MOSELLE OPEN: DAY 7 MEDIA NOTES Sunday, September 24, 2017 Les Arenes de Metz | Metz, France | September 18-24, 2017 Draw: S-28, D-16 | Prize Money: €482,060 | Surface: Indoor Hard ATP World Tour Info Tournament Info ATP PR & Marketing ATPWorldTour.com Moselle-Open.com Stephanie Natal: [email protected] Twitter: @ATPWorldTour @MoselleOpen Press Room: +33 3 87 62 85 93 Facebook: @ATPWorldTour @MoselleOpen PAIRE TAKES ON FIRST-TIME FINALIST GOJOWCZYK • The Moselle Open championship on Sunday features No. 7 seed Benoit Paire of France against German qualifier Peter Gojowczyk, who is making his first appearance in an ATP World Tour final. Paire won the only previous main draw meeting 62 64 in June in the second round of Stuttgart. Paire is looking to continue the French dominance in Metz. Frenchmen have won seven of the last eight Metz titles and nine of 14 overall since the inaugural event in 2003. • Paire is appearing in his fifth career ATP World Tour final (1-3), the first since October 2015 in Tokyo (l. to Wawrinka). His win on Saturday broke an eight-match semi-final losing streak going back to Tokyo. The 28-year-old Frenchman’s lone ATP World Tour title came in Bastad in 2015. He saved one match point in his QF victory over No. 2 seed David Goffin on Friday. There have been 11 winners on the ATP World Tour this season, saving match point(s). Fabio Fognini, who saved two match points in his SF win in St. Petersburg, is also trying to add his name to the list. Two other Frenchmen have won titles on the ATP World Tour this season. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga has three titles and Lucas Pouille has two. • Gojowczyk is the first qualifier to reach the final in Metz since countryman Mischa Zverev in 2010 (l. to Simon). The 28-year-old German is the sixth qualifier to advance to an ATP World Tour final in 2017. The last qualifier to win an ATP title was Nicolas Mahut in 2015 ‘s-Hertogenbosch. He is tryng to become the first German to win the Metz title in the tournament’s 15-year history. The only Germans to reach the Metz final are Zverev in 2010 and Philipp Kohlschreiber in 2009 (l. to Monfils). Gojowczyk is also looking to become the sixth or seventh first-time champion on the ATP World Tour this season. Damir Dzumhur is in the St. Petersburg final and is looking to do it. EMIRATES ATP RANKING POINTS AND PRIZE MONEY Moselle Open Champion Finalist Ranking Points 250 150 Singles Prize Money €:85,945 €45,265 Doubles Prize Money :€26,110 €13,730 : FEDEX ATP HEAD2HEADS: SUNDAY CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH Court Central [Q] Peter Gojowczyk (GER) vs [7] Benoit Paire (FRA) Paire Leads 1-0 17 Stuttgart (Germany) Grass R16 Benoit Paire 6-2 6-4 Other meetings: 09 Germany F18 (Germany) Carpet F Peter Gojowczyk 6-4 6-4 11 Salzburg CH (Austria) Hard QF Benoit Paire 4-6 7-6(7) 4-0 ret Moselle Open Day 7 – Sunday, September 24, 2017 Page 2 of 3 www.ATPWorldTour.com Gojowczyk 2017 Summary SF(1): Newport (l Ebden) YTD W-L: 11-5 (6-2 on hard) YTD Titles: 0 / Career Titles: 0 Date of Birth: July 15, 1989 (28) Emirates ATP Ranking: 95 Metz W-L (Best Result): 5-1 (2017 Finalist) • Tournament Note: Qualified for second straight year and has posted wins over Gombos 36 76 63 in 1R, [8] Simon 64 76 in 2R, Copil 62 64 in QF and [5] M. Zverev 63 1-0 ret. in SF to reach 1st ATP final. No. 3 in aces this week (30) and has held 34 of 39 service games (87%). Last year reached 2R (d. Almagro, l. to Thiem) • Will jump from No .95 to around a career-high No. 76 in Emirates ATP Rankings and to around No. 66 if he wins the title. His previous career-high ranking is No. 79 on Nov. 17, 2014 • In July, advanced to 2nd career ATP World Tour SF at Newport (d. Karlovic after saving 1 MP, l. to Ebden) • Qualified and reached 2R at Indian Wells (l. to Carreno Busta), Stuttgart (l. to Paire) and Wimbledon (l. to Bautista Agut) • Retired in Australian Open Q2 (abdomen) and Miami Q1 (right foot), then missed 2+ months of action • In January, did not drop a set en route 5th ATP Challenger Tour title at Happy Valley, AUS (d. Jasika). Also advanced to Quimper, FRA Challenger final (l. to Mannarino). Has an 11-6 match record in Challengers this season QUALIFIERS TO REACH FINALS IN 2017: Gojowczyk is the sixth qualifier to reach an ATP World Tour final this season. Nicolas Mahut is the last qualifier to win an ATP World Tour title in June 2015 in ‘s-Hertogenbosch. Aljaz