DAY 5 FEDEX ATP HEAD 2 HEADS – in Order of Play
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DELRAY BEACH OPEN: DAY 5 MEDIA NOTES Friday, February 19, 2016 Delray Beach Stadium & Tennis Center, Florida, USA | February 15 – 21, 2016 Draw: S-32, D-16 | Prize Money: $576,900 | Surface: Hard ATP Info: Tournament Info: ATP PR & Marketing: www.ATPWorldTour.com www.yellowtennisball.com Joshua Rey: [email protected] @ATPWorldTour @DelrayBeachOpen Press Room: +1 561-330-6037 facebook.com/ATPWorldTour facebook.com/DelrayBeachOpenbyTheVenetian SMYCZEK, DEL POTRO EYE WILD CARD SEMI; DIMITROV FACES MANNARINO DAY 5 PREVIEW: Five former Delray Beach semi-finalists will contest Friday’s quarter-finals, as will one player through to an ATP World Tour quarter-final for just the second time in his career. At least one of the three Americans left in the draw guaranteed a place in Saturday’s semi-finals. Tim Smyczek reached his first ATP quarter-final at San Jose in 2011 (l. to Monfils). Five years on, he is back in the last eight for the second time in his career. The wild card will face a fellow American for the third time against the in-form Sam Querrey, the 2008 semi-finalist, after wins over teenager Taylor Fritz and No. 7 seed Donald Young. Smyczek came out on top when the duo last met at ATP World Tour level on the grass of Newport in 2013, but Querrey won their last encounter in the 2014 Napa Challenger final. The all-American showdown guarantees that an American will once again reach the semi-finals at Delray Beach; the last time the semi-finals featured no American players was in 1999 (Malisse vs Draper, Hewitt vs Grosjean). Querrey or Smyczek will face Juan Martin del Potro or Jeremy Chardy in the semi-finals. Wild card del Potro has never dropped a set at Delray Beach in seven matches, having returned for the first time since winning the 2011 title (d. Tipsarevic). The 2009 US Open champion claimed his first victory since January 2015 in the first round, beating Denis Kudla in his first match since two surgeries to his left wrist last season, before overcoming qualifier John-Patrick Smith. Through to his first ATP World Tour quarter-final in over a year (Sydney), the World No. 1041 will face No. 5 seed and 2009 semi-finalist Chardy. Only one man has ever beaten the Frenchman here: Mardy Fish (SF 2009, QF 2010). Debutant Grigor Dimitrov is the highest remaining seed in the draw after three of the top four seeds were upset in the first round. The World No. 28, seeded No. 4 at Delray Beach, is playing his third quarter-final of the season after last-eight appearances at Brisbane (l. to No. 3 Federer) and Sydney (d. Dolgopolov; F l. to Troicki) and a third-round appearance at the Australian Open (l. to No. 3 Federer). The Bulgarian faces No. 8 seed Adrian Mannarino, who reached the semi-finals in 2015 (l. to champion Karlovic). It is the first time the Bulgarian has met the Frenchman, through to his second quarter-final of the season (Sofia, l. to champion Bautista Agut). Having beaten No. 2 seed Bernard Tomic in the first round to claim his first match win at Delray Beach on his third main-draw appearance, Rajeev Ram is through to the quarter-finals after overcoming Illya Marchenko in the second round. His reward is a showdown with fellow unseeded quarter-finalist Benjamin Becker, who reached the semi-finals here in 2007 when the quarter-finalists were determined by eight three-player round robin draws. Becker beat Americans Kevin Kim and Jesse Levine to reach the quarters, where he beat Italy’s Davide Sanguinetti before losing to James Blake. Querrey also was featured in the 2007 draw, but was eliminated at the round robin stage. DAY 5 FEDEX ATP HEAD 2 HEADS – In Order of Play STADIUM COURT [8] Adrian Mannarino (FRA) vs [4] Grigor Dimitrov (BUL) First Meeting Mannarino FastFacts: 2016 Highlights: QF: Sofia (l Bautista Agut) YTD W-L: 4-3 (4-3 on hard) YTD Titles: 0 / Career Titles: 0 Delray Beach Open Day 5 – Friday, February 19, 2016 Page 2 of 5 www.ATPWorldTour.com Date of Birth: June 29, 1988 Emirates ATP Ranking: 49 Delray Beach W-L (Best Result-Year): 7-3 (SF 2015) • The 27-year-old Frenchman is making his fourth main-draw appearance, having reached SF in 2015 (l. to eventual champion Karlovic) and 2R in 2011 (l. to Falla) and 2014 (l. to F Lopez) • Returned to QF for second straight year by beating Jaziri 16 63 61 and Ito 76(6) 67(4) 63 • Opened season with victory at Noumea Challenger in New Caledonia (d. Falla) before 1R exits at Sydney (l. to Mahut) and Australian Open (l. to Groth) before QF appearance at Sofia (l. to eventual champion Bautusta Agut) • Aiming to reach first SF since Bogota 2015 (d. Karlovic; l. F to Tomic) • In 2015, Frenchman earned career-best 28 wins and enjoyed his 2nd straight Top 50 finish • Reached 1st 2 ATP World Tour finals of career at Auckland (l. to Vesely) and Bogotá (l. to Tomic) • Achieved career-high ranking of No. 27 on July 27 after appearing in Bogotá final • Fell to eventual champion in Delray Beach SF (l. to Karlovic), 's-Hertogenbosch QF (l. to Mahut) and Newport QF (l. to Ram) Dimitrov FastFacts: 2016 Highlights: F: Sydney (l Troicki); QF: Brisbane (l Federer) YTD W-L: 9-3 (9-3 on hard) YTD Titles: 0 / Career Titles: 4 Date of Birth: May 16, 1991 Emirates ATP Ranking: 28 Delray Beach W-L (Best Result-Year): 2-0 (QF 2016) The 24-year-old Bulgarian is through to QF on his tournament debut (1R d. Sela 64 62, 2R d. Dzumhur 46 64 63) Playing first event since reaching 3R at Australian Open (l. to Federer) Reached 7th career ATP World Tour final at Sydney (l. to Troicki, held M.P.). Fell to 4-3 in finals Opened year by reaching QF at Brisbane (l. to Federer) In 2015, Bulgarian won 20+ matches and finished in Top 50 of Emirates ATP Rankings for 4th straight season Enjoyed best stretch from April 13-May 10 with 2 wins over No. 9 Wawrinka en route to ATP Masters 1000 Monte-Carlo QF, Istanbul SF and ATP Masters 1000 Madrid QF Benjamin Becker (GER) vs Rajeev Ram (USA) First ATP Meeting Other meeting: 09 Baton Rouge CH (U.S.A.) Hard F Benjamin Becker 6-2 3-6 6-4 Becker FastFacts: 2016 Highlights: QF: Memphis (l Fritz) YTD W-L: 4-4 (4-4 on hard) YTD Titles: 0 / Career Titles: 1 Date of Birth: June 16, 1981 Emirates ATP Ranking: 104 Delray Beach W-L (Best Result-Year): 6-6 (SF 2007) The 34-year-old German, a 2007 semi-finalist (l. to No. 6 Blake) and 2010 quarter-finalist (l. to Niemenen), ended a run of three consecutive 1R losses in 2016 1R d. Albot 64 61, 2R d. No. 6 seed Johnson 57 76(1) 63 Opened season with 1R losses at Doha (l. to Mayer), Auckland (l. to Kohlschreiber) and Australian Open (l. to Sela) before reaching QF at Memphis (l. to Fritz) Aiming to reach first SF since Kuala Lumpur 2015 (l. to No. 6 Ferrer) In 2015, German finished in Top 100 of Emirates ATP Rankings for 8th time in 10 years Reached only ATP QF and SF of season at Kuala Lumpur (d. Dimitrov in QF, l. to No. 8 Ferrer in 3- set SF) Delray Beach Open Day 5 – Friday, February 19, 2016 Page 3 of 5 www.ATPWorldTour.com Went 3-0 in 5-set matches after starting career 0-6, reaching 3R at Australian Open (d. Hewitt in 5 sets, l. to No. 8 Raonic) and Roland Garros (d. Bemelmans and Verdasco in 5 sets, w/o vs. No. 5 Nishikori) Won back-to-back matches at 3 of 21 events, losing 14 times in 1R and 4 times in 2R Ram FastFacts: 2016 Highlights: YTD W-L: 4-4 (3-3 on hard) YTD Titles: 0 / Career Titles: 2 Date of Birth: March 18, 1984 Emirates ATP Ranking: 89 Delray Beach W-L (Best Result-Year): 2-1 (QF 2016) The 31-year-old American claimed his first win on his second main draw appearance in 1R (d. No. 2 seed Tomic), having lost on debut in 2010 (l. 1R to Odesnik). Reached QF by beating Marchenko 62 57 64 on Wednesday Opened season with 1R exit at Chennai (l. to Krajicek) before 2R appearances at Australian Open (l. to Robert) and Quito (l. to Ramos-Vinolas) and a 1R exit in Memphis (l. to Kudla) Last reached the QF and SF en route to Newport 2015 title (QF d. Mannarino, SF d. Smith, F d. Karlovic) In 2015, American finished in year-end Top 100 of Emirates ATP Rankings for 1st time since 2009 Captured 2nd career ATP World Tour title in Newport, winning 3 matches 76 in 3rd, edging Isner in 1R (saved 1 MP), Mannarino in QF (saved 2 MPs) and Karlovic in final. Afterwards, climbed from No. 161 to No. 86 in Emirates ATP Rankings One of 3 American winners on ATP World Tour along with Sock (Houston) and Isner (Atlanta) Sam Querrey (USA) vs [WC] Tim Smyczek (USA) Series Tied 1-1 12 ATP Masters 1000 Indian Wells Hard R128 Sam Querrey 7-6(1) 6-4 13 Newport (U.S.A.) Grass R32 Tim Smyczek 6-4 7-6(8) Other meetings: 05 U.S.A.