BB&T ATLANTA OPEN: DAY 4 MEDIA NOTES Thursday, August 4, 2016 Atlantic Station, Atlanta, GA, USA | August 1-7, 2016 Draw: S-28, D-16 | Prize Money: $618,030 | Surface: Outdoor Hard ATP World Tour Info Tournament Info ATP PR & Marketing www.ATPWorldTour.com www.BBTAtlantaOpen.com Greg Sharko: [email protected] Twitter: @ATPWorldTour Twitter: @BBTAtlantaOpen Press Room: +1-209-920-7425 Facebook: @ATPWorldTour Facebook: @BBTAtlOpen KYRGIOS, VERDASCO IN ACTION; DONALDSON SEEKS 1ST ATP QF No. 2 seed Nick Kyrgios makes his Atlanta debut with a contest against American wild card Jared Donaldson in the second round. Kyrgios is ranked a career-high No. 18 after starting the season 26-11 and winning his first title at Marseille. Donaldson is coming off a strong showing at ATP Masters 1000 Toronto last week. The 19-year-old won four matches to reach the third round as a qualifier, falling to Wimbledon finalist Milos Raonic. Should Donaldson defeat Kyrgios, he would join fellow teenagers Reilly Opelka and Taylor Fritz, No. 1 seed John Isner and No. 7 seed Donald Young as the fifth American to reach the Atlanta quarter-finals. That would tie the tournament record set at the inaugural BB&T Atlanta Open in 2010. Donaldson would also become the seventh teen to reach an ATP World Tour quarter-final this season. Player Birthdate 2016 QFs Best Result Alexander Zverev (GER) 4/20/1997 6 Nice and Halle RUP Borna Coric (CRO) 11/14/1996 3 Chennai and Marrakech RUP Taylor Fritz (USA) 10/28/1997 3 Memphis RUP Hyeon Chung (KOR) 5/19/1996* 1 Houston QF Stefan Kozlov (USA) 2/1/1998 1 ’s-Hertogenbosch QF Reilly Opelka (USA) 8/28/1997 1 Atlanta QF * NOTE: Hyeon Chung turned 20 after reaching the Houston QF. First up on Stadium Court will be No. 4 seed Alexandr Dolgopolov against 20-year-old Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan. Following that match, No. 5 seed Fernando Verdasco takes on fellow veteran Julien Benneteau. On AJC Grandstand Court, Horacio Zeballos seeks his first quarter-final since 2014 São Paulo against lucky loser Tobias Kamke, whose last quarter-final came at 2014 Hamburg. DAY 4 FEDEX ATP HEAD 2 HEADS – Second-Round Singles Matches Stadium Court Yoshihito Nishioka (JPN) vs [4] Alexandr Dolgopolov (UKR) First Meeting Nishioka 2016 FastFacts QF: Memphis (l. to Querrey) YTD W-L: 6-7 (6-5 on hard) YTD Titles: 0 / Career Titles: 0 Date of Birth: September 27, 1995 Emirates ATP Ranking: 97 Atlanta W-L (Best Result): 1-0 (2016 Round of 16) BB&T Atlanta Open Day 4 – Thursday, August 4, 2016 Page 2 of 3 www.ATPWorldTour.com • Tournament Note: Saved 4 MPs to beat Evans 76 in 3rd on Tuesday • Reached 2nd ATP World Tour QF at Memphis as Q (d. Donaldson and Marchenko, l. to Querrey) • Qualified and reached ATP Masters 1000 Miami 3R (d. Donaldson and Lopez, l. to Thiem) • Also qualified at Brisbane (l. to Pouille in 1R) and Wimbledon (l. to Stakhovsky in 1R) • Achieved career-high No. 93 in Emirates ATP Rankings on July 18 • Did not drop a set en route to 3rd Challenger title at Winnetka, USA, beating fellow ‘Next Gen’ player Tiafoe in final • Advanced to 1st Challenger doubles final w/Setkic at Cherbourg, FRA (l. to Skupski/Skupski) Dolgopolov 2016 FastFacts SF: Acapulco (l. to Tomic); QF (4): Sydney (l. to Dimitrov); Rio de Janeiro (l. to Nadal); Barcelona (l. to Nishikori); Nottingham (l. to Muller) YTD W-L: 17-13 (9-7 on hard) YTD Titles: 0 / Career Titles: 2 Date of Birth: November 7, 1988 Emirates ATP Ranking: 38 Atlanta W-L (Best Result): 0-1 (2016 Round of 16) • Tournament Note: This is Dolgopolov's second appearance in Atlanta, and he is seeking his first win here • Defeated No. 8 Ferrer en route to Acapulco SF (l. to Tomic in 3 sets) • Reached QFs at Sydney (l. to Dimitrov), Barcelona (d. Donskoy in 2R after saving 1 MP, l. to No. 2 Nishikori) and Nottingham (l. to Muller) • Fell in 3R of ATP Masters 1000 events at Indian Wells (l. to No. 10 Gasquet) and Miami (l. to No. 6 Nishikori) • Conceded walkover in Rio de Janeiro QF vs. Nadal due to right shoulder injury • Withdrew from Roland Garros and ’s-Hertogenbosch due to abdominal injury [5] Fernando Verdasco (ESP) vs [PR] Julien Benneteau (FRA) Verdasco Leads 4-0 06 New Haven (U.S.A.) Hard R32 Fernando Verdasco 7-6(4) 6-4 10 ATP Masters 1000 Monte-Carlo Clay R32 Fernando Verdasco 6-2 6-1 11 Gstaad (Switzerland) Clay