AEGON CHAMPIONSHIPS: DAY 7 MEDIA NOTES Sunday, June 21, 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 7 TALKING POINTS • FINALS DAY: British No. 1 Andy Murray will contest the 50th final of his career when he takes on World No. 17 Kevin Anderson in Sunday’s Aegon Championships final. The top seed overcame Viktor Troicki earlier in the day after rain suspended play on Saturday evening. Murray and Anderson will clash for the sixth time with the Brit having won four of their five previous contests, including their lone meeting on grass at Wimbledon last year. • WHAT’S AT STAKE: Winner €381,760 and 500 Emirates ATP Rankings points Runner-up €172,100 and 300 Emirates ATP Rankings points • FINALS HISTORY: Murray is bidding for a fourth Aegon Championships title (3-0) and a 34th overall (33-16). Anderson is bidding for a first Aegon Championships title (0-0) and a third overall (2-7). • MURRAY EYEING HISTORY: Murray goes in search of a fourth Aegon Championships title today. 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, Lleyton Hewitt and Andy Roddick are currently tied at the top of the Open Era tournament leaderboard with four crowns apiece, while Major J.G. Ritchie, A.F. Wilding and Roy Emerson each collected four titles here before the dawn of the Open Era. Major Ritchie is the only British man to achieve the feat, doing so with titles in 1902, 1904, 1906 and 1909. • MURRAY’S FINALS AT QUEEN’S: All three of Murray’s titles here have come in odd years: 2009 (d. Blake), 2011 (d. Tsonga) and 2013 (d. Cilic). In fact, he has a 20-1 record here in odd years and a 4-4 record in even years. 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). • HAT-TRICK OF TITLES? Anderson is chasing a third ATP World Tour title and a 200th career victory today (199-148). His previous tournament wins came on home soil in Johannesburg in 2011 (d. World No. 110 Devvarman) and in Delray Beach in 2012 (d. World No. 173 Matosevic). Since then he has fallen in six straight finals: Sydney 2013 (l. to Tomic), Casablanca 2013 (l. to Robredo), Atlanta 2013 (l. to Isner), Delray Beach 2014 (l. to Cilic), Acapulco 2014 (l. to Dimitrov) and Memphis 2015 (l. to Nishikori). Acapulco was his only previous final outing at ATP 500 level. Aegon Championships Day 7 – Sunday, June 21, 2015 Page 2 of 4 www.ATPWorldTour.com • 199 NOT OUT: Anderson is seeking a 200th career victory today (199-148). His breakthrough came in Las Vegas in 2008 when he came through qualifying before defeating Michael Llodra in the 1R for the first tour-level match win of his career. He went on to reach the final that week before his run was halted by Sam Querrey. Anderson’s 100th win came against Aljaz Bedene in the 1R of Sydney in 2013. He advanced to the final that week also, falling to Bernard Tomic at the final hurdle. • FLYING THE FLAG: Anderson is looking to become the second South African to emerge victorious at Queen’s Club in the Open Era and the third overall. Wayne Ferreira captured the title here in 1992, defeating Japan’s Shuzo Matsuoka in the final, before falling in the 1993 final to Michael Stich, while Eric William Sturgess won here all the way back in 1951, seeing off Frank Sedgman in the title match. Another South African, Christo van Rensburg, advanced to the final here in 1989 before losing to Ivan Lendl. Anderson became the first South African to post back-to-back Top 20 seasons since Ferreira (1994-96) when he finished 2014 at an end-of-year high No. 16. • AMONG GREATS: Murray is seeking a 34th career title today. A win will see him move up to 18th on the Open Era title leaderboard, joining Arthur Ashe, Michael Chang and John Newcombe on 34. Only three active players have more titles than Murray: Roger Federer (85), Rafael Nadal (66) and Novak Djokovic (53). In terms of match wins, the Brit has a chance to edge further up that leaderboard also. He’s already surpassed John Alexander (517), Brad Gilbert (519), Raul Ramirez (520), John Newcombe (520), Vitas Gerulaitis (520) and Wojtek Fibak (520) this week