 6-1 2015 Highlights 2015 Highlights W (2): Zagreb (d. Seppi), F: Memphis (l. to Nishikori); Bucharest (d. Vesely); SF (3): Auckland (l. to Vesely), SF: Estoril (l. to Gasquet); Acapulco (l. to Nishikori), QF: Chennai (l. to Bedene) Houston (l. to Sock) Garcia-Lopez vs Anderson 32 (Jun 4, 1983) Age (DOB) 29 (May 18, 1986) 34 (23 – Feb 21, 2011) Emirates ATP Rankings (high) 17 (15 – Jan 19, 2015) 5-4 Queen’s W-L 11-6 23-13 (2-1) 2015 W-L (on grass) 23-13 (2-0) 240-263 (25-23) Career W-L (on grass) 197-148 (19-16) 5 (2) Career titles (2015) 2 (0) Jose Aparisi, Coach Neville Godwin, Diego Dinomo Michael Anderson • Garcia-Lopez advanced to the Aegon Championships QF for the first time with a 6-3, 7-6(4) win over Rafael Nadal’s conqueror Alexandr Dolgopolov. The Spaniard ended a three-match losing streak in the 1R, overcoming compatriot Pablo Andujar 7-6(3), 6-2. • Garcia-Lopez is back at the Queen’s Club for the fifth time. His previous best result here was a 3R showing in 2009 (l. to Murray). He fell in the 1R on his last two visits in 2012 and 2013. • Garcia-Lopez got his grass-court season under way in ‘s-Hertogenbosch (l. to Copil in 1R). • Garcia-Lopez clinched his fourth career title in Zagreb in February (d. Seppi) and his fifth in Bucharest in April (d. No. 15 Monfils in SF, Vesely in F). It’s the first time he has won multiple titles in a single season. • Garcia-Lopez’s highest-ranked win this year came over No. 10 Cilic en route to the 3R in Rome. • In 2014, Garcia-Lopez posted his second Top 40 season (also 2010), ending a four-year trophy drought by capturing the title in Casablanca (d. Granollers). • Anderson booked his place in the Aegon Championships QF for the third time in four years, ending the eight-match winning run of Roland Garros champion Stan Wawrinka 7-6(4), 7-6(11). The South African also handed Wawrinka his first loss after the Swiss won the 2014 Australian Open, ending his 13-match winning streak at Indian Wells. • In the 1R, Anderson saved a match point en route to a 6-7(5), 7-5, 6-2 win over four-time champion Lleyton Hewitt, who was playing in his last ever match at the Queen’s Club. • Anderson is back at the Aegon Championships for the seventh time. He reached the QF here on his last two visits, in 2012 (l. to Dimitrov) and 2014 (l. to Stepanek). • Anderson’s last competitive outing was a 3R defeat to Richard Gasquet at Roland Garros. The South African’s best clay performance came in Houston in April where he advanced to the SF before falling to eventual champion Jack Sock. Aegon Championships Day 5 – Friday, June 19, 2015 Page 3 of 6 www.ATPWorldTour.com • Anderson reached a ninth ATP World Tour final in Memphis in February (l. to Nishikori, falling to 2- 7 in finals). • On January 19, Anderson rose to a career high No. 15 in the Emirates ATP Rankings after advancing to the SF in Auckland (l. to Vesely). He went on to reach the 4R at the Australian Open (l. to Nadal). • In 2014, Anderson became the first South African to post back-to-back Top 20 seasons since Wayne Ferreira (1994-96) after reaching the QF or better eight times during the year. [7] Gilles Simon (FRA) vs [3] Milos Raonic (CAN) FedEx ATP Head2Head: Raonic leads 3-0 2011 Estoril (Portugal) Clay QF Milos Raonic 7-6(4) 4-6 6-3 2014 Roland Garros (France) Clay R32 Milos Raonic 4-6 6-3 2-6 6-2 7-5 2014 Tokyo (Japan) Hard SF Milos Raonic 6-1 6-4 2015 Highlights 2015 Highlights W: Marseille (d. Monfils); F: Brisbane (l. to Federer); SF: Rotterdam (l. to Berdych); SF (2): Rotterdam (l. to Wawrinka), QF (2): Montpellier (l. to Janowicz), Indian Wells (l. to Federer); Bucharest (l. to Gimeno-Traver) QF (3): Aus Open (l. to Djokovic), Monte-Carlo (l. to Berdych), Madrid (l. to Murray) Simon vs Raonic 30 (Dec 27, 1984) Age (DOB) 24 (Dec 27, 1990) 13 (6 – Jan 5, 2009) Emirates ATP Rankings (high) 8 (4 – May 11, 2015) 3-3 Queen’s W-L 2-0 25-11 (2-0) 2015 W-L (on grass) 23-9 (2-0) 354-243 (28-21) Career W-L (on grass) 197-96 (16-11) 12 (1) Career titles (2015) 6 (0) Jan De Witt Coach Ivan Ljubicic, Riccardo Piatti • Simon booked his place in the Aegon Championships QF for the first time with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Australian teenager Thanasi Kokkinakis, converting on four of his six BP opportunities. The Frenchman survived two MPs in the 1R, coming from behind to beat David Goffin 6-7(6), 7-5, 6-2. • Simon is making his fourth appearance at the Queen’s Club. After reaching the 3R on his debut in 2009 (l. to Youzhny) he fell at the first hurdle in 2011 (l. to Mannarino) and 2012 (l. to Bolelli). • Simon arrived in West London after a round of 16 showing at Roland Garros (l. to Wawrinka). • Simon captured a 12th ATP World Tour title in Marseille in February (d. Monfils in a 3rd set TB). The victory put him into second place, behind Yannick Noah (23), on the all-time French title leaders list. Gasquet joined him on 12 two months later. Simon also made the SF in Rotterdam (l. to Berdych), as well as a QF in Montpellier (l. to Janowicz) and Bucharest (l. to Gimeno-Traver). • Simon has a 27-64 career record vs. Top 10 opposition. His most recent Top 10 victory came in Rotterdam in February when he defeated then No. 4 Andy Murray en route to the SF. • In 2014, Simon finished in the Top 25 for the sixth time in seven years after reaching a second career ATP Masters 1000 final in Shanghai in October.