Bedene Budapest (l. to Pouille) Guido Pella Munich (l. to A. Zverev) Mischa Zverev Geneva (l. to Wawrinka) Matthew Ebden Newport (l. to Isner) Yannick Hanfmann Gstaad (l. to Fognini) FIRST-TIME ATP CHAMPIONS (5): Gojowczyk is trying to become the sixth or seventh first-time champion on the ATP World Tour this season. Damir Dzumhur is in the St. Petersburg final on Sunday. Here are the first-time champions in 2017: Age Tournament Gilles Muller 33 Sydney Ryan Harrison 24 Memphis Borna Coric 20 Marrakech Yuichi Sugita 28 Antalya Andrey Rublev 19 Umag Paire 2017 Summary SF(4): Chennai (l Bautista Agut); Montpellier (l Gasquet); Marrakech (l Kohlschreiber); Stuttgart (l Pouille) YTD W-L: 30-25 (16-12 on hard) YTD Titles: 0 / Career Titles: 1 Date of Birth: May 8, 1989 (28) Emirates ATP Ranking: 41 Metz W-L (Best Result): 6-4 (2017 Finalist) • Tournament Note: Opened with 62 64 win over [Q] Tsitsipas in 1R and followed with a 61 62 victory over Granollers in 2R, 76 57 76 victory over [2] Goffin in QF (saving 1 MP), and 61 76 over Basilashvili in SF Leads in aces (46) this week and has held 40 of 44 service games (91%), saving 19 of 23 BPs (83%). Previous best Metz result was 2R in 2011-12. Also in doubles SF (w/Mathieu) • His SF win over Basilashvili broke an 8-match losing streak in SFs since beating Nishikori at 2015 Tokyo (l. to Wawrinka in final) • Appearing in 5th ATP World Tour final (1-3) and lone title came in 2015 Bastad (d. Robredo) • Advanced to Grand Slam 4R for 2nd time at Wimbledon (l. to No. 1 Murray) • Earned biggest win of career by beating No. 3 Wawrinka in ATP Masters 1000 Madrid 2R (l. to Cuevas in 3R) Moselle Open Day 7 – Sunday, September 24, 2017 Page 3 of 3 www.ATPWorldTour.com • Played an ATP World Tour or Grand Slam event in 19 straight tournament weeks to start season (Chennai-Halle) • Advanced to 3R at Aus. Open (d. Fognini in 5 sets, l. to Thiem), Miami (l. to Young) and Barcelona (l. to Zeballos) • Reached 12th ATP Challenger Tour final at Sophia Antipolis, FRA (l. to Bedene) • Upset in 1R matches by No. 333 de Minaur at Sydney, No. 136 Fritz at Indian Wells, No. 655 Haas at Monte-Carlo, No. 134 F. Mayer at Halle, No. 148 De Schepper at Umag and No. 244 Krueger at Cincinnati • Teamed with older brother Thomas to reach Lyon doubles QF as WC (d. Raja/Sharan, l. to Marach/Pavic) MATCH POINT(S) SAVED CHAMPIONS (11): Paire is looking to become the 12th or 13th champion on the ATP World Tour this season to save a match point(s). Fabio Fognini, who is in the St. Petersburg final, saved two match points in his SF win. Player Tournament/Opponent Round M.P. Saved Novak Djokovic Doha – d. Fernando Verdasco SF Saved 5 M.P. Gilles Muller Sydney – d. Alexandr Dolgopolov 1R Saved 1 M.P. Victor Estrella Burgos Quito – d. Ivo Karlovic 2R Saved 3 M.P. Quito – d. Paolo Lorenzi F Saved 1 M.P. Andy Murray Dubai – d. Philipp Kohlschreiber QF Saved 7 M.P. Roger Federer Miami – d. Tomas Berdych QF Saved 2 M.P. Borna Coric Marrakech – d. Philipp Kohlschreiber F Saved 5 M.P. Lucas Pouille Budapest – d. Jiri Vesely 2R Saved 2 M.P. Lucas Pouille Stuttgart – d. Jan-Lennard Struff 2R Saved 1 M.P. Feliciano Lopez London/Quen’s Club - d. Tomas Berdych QF Saved 1 M.P. London/Queen’s Club - d. Marin Cilic F Saved 1 M.P. David Ferrer Bastad – d. Henri Laaksonen QF Saved 2 M.P. Alexander Zverev Montreal – d. Richard Gasquet 2R Saved 3 M.P. DOUBLES CHAMPIONSHIP [3] Julien Benneteau (FRA) / Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA) vs Wesley Koolhof (NED) / Artem Sitak (NZL) First Meeting • Benneteau/Roger-Vasselin have dropped one set this week en route to their second ATP World Tour final of the season and sixth overall together (2-3). They were finalists at London/Queen’s Club (l. to J. Murray/Soares) • Their previous two titles came on French soil in Marseille and Roland Garros in 2014. They were finalists at ATP Masters 1000 Shanghai in 2014 and Wimbledon last year • Benneteau, who last won an ATP World Tour doubles title in Marseille (w/Mahut) in February, is 11-9 in finals. He won the inaugural Metz doubles title in 2003 (w/Mahut) • Roger-Vasselin is 0-2 in doubles finals this season (ATP Masters 1000 Madrid w/Mahut, London/Queen’s Club w/Benneteau) and he is 13-7 lifetime in finals. He won Metz titles in 2012 (w/Mahut) and 2015 (w/Kubot) • Koolhof/Sitak first teamed up in July in Newport (QF) and they are appearing in their second ATP World Tour final together.