BNP PARIBAS OPEN: DAY 4 MEDIA NOTES Sunday, March 13, 2016 Indian Wells Tennis Garden, Indian Wells, California, USA | March 10 – 20, 2016 Draw: S-96, D-32 | Prize Money: $7,037,595 | Surface: Outdoor Hard ATP Info: Tournament Info: ATP PR & Marketing: www.ATPWorldTour.com www.bnpparibasopen.com Martin Dagahs: [email protected] @ATPWorldTour - #MarchMasters @BNPPARIBASOPEN - #BNPPO16 Maria Garcia-Planas: [email protected] facebook.com/ATPWorldTour facebook.com/BNPPARIBASOPEN Edward La Cava: [email protected] instagram.com/ATPWorldTour instagram.com/bnpparibasopen Press Room: +1 760 2008008 FORMER CHAMPIONS DJOKOVIC, NADAL HEADLINE SUNDAY SCHEDULE DAY 4 PREVIEW: Second round play in the top half of the draw on Sunday features two former BNP Paribas Open champions, World No. 1/four-time winner Novak Djokovic and No. 4 seed/three-time champ Rafael Nadal. Other Top 10 seeds in action are No. 5 Kei Nishikori, No. 7 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and No. 9 John Isner. The opening match on Stadium 1 is between No. 23 seed Grigor Dimitrov and 18-year-old German Alexander Zverev, who was one of the 21 & under stars in the ATP World Tour’s Next Generation launch earlier in the week. Dimitrov won the previous meeting in three sets in the 1R of the Swiss Indoors in Basel in 2014. Zverev, one of six teenagers in the main draw, is trying to join fellow teen Borna Coric in the 3R. Dimitrov is attempting to reach the 3R for the fourth straight year In the next match on, Mikhail Kukushkin looks for his first win against No. 5 Nishikori, who has won all five previous meetings, including two in the first two months of the season in Brisbane and Memphis. Kukushkin pushed Djokovic to five sets last weekend in a 1R Davis Cup tie in Serbia before falling 6-2 in the decisive set. He is 2-25 lifetime against Top 10 opponents. Last month Nishikori won his fourth straight Memphis Open title (d. Fritz). In the final day session match, Djokovic brings a 16-1 match record on the season into his opening match against American qualifier Bjorn Fratangelo. The defending two-time BNP Paribas Open champion (four overall) has won 11 straight matches in Indian Wells. Djokovic is trying to become the first player in tournament history to capture five titles. Federer also has won four titles. The 22- year-old Fratangelo is ranked No. 149 and he won his first career ATP World Tour match (1-3) over Russian Teymuraz Gabashviili on Friday. In the evening session, Nadal squares off with fellow left-hander Gilles Muller of Luxembourg for the fifth time (Nadal leads 3-1). In their last meeting, also the only time they met on hard courts, the Spaniard won 76 61 62 in the 4R of the US Open in 2011. Muller posted his first career Top 10 win in a Grand Slam tournament over Nadal in the 2R at Wimbledon in 2005. On Stadium 2, there are three Frenchmen on the schedule: Tsonga vs. qualifier Vincent Millot and No. 16 seed Gilles Simon against Canadian No. 2 Vasek Pospisil. In the final match on, top American Isner brings a 2-1 career head-to-head record against Italian Andreas Seppi. Isner won the only previous hard court meeting in five sets at the Australian Open in 2010. On Stadium 3, three Americans are among the four matches. Leading off the order of play is No. 11 seed Dominic Thiem, who leads the ATP World Tour with 20 match wins on the season. The 22- year-old Austrian takes on Slovak qualifier Jozef Kovalik for the first time on the ATP World Tour. The trio of Americans to follow are: Denis Kudla vs. top German/No. 27 Philipp Kohlschreiber, No. 21 seed Jack Sock vs. German qualifier Michael Berrer and No. 30 Steve Johnson vs. Aussie John Millman. BNP Paribas Open Day 4 – Sunday, March 13, 2016 Page 2 of 12 www.ATPWorldTour.com DAY 4 FEDEX ATP HEAD 2 HEADS – In Order of Play by Court STADIUM 1 [23] Grigor Dimitrov (BUL) vs Alexander Zverev (GER) Dimitrov Leads 1-0 14 Basel (Switzerland) Hard R32 Grigor Dimitrov 2-6 6-4 6-2 Dimitrov 2016 FastFacts: F: Sydney (l Troicki); SF: Delray Beach (l Ram); QF(2): Brisbane (l Federer); Acapulco (l Thiem) YTD W-L: 12-5 (12-5 on hard) YTD Titles: 0 / Career Titles: 4 Date of Birth: May 16, 1991 Emirates ATP Ranking: 26 Indian Wells W-L (Best Result-Year): 4-4 (3R - 2013-14-15) • The 24-year-old Bulgarian is making his 5th straight Indian Wells appearance and looking to extend streak of winning opening match to 5 years in a row. Made debut in 2012 (d. Dodig, l. to No. 5 Ferrer in 2R) and last 3 years advanced to 3R after a bye. In 2013 (d. Ebden, l. to No. 1 Djokovic), 2014 (d. Haase, l. to No. 22 Gulbis) and last year (d. Kyrgios, l. to No. 19 Robredo). All 4 losses have come to Top 25 opponents • Comes in with a 12-5 match record. Held 1 MP in Sydney final before falling to Troicki 76 in 3rd set • Advanced to SFs at Delray Beach (l. to Ram) and QFs at Brisbane (l. to No. 3 Federer) and Acapulco ( (l. to eventual champion Thiem) • Reached Australian Open 3R (l. to No. 3 Federer) • Has won 2+ matches at all 5 tournaments during 1st 2 months of 2016 season Zverev 2016 FastFacts: SF: Montpellier (l Mathieu); QF: Rotterdam (l Monfils) YTD W-L: 7-6 (7-6 on hard) YTD Titles: 0 / Career Titles: 0 Date of Birth: April 20, 1997 Emirates ATP Ranking: 58 Indian Wells W-L (Best Result-Year):1-0 (2R - 2016) • The 18-year-old German made his main draw debut on Friday, rallying past Ivan Dodig 36 75 63. Saved all 3 break pts. faced and won 11 of 12 1st serve pts. in 3rd set vs Dodig. Last year came in ranked No. 136 and lost in 1R qualifying to Michael Russell in three sets • Last month reached 3rd ATP singles SF at Montpellier (d. Vanni in 1R after saving 1 MP, l. to Mathieu) • Win over No. 13 Cilic in Montpellier 2R is biggest of career by ranking • Achieved career-high No. 56 in Emirates ATP Rankings on February 15 • Advanced to Rotterdam QF (d. Simon 76 in 3rd, l. to Monfils) • Fell to eventual finalist Murray in 1R of Australian Open debut • Appeared in 2nd ATP doubles final with older brother Mischa at Montpellier (l. to Pavic/Venus) • In Davis Cup debut, fell to No. 7 Berdych in 4h, 20m and Rosol in deciding rubber (CZE d. GER 3-2) NEXT GENERATION: Zverev is one of six Next Generation teenagers in the main draw.This is the most teenagers in Indian Wells since there were seven in 2006. Here’s a look at the talented group of teens: Ranking Age Round Frances Tiafoe (WC) No. 177 18 yrs., 1 month 2R (l. to Goffin) Taylor Fritz (WC) No. 80 18 yrs., 4 months 1R (l. to Tiafoe) Alexander Zverev No. 58 18 yrs., 10 months 2R (vs. Dimitrov) Borna Coric No. 47 19 yrs., 3 months 3R (vs. Berdych) Jared Donaldson (WC) No. 158 19 yrs., 4 months 1R (l. to Pospisil) Hyeon Chung No. 64 19 yrs., 9 months 1R (l. to Ramos-Vinolas) BNP Paribas Open Day 4 – Sunday, March 13, 2016 Page 3 of 12 www.ATPWorldTour.com Mikhail Kukushkin (KAZ) vs [5] Kei Nishikori (JPN) Nishikori Leads 5-0 11 Basel (Switzerland) Hard QF Kei Nishikori 6-4 5-7 6-4 12 Barcelona (Spain) Clay R32 Kei Nishikori 6-3 4-6 6-0 12 Wimbledon (Great Britain) Grass R128 Kei Nishikori 7-5 6-3 6-4 16 Brisbane (Australia) Hard R16 Kei Nishikori 6-3 6-4 16 Memphis (U.S.A.) Hard QF Kei Nishikori 6-2 6-4 Other meeting: 11 ATP Masters 1000 Cincinnati Q (U.S.A.) Hard -- Kei Nishikori 6-3 6-4 Kukushkin 2016 FastFacts: QF: Memphis (l Nishikori) YTD W-L: 6-7 (6-7 on hard) YTD Titles: 0 / Career Titles: 1 Date of Birth: December 26, 1987 Emirates ATP Ranking: 90 Indian Wells W-L (Best Result-Year): 3-3 (3R - 2014) • The 28-year-old Kazakhstan No. 1 evened his career record at 3-3 on Friday with a 76(1) 62 win over Spaniard Daniel Munoz de la Nava, saving 7 of 9 break points (all 4 in 2nd set). Trying to reach 3R for second time. In 2014 defeated Groth, Pospisil (l. to Lopez 6-4 in 3rd set) • Best result of season is QF at Memphis (d. Vanni and Kudla, l. to No. 7 eventual winner Nishikori) • Defeated Troicki and led No. 1 Djokovic 2 sets to 1 before falling in 5 sets during Davis Cup 1R (SRB d. KAZ 3-2) • Qualified at Sydney with wins over both Reid and Cervantes 76 in 3rd (l. to Chardy in 1R) • Suffered 4th straight Australian Open 1R loss (l. to Sousa) • Retired vs. Young in Delray Beach 1R and conceded walkover in doubles QF w/Marchenko vs. Bryan/Bryan due to left leg injury • Has a 2-25 career record vs. Top 10 opponents and looking to break eight-match losing streak since win over No. 4 Wawrinka in 1R of Basel in October 2014 Nishikori 2016 FastFacts: W: Memphis (d Fritz); QF(2): Brisbane (l Tomic); Australian Open (l Djokovic) YTD W-L: 11-4 (11-4 on hard) YTD Titles: 1 / Career Titles: 11 Date of Birth: December 29, 1989 Emirates ATP Ranking: 6 Indian Wells W-L (Best Result-Year): 4-7 (4R – 2015) • The 26-year-old Japanese star is making his 8th appearance in 9 years (except 2010) and has a 4-7 record, the only Top 8 seed with a losing record • Began with an 0-4 record before winning first match in 2013 (d.