NADAL AIMS for 11Th TITLE AGAINST #NEXTGENATP STAR TSITSIPAS
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BARCELONA OPEN BANC SABADELL: DAY 7 MEDIA NOTES Sunday, 29 April 2018 Real Club de Tenis Barcelona 1899 | Barcelona, Spain | 23-29 April 2018 Draw: S-48, D-16 | Prize Money: €2,510,900 | Surface: Clay ATP World Tour Info Tournament Info ATP PR & Marketing ATPWorldTour.com BarcelonaOpenBancSabadell.com Maria Garcia-Planas: [email protected] Twitter: @ATPWorldTour @BcnOpenBS Press Room: [email protected] Facebook: @ATPWorldTour @BarcelonaOpenBancSabadell TV & Radio: TennisTV.com NADAL AIMS FOR 11th TITLE AGAINST #NEXTGENATP STAR TSITSIPAS • 10-time Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell champion and World No. 1 Rafael Nadal of Spain will try to capture another title in Barcelona when he squares off in the final against 19-year-old #NextGenATP player Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece, who is making his ATP World Tour final debut. Nadal and Tsitsipas will meet for the first time on Tour, neither player having dropped a set en route to the title match. • Nadal is riding a streak of 44 consecutive sets won on clay, having survived three set points held by qualifier Martin Klizan in the quarter-finals before defeating World No. 10 David Goffin in the semi- finals, 6-4, 6-0. Nadal has now won 18 straight clay-court matches since losing to Dominic Thiem in the quarter-finals at the ATP Masters 1000 in Rome last May. By reaching his 11th Barcelona final, Nadal has become the fourth player in the Open Era to claim 400 wins on clay (400-35), joining Guillermo Vilas (659-162), Manuel Orantes (502-150), and Thomas Muster (422-127). The Spanish superstar has reached his 113th ATP World Tour singles final and is going after his 77th ATP World Tour singles title against Tsitsipas. The 31-year-old has never lost in the final at Barcelona (10-0), and will need to maintain that consistency if he wants to retain his World No. 1 ranking – a loss will cause him to drop to No. 2 in the ATP Rankings behind Roger Federer. • Tsitsipas is into his first-ever ATP World Tour singles final after beating No. 7 Dominic Thiem in the quarter-finals for his second Top 10 win (def. No. 10 Goffin in Antwerp last year), and following up with a win over World No. 11 Pablo Carreno Busta in the second semi-final of his young career (his debut semi-final also came at Antwerp in 2017). Tsitsipas has become the first Greek man to reach an ATP World Tour-level final since Nicholas Kalogeropoulos advanced to the final in Des Moines, Iowa on Feb. 4, 1973 (l. to Graebner). Coming into Barcelona, the teenager had only one Tour-level clay-court match win to his name, but has added five more clay-court victories after his exploits so far this week. Already the top-ranked Greek player in ATP Rankings history, Tsitsipas will vastly improve on his current career-high ranking of No. 63, as he is projected to rise to No. 44 next week, or approximately No. 35 if he can pull off a sensational victory over Nadal in the final. • In the doubles final, Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez will attempt to win in their home nation, as the 2016 Roland Garros champions meet Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi and Jean-Julien Rojer for the trophy. Qureshi is the defending champion, having won the Barcelona title last year with Florin Mergea, and hopes to recapture his magic with Rojer – the Pakistani/Dutch tandem won four ATP World Tour doubles titles together in 2012-2013. ATP RANKING POINTS AND PRIZE MONEY Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell Champion Finalist Ranking Points (Singles and Doubles) 500 300 Singles Prize Money (€) 501,700 245,940 Doubles Prize Money (€) 162,940 79,770 For the latest stats, facts and figures about the ATP World Tour, follow @ATPMediaInfo on Twitter. Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell Day 7 – Sunday, 29 April 2018 Page 2 of 3 www.ATPWorldTour.com INFOSYS ATP SCORES & STATS Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell [1] Rafael Nadal Stefanos Tsitsipas Aces 5 18 1st-Serve Percentage 59% (118 of 201) 59% (174 of 297) 1st-Serve Points Won 68% (80 of 118) 76% (132 of 174) 2nd-Serve Points Won 68% (56 of 83) 54% (67 of 123) Service Games Won 86% (30 of 35) 90% (43 of 48) Break Points Saved 44% (4 of 9) 55% (6 of 11) 1st-Serve Return Points Won 39% (57 of 145) 43% (89 of 208) 2nd-Serve Return Points Won 66% (67 of 102) 54% (44 of 81) Return Games Won 54% (19 of 35) 43% (19 of 44) Break Points Converted 53% (19 of 36) 48% (19 of 40) BOLD: Leads all players at Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell. FEDEX ATP HEAD2HEADS: SINGLES AND DOUBLES FINALS PISTA RAFA NADAL [1] Rafael Nadal (ESP) vs Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE) First Meeting Nadal 2018 Summary: W (1): ATP Masters 1000 Monte Carlo (d. Nishikori); F (1): Barcelona; QF (1): Australian Open (l. Cilic) YTD W-L: 15-1 (11-0 on clay) YTD Titles: 1 / Career Titles: 76 Date of Birth: June 3, 1986 (31) ATP Ranking: 1 Barcelona W-L (Best Result): 57-3 (10-time Champion) • Tournament Note: The 10-time champion opened with a 64 64 win over Carballes Baena on Wednesday, and followed with a 61 63 victory over countryman Garcia-Lopez, and a 60 75 QF win over [Q] Klizan (saved 3 set pts.). Claimed 2-set SF win over No. 4 seed Goffin to extend clay-court sets won streak to 44. Leads tournament in return games won (19 of 35, 54%) and 2nd serve pts. won (66%). Had a 41-match winning streak here after winning titles from 2005-09, 2011-13 (W/D in 2010). Then won title past two years over Nishikori in 2016 and Thiem last year. His only losses came in 2003 debut in 2R (l. to Corretja) and 2014 QF (l. to Almagro) and 2015 3R (l. to Fognini). • Last week in opening clay-court tournament of spring campaign, captured 11th title at Monte-Carlo, posting wins over [5] Thiem in QF, [4] Dimitrov in SF, and Nishikori in final. Lost only 21 games en route to record 31st ATP Masters 1000 title and 76th overall. Also extended title streak to 15 consecutive years. • Advanced to 10th Australian Open QF in only prior tournament appearance of season (ret. vs. Cilic in 5th set). • Lost No. 1 ranking to Federer on 19 February, then regained it for 5th time on 2 April. This is 170th week at No. 1. • Retired in Australian Open QF vs. Cilic and withdrew from Acapulco, Indian Wells and Miami due to right hip injury. • Withdrew from Brisbane due to right knee injury. Clay Court Sets Won Streaks: Nadal has the longest streak for the most consecutive sets won on clay in the Open Era. Nadal has registered five streaks of 30 or more sets won in a row on clay. Here are the leaders: Sets Year(s) 44 Rafael Nadal 2017-18 (current) 35 Guillermo Coria 2003-04 34 Ilie Nastase 1973 32 Rafael Nadal 2010-11 31 Rafael Nadal 2007-08 30 Rafael Nadal 2012 30 Rafael Nadal 2006-07 For the latest stats, facts and figures about the ATP World Tour, follow @ATPMediaInfo on Twitter. Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell Day 7 – Sunday, 29 April 2018 Page 3 of 3 www.ATPWorldTour.com Tsitsipas 2018 Summary: F (1): Barcelona; QF (2): Doha (l. Thiem); Dubai (l. Jaziri) YTD W-L: 11-9 (6-1 on clay) YTD Titles: 0 / Career Titles: 0 Date of Birth: August 12, 1998 (19) ATP Ranking: 63 (Career-high) Barcelona W-L (Best Result): 5-0 (2018 Finalist) • Tournament Note: Youngest player (19) to reach final here since Nadal (18) in 2005 when he won title. Has not dropped a set (10-0) in wins over qualifier Moutet 64 61, [7] Schwartzman 62 61, [10] Ramos-Vinolas 64 75, [3] Thiem 63 62, and [5] Carreno Busta 75 63. Has held serve 43 of 48 games (90%), leads tournament in pts. won returning 1st serve (43%), and is second to Nadal in return games won (43%). • Into first career ATP World Tour final, after winning his second career ATP World Tour SF yesterday (previous ATP World Tour SF: 2017 Antwerp as qualifier, l. to Schwartzman). • Last week at ATP Masters 1000 Monte-Carlo, qualified with two straight-set wins, then beat fellow #NextGenATP performer Shapovalov 63 64, before losing to No. 10 Goffin 76 75. Comes in a career-high No. 63 in ATP Rankings. • Qualified and reached 2nd ATP World Tour QF of career at Doha (d. F. Mayer and Gasquet, l. to Thiem). • Advanced to 1st ATP World Tour 500 QF at Dubai (d. Kukushkin and Kohlschreiber, l. to Jaziri). • Reached Quimper, FRA Challenger SF (l. to Halys in 3rd-set TB). • Has a 2-4 record vs. Top 10 opponents with wins over No. 10 Goffin in 2017 Antwerp QF and No. 7 Thiem here. #NextGenATP Finals Standings: Tsitsipas will jump from No. 7 to No. 2 in the ATP Race to Milan standings next week, regardless of the result in the Barcelona final. Current standings: 1) Alexander Zverev (GER) 5) Alex de Minaur (AUS) 2) Taylor Fritz (USA) 6) Denis Shapovalov (CAN) 3) Andrey Rublev (RUS) 7) Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE) 4) Frances Tiafoe (USA) 8) Marc Polmans (AUS) Unseeded Finalists: Tsitsipas is the third unseeded finalist in Barcelona since 2008 (list below). The last unseeded champion is Gaston Gaudio in 2002 (d. A. Costa). 2018 – Stefanos Tsitsipas (vs. Nadal) 2015 – Pablo Andujar (l. to Nishikori in final) 2014 – Santiago Giraldo (l.