QF Fernando Verdasco 6-4 5-7 6-1 13 Wimbledon (Great Britain) Grass R64 Fernando Verdasco 7-6(1) 7-6(4) 6-4 Verdasco 2016 FastFacts W: Bucharest (d. Pouille); F: Bastad (l. to Ramos-Viñolas) YTD W-L: 23-15 (7-4 on hard) YTD Titles: 1 / Career Titles: 7 Date of Birth: November 15, 1983 Emirates ATP Ranking: 48 Atlanta W-L (Best Result): 1-0 (2016 Round of 16) • Tournament note: The 32-year-old defeated Serbian Dusan Lajovic 76(2) 64 in Atlanta debut on Tuesday • Captured 7th ATP World Tour singles title in a Monday final at Bucharest (d. Pouille) • Did not drop a set en route to Båstad final (l. to Ramos-Viñolas) • Lost 5-setters in Roland Garros 3R (l. to No. 6 Nishikori) and Wimbledon 1R (l. to Tomic) • Appeared in 53 straight majors, 2nd-longest active streak to Lopez’ 58 • Beat No. 5 Nadal at Aus. Open (l. to Sela in 2R) and No. 5 Wawrinka at London/Queen’s Club (l. to Tomic in 2R) • Lost to No. 5 Nadal 60 76(9) in ATP Masters 1000 Indian Wells 3R after holding 5 set points in 2nd-set TB • Held 1 MP vs. Zeballos in Miami 3R and 1 MP vs. Goffin in Monte-Carlo 2R -- lost both 76 in 3rd • Fell to 0-11 lifetime against World No. 1 with 62 62 loss to Djokovic in Doha 2R • Withdrew from Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro due to neck injury, as well as Gstaad due to leg pain Benneteau 2016 FastFacts YTD W-L: 2-8 (1-4 on hard) YTD Titles: 0 / Career Titles: 0 Date of Birth: December 20, 1981 Emirates ATP Ranking: 406 Atlanta W-L (Best Result): 1-0 (2016 Round of 16) BB&T Atlanta Open Day 4 – Thursday, August 4, 2016 Page 3 of 3 www.ATPWorldTour.com • Tournament Note: The 34-year-old earned 1R win over John-Patrick Smith 64 62, his first hard-court win of the year • Qualified at Marseille by beating Fabbiano and Lamasine (l. to A. Zverev in 1R) • In doubles w/Roger-Vasselin, fell to Herbert/Mahut at Wimbledon in 1st All-FRA Grand Slam men’s doubles final. • Defeated 4 seeded teams en route, including 5-set wins over Pospisil/Sock (saved 2 MPs) and J. Murray/Soares • Beat Pospisil/Sock w/Roger-Vasselin then held 6 MPs in Roland Garros QF loss to Lopez/Lopez • Reached SFs w/Roger-Vasselin at Rome (l. to Bryan/Bryan) and London/Queen’s Club (l. to Guccione/Sa) • Returned following abductor surgery and won Noumea, CAL Challenger title w/Roger-Vasselin (d. Barrere/Lamasine) • Withdrew from Sydney due to groin injury [WC] Jared Donaldson (USA) vs [2] Nick Kyrgios (AUS) First Meeting Donaldson 2016 FastFacts YTD W-L: 4-6 (4-5 on hard) YTD Titles: 0 / Career Titles: 0 Date of Birth: October 9, 1996 Emirates ATP Ranking: 123 (Career-High) Atlanta W-L (Best Result): 2-1 (2015-16 Round of 16) • Tournament Note: The 19-year-old wild card defeated Sam Groth 62 64 in 1R • Reached 3R of an ATP Masters 1000 event for 1st time at Toronto as Q (d. Millman and Fognini, l. to No. 7 Raonic) • Earned 1st win of season at Washington as Q (d. Millot, l. to Matosevic) • Achieved career-high No. 123 in Emirates ATP Rankings on August 1 • Lost 3-setter to Basilashvili in final round of Roland Garros qualifying for 2nd straight year • Advanced to 3rd Challenger final of career at Savannah, USA (d. G. Melzer and Young, l. to Fratangelo) • Withdrew from 3 grass-court Challengers and Wimbledon qualifying due to shoulder injury Kyrgios 2016 FastFacts W: Marseille (d. Cilic); SF (3): Dubai (l. to Wawrinka); ATP Masters 1000 Miami (l. to Nishikori); Estoril (l. to Almagro); QF: ATP Masters 1000 Madrid (l. to Nishikori) YTD W-L: 26-11 (14-5 on hard) YTD Titles: 1 / Career Titles: 1 Date of Birth: April 27, 1995 Emirates ATP Ranking: 18 (Career-High) Atlanta W-L: 0-0 (Debuting) • At Marseille, became 1st member of ATP’s Next Generation to win a singles title (d. Cilic) • Held in all 47 of his service games at Marseille, beating No. 10 Gasquet and No. 8 Berdych en route to title • Advanced to 1st ATP Masters 1000 QF and SF at Miami (d. Raonic, l. to No. 6 Nishikori) • Beat No. 4 Wawrinka at Madrid (l. to No. 6 Nishikori in QF) and No. 10 Raonic at Rome (l. to No. 5 Nadal in 3R) • Reached 2nd week at Wimbledon for 3rd straight year (d. Brown in 5 sets of 2R, l. to No. 2 Murray in 4R) • Also reached 3R at Australian Open (l. to No. 6 Berdych) and Roland Garros (l. to Gasquet) • Achieved career-high No. 18 in Emirates ATP Rankings on June 20 (No. 1 Aussie) • Retired in Dubai SF vs. No.