COUPE ROGERS: DAY 2 MEDIA NOTES Tuesday, August 11, 2015 Uniprix Stadium, Montreal, Quebec, Canada | August 10–16, 2015 Draw: S-56, D-24 | Prize Money: $3,587,490 | Surface: Outdoor Hard ATP Info: Tournament Info: ATP PR & Marketing: www.ATPWorldTour.com www.rogerscup.com Maria Garcia-Planas: [email protected] Twitter: @ATPWorldTour Twitter: @CoupeRogers #CoupeRogers Greg Sharko: [email protected] Facebook: ATP World Tour Facebook: CoupeRogers Martin Dagahs: [email protected] Press Room: +1 5142751515 (x6217, 6218) DJOKOVIC, MURRAY, RAONIC HEADLINE BUSY DAY TWO DAY 2 PREVIEW: Three former champions return to Rogers Cup action on Tuesday as 16 singles and two doubles matches feature on Tuesday’s Order of Play. World No. 1 and three-time champion (2007, ’11-12) Novak Djokovic will hope to win the 250th ATP World Tour Masters 1000 match of his career against Thomaz Bellucci, while No. 2 seed and 2009-10 champion Andy Murray opens his Montreal campaign against Tommy Robredo. Defending champion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who beat four Top-10 players (Djokovic, Murray, Dimitrov, Federer) en route to the 2014 title, faces Croatian teen Borna Coric, the youngest player in the draw in a match held over from Monday’s schedule. There are six other seeds in singles action today: No. 8 Milos Raonic No. 11 Richard Gasquet, No. 12 Kevin Anderson, No. 13 David Goffin, No. 14 Grigor Dimitrov and No. 16 John Isner as well as Canadian wild cards Vasek Pospisil and Frank Dancevic. Reigning U.S. Open champion Marin Cilic is in doubles action (w/Lindstedt) while former world No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt makes his final appearance at the Rogers Cup (w/Kyrgios vs Monfils/Tsonga). th MASTERING THE MASTERS: Djokovic is one win away from his 250 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 match win. The Serb has been the standout player at ATP World Tour Masters 1000 level in recent times, winning the last five he has contested – Paris (’14), Indian Wells, Miami, Monte-Carlo and Rome (withdrew from Madrid). Since falling to Federer in the SFs in Shanghai last year, Djokovic is undefeated in his last 26 ATP Masters 1000 matches. The 28-year-old, who also captured his fourth Barclays ATP World Tour Finals title in November, has 24 Masters 1000 crowns, surpassing Federer (23) and second only to Nadal (27). The three-time Rogers Cup champion is the top seed in Canada for the fifth straight year. A semi-finalist in 2013 and 2010, Djokovic has a 26-5 career record in Canada, winning in Montreal twice (2007, 2011) and Toronto once (2012). The Serb has been No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings since winning the Wimbledon title in 2014; his current 58 consecutive weeks at No. 1 ties John McEnroe’s career-best streak for ninth-longest No. 1 streak and is bettered by five players – Roger Federer (237), Jimmy Connors (160, 84), Ivan Lendl (157, 80), Pete Sampras (102, 82) and Lleyton Hewitt (75). This is Djokovic’s 159th week overall at No. 1, which is sixth-best. He first became No. 1 on July 4, 2011. He is looking to finish No. 1 for the fourth time in five years (2011-12, ’14). THIEM IN TOP FORM: Dominic Thiem will be looking to extend his recent run of form in Montreal this week. The Austrian broke into the Top 20 for the first time on Monday at No. 18 following back- to-back ATP World Tour titles at Umag (d. Sousa) and Gstaad (d. Goffin) with a semi-final run in Kitzbuhel (l. to Kohlschreiber), snapping a 10-match unbeaten run. The 21-year-old has a 29-19 record this season (7-7 on hard). Thiem reached the quarter-finals of an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event for the first time in Miami earlier this season (l. to Murray). He lost on his debut appearance in Canada last year (l. to Simon). Thiem faces qualifier and often practice partner Ernests Gulbis in their third meeting of the season with the Austrian winning in Rottedam (1R) and Nice (QF). Thiem overall leads 3-0. The duo shares the same coach, Gunther Bresnik. Coupe Rogers présentée par Banque Nationale Day 2 – Tuesday, August 11, 2015 Page 2 of 13 www.ATPWorldTour.com MURRAY’S GREAT ESCAPES: Tommy Robredo’s first-round victory over fellow Spaniard Feliciano Lopez sets up a showdown with No. 2 seed Andy Murray, who saved a combined 10 match points against the 33-year-old to win back-to-back titles in October 2014 (Shenzen, Valencia). Murray survived five match points in both finals against Robredo, and will be keen to bounce back after losing his opening match of the North American hard court season in Washington (l. to Gabashvili in 2R). In the doubles (w/Paes), he faces brother Jamie (w/Peers) for the first time in their ATP World Tour careers in the second round. YOUNG GUNS: Seven players aged 22- TEENS IN TOP 200 AGE RANK W/L under and ranked inside the Top 100 in Borna Coric (CRO) 18 36 19-17 the Emirates ATP Rankings feature in the main draw: No. 18 Dominic Thiem (21), Alexander Zverev (GER) 18 86 13-12 No. 26 Bernard Tomic (22), No. 35 Jack Thanasi Kokkinakis (AUS) 19 76 9-12 Sock (22), No. 36 Borna Coric (18) and Andrey Rublev (RUS) 17 195 5-7 No. 38 Nick Kyrgios (20) are direct entries, while No. 75 Hyeon Chung (19) Nick Kyrgios (AUS) 20* 38 5-4 and No. 81 Denis Kudla (22) came Hyeon Chung (KOR) 19 75 4-6 through qualifying. Coric, the youngest Elias Ymer (SWE) 19 137 3-6 player in the draw, has the most ATP Jared Donaldson (USA) 18 153 3-4 World Tour match wins (19) of any teenager so far this season. Yoshihito Nishioka (JPN) 19 134 2-3 ACE IN THE PACK: After beating Jerzy Janowicz in the first round, Ivo Karlovic now has 9,982 career aces to his name and needs 18 more to become just the second player since ATP records began in 1991 to reach 10,000 aces. Fellow Croatian Goran Ivanisevic currently holds the record for career aces at 10,183 in 895 matches; Karlovic is now 201 aces behind his countryman having played 526 matches, averaging 19 aces per match. Only Roger Federer (9,279 aces in 1224 matches) and Andy Roