Defending Champion Mahut Plays Double-Header
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
RICOH OPEN: DAY 3 MEDIA NOTES Wednesday, June 8, 2016 Autotron Rosmalen, 's-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands | June 6-12, 2016 Draw: S-28, D-16 | Prize Money: €566,525 | Surface: Grass ATP Info Tournament Info ATP PR & Marketing www.ATPWorldTour.com www.ricoh-open.nl Mark Epps: [email protected] @ATPWorldTour @RicohOpen Press Room: +31 653 19 79 00 facebook.com/ATPWorldTour facebook.com/RicohOpen DEFENDING CHAMPION MAHUT PLAYS DOUBLE-HEADER DAY 3 PREVIEW: Reigning singles champion and World No. 1 doubles player Nicolas Mahut plays a pair of matches on Court 1 at the Ricoh Open on Wednesday. Mahut begins his busy day at 11 am against countryman Paul Henri-Mathieu. The Frenchmen were born nine days apart in 1982 and live in Boulogne-Billancourt. But despite their proximity in age and residence, Mahut and Mathieu have only met twice on the ATP World Tour. The older Mathieu leads 2-0 in their FedEx ATP Head 2 Head rivalry. Mahut is enjoying a milestone week in ’s-Hertogenbosch. The two-time champion began his title defense with a win over qualifier Lukas Lacko on Monday, the same day that he became the second World No. 1 from France in doubles or singles. Mahut joined Hall-of-Famer Yannick Noah, who spent 19 weeks atop the Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings during the 1986 and 1987 seasons. Because his regular partner Pierre-Hugues Herbert is playing singles in Stuttgart this week, Mahut is teaming with World No. 10 Rohan Bopanna for the first time. They make their debut Wednesday in the third match on Court 1. On Centre Court, No. 2 seed Bernard Tomic meets Aljaz Bedene not before 12:30 pm. Tomic’s breakthrough came on the grass courts of Wimbledon in 2011. Ranked 158th at the time, the 18-year-old Tomic qualified and upset No. 5 Robin Soderling before falling to eventual champion Novak Djokovic in a four-set quarter-final. The last match pits Americans Steve Johnson and Stefan Kozlov, who on Monday earned his career-high ranking of No. 196 and first ATP win over qualifier Yoshihito Nishioka. At 18 years, 128 days old, Kozlov is the youngest player in the Top 200 of the Emirates ATP Rankings. DAY 3 FEDEX ATP HEAD 2 HEADS – In Order of Play by Court Centre Court Aljaz Bedene (GBR) vs [2] Bernard Tomic (AUS) First Meeting Bedene 2016 FastFacts SF: Chennai (l. to Coric) YTD W-L: 9-12 (1-0 on grass) YTD Titles: 0 / Career Titles: 0 Date of Birth: July 18, 1989 Emirates ATP Ranking: 58 's-Hertogenbosch W-L (Best Result): 1-0 (2016 Round of 16) • Tournament Note: Hit 12 aces and 0 DFs, saving 1/1 BPs to beat [Q] Escobedo 76(5) 62 in 1R on Monday • Advanced to Grand Slam 3R for 1st time at Roland Garros (d. Carreño Busta in 5 sets, l. to No. 1 Djokovic) • Reached QF-or-better for 4th straight year at Chennai, falling in SF (l. to Coric) • Fell to 11-2 in Challenger finals with loss to Granollers in Irving, USA championship match • Held 5 MPs vs. Querrey in Auckland 1R before retiring in 3rd set due to leg injury • Also held 1 MP vs. Khachanov in Barcelona 1R before falling 76 in 3rd • Retired in ATP Masters 1000 Miami 2R vs. Bautista Agut and withdrew from Marrakech due to right wrist injury Ricoh Open Day 3 – Wednesday, June 8, 2016 Page 2 of 2 www.ATPWorldTour.com Tomic 2016 FastFacts F: Acapulco (l. to Thiem); SF: Brisbane (l. to Raonic); QF (2): Sydney (l. to Gabashvili); Quito (l. to Lorenzi) YTD W-L: 15-13 (1-1 on grass) YTD Titles: 0 / Career Titles: 3 Date of Birth: October 21, 1992 Emirates ATP Ranking: 23 's-Hertogenbosch W-L (Best Result): 0-0 (2016 Round of 16) • Tournament Note: Owns 20-19 grass-court record, highlighted by run to 2011 Wimbledon QF as 18-year-old Q • Advanced to 5th career final – 1st at an ATP World Tour 500 event – in Acapulco (l. to Thiem in 3 sets) • Reached Brisbane SF (d. Nishikori, l. to Raonic), Sydney QF (l. to Gabashvili) and Aus. Open 4R (l. to Murray) • Suffered 5-match losing streak from March to May before reaching Roland Garros 2R (d. Baker, l. to Coric) • Achieved career-high of No. 17 in Emirates ATP Rankings on January 11 • Retired in Sydney QF vs. Gabashvili (fatigue), Indian Wells 3R vs. Raonic (right wrist) and Rome 1R vs. Paire (flu) • Withdrew from ATP Masters 1000 events at Miami and Monte-Carlo due to right wrist injury [WC] Stefan Kozlov (USA) vs [4] Steve Johnson (USA) First Meeting Kozlov 2016 FastFacts YTD W-L: 1-0 (1-0 on grass) YTD Titles: 0 / Career Titles: 0 Date of Birth: February 1, 1998 Emirates ATP Ranking: 196 (Career-High) 's-Hertogenbosch W-L (Best Result): 1-0 (2016 Round of 16) • Tournament Note: Earned 1st ATP World Tour win of career over [Q] Nishioka 61 26 63 in 1R on Monday • Achieved career-high No. 196 in Emirates ATP Rankings on June 6 • Reached 2nd Challenger final of career at Le Gosier, GUD (d. Nishioka, l. to Jaziri) • Advanced to Challenger QFs at Tallahassee, USA as Q (d. G. Melzer, l. to McGee) and Vicenza, ITA (l. to Eremin) • Captured Futures singles titles at Los Angeles, USA (d. Bester); Sherbrooke, CAN (d. Glasspool) and Little Rock, USA (d. Quigley). Also won Futures doubles title at Gatineau, CAN w/Uchida (d. Fanselow/Sikora) Johnson 2016 FastFacts YTD W-L: 6-13 (0-0 on grass) YTD Titles: 0 / Career Titles: 0 Date of Birth: December 24, 1989 Emirates ATP Ranking: 39 's-Hertogenbosch W-L (Best Result): 1-1 (2014, 2016 Round of 16) • Tournament Note: Lost to 2-time champion Mahut 62 76(4) in 2014 ’s-Hertogenbosch 2R • Advanced to Australian Open 3R for 2nd straight season (d. Bedene and Bellucci, l. to No. 8 Ferrer) • Achieved career-high No. 29 in Emirates ATP Rankings on February 8 • Saved 1 MP to defeat Millman in Delray Beach 1R before squandering 75 40 lead vs. Becker in 2R • Fell to 0-13 vs. Top 10 players with 3R losses at Indian Wells (l. to No. 6 Nishikori) and Miami (l. to No. 7 Berdych) • Captured 1st ATP World Tour doubles title at Geneva w/Querrey (d. Klaasen/Ram) • Also advanced to Memphis doubles final w/Querrey (l. to Fyrstenberg/S. Gonzalez) Court 1 [8/WC] Nicolas Mahut (FRA) vs Paul-Henri Mathieu (FRA) Mathieu Leads 2-0 14 Montpellier (France) Hard R32 Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-1 3-0 ret 14 Bucharest (Romania) Clay R32 Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-3 6-1 Other Meeting: 04 Segovia CH (Spain) Hard F Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-7(4) 6-4 6-4 Court 2 [5] Sam Querrey (USA) vs Tatsuma Ito (JPN) First Meeting .