and a win today would see him join Andres Gomez and Tomas Berdych in 34th place on 522 wins. • SERVING UP RECORDS: This has been a standout week for big serving on the ATP World Tour. In his win over Simon in the SF, Anderson fired down 34 aces to set a new personal record for a best- of-three set match. His overall record is 36, which he set in a five-set loss to Nikolay Davydenko at Wimbledon in 2010. Ivo Karlovic broke the ATP World Tour ace record for best-of-three set matches on Friday, hitting 45 in his upset win over Tomas Berdych in Halle, while John Isner and Gilles Muller also set personal highs at Queen’s. The combined number of aces (65) between Isner and Feliciano Lopez in their R16 clash was the highest over three sets since records began (1991) • STATS SO FAR: STAT ANDERSON MURRAY ACES 96 34 1st SERVE % 68% 67% 1st SERVE POINTS WON 85% 81% 2nd SERVE POINTS WON 62% 53% SERVICE GAMES WON 98% (55 of 56) 89% (42 of 47) BREAK POINTS SAVED 91% (10 of 11) 69% (11 of 16) RETURN GAMES WON 13% (7 of 54) 22% (11 of 49) BREAK POINTS CONVERTED 39% (7 of 18) 35% (11 of 31) Aegon Championships Day 7 – Sunday, June 21, 2015 Page 3 of 4 www.ATPWorldTour.com DAY 7 FEDEX ATP HEAD2HEADS CENTRE COURT [1] Andy Murray (GBR) vs Kevin Anderson (RSA) FedEx ATP Head2Head: Murray leads 4-1 2010 Australian Open (Australia) Hard R128 Andy Murray 6-1 6-1 6-2 2011 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Canada Hard R32 Kevin Anderson 6-3 6-1 2014 Wimbledon (Great Britain) Grass R16 Andy Murray 6-4 6-3 7-6(6) 2014 Valencia (Spain) Hard QF Andy Murray 6-7(3) 6-4 6-4 2015 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Miami Hard R16 Andy Murray 6-4 3-6 6-3 2015 Highlights 2015 Highlights W (2): Munich (d. Kohlschreiber), F: Memphis (l. to Nishikori); Madrid (d. Nadal); SF (3): Auckland (l. to Vesely), F (2): Australian Open (l. to Acapulco (l. to Nishikori), Djokovic), Miami (l. to Djokovic); Houston (l. to Sock) SF (2): Indian Wells (l. to Djokovic), Roland Garros (l. to Djokovic); QF (2): Rotterdam (l. to Simon), Dubai (l. to Coric) Murray vs Anderson 28 (May 15, 1987) Age (DOB) 29 (May 18, 1986) 3 (2 – Aug 17, 2009) Emirates ATP Rankings (high) 17 (15 – Jan 19, 2015) 24-5 Queen’s W-L 13-6 40-6 (4-0) 2015 W-L (on grass) 25-13 (4-0) 521-157 (82-16) Career W-L (on grass) 199-148 (21-16) 33 (2) Career titles (2015) 2 (0) Amelie Mauresmo, Coach Neville Godwin, Jonas Bjorkman Michael Anderson • Murray advanced to a 50th tour-level final and a fourth at the Aegon Championships with a 6-3, 7- 6(4) victory over Serbian Viktor Troicki in a rain-interrupted SF. The pair resumed play today with Murray holding a BP at 3-3, 30-40 in the opening set. • Murray survived Gilles Muller 3-6, 7-6(2), 6-4 in the QF; he overcame Fernando Verdasco 7-5, 6-4 in the 2R; and he opened with a 6-4, 7-5 victory over Yen-Hsun Lu. • Murray is back at the Aegon Championships for the 10th time in 11 years (except 2007). He has a 24-5 career record here, winning three titles: 2009 (d. Blake), 2011 (d. Tsonga) and 2013 (d. Cilic). • Murray became the first Brit since Francis Gordon Lowe (1913-14, '25) to win a hat-trick of titles at the Queen’s Club when he won here two years ago. • Murray is contesting a 50th tour-level final (33-16) and his seventh on grass (5-1). His last final appearance on grass was the 2013 Wimbledon final (d. Djokovic). • Murray arrived on the grass after his best ever season on clay. He posted a 15-1 record winning back-to-back titles in Munich and Madrid, with his lone defeat coming against Novak Djokovic in the SF at Roland Garros. The Scot had never contested a clay-court final before this year. • Murray’s victory in Madrid was his 10th at ATP Masters 1000 level and his first in more than two years. It also marked his 33rd title overall, which saw him break into the Top 20 Open Era title leaders. Aegon Championships Day 7 – Sunday, June 21, 2015 Page 4 of 4 www.ATPWorldTour.com • In March, Murray advanced to the SF at Indian Wells and the final in Miami, losing to Djokovic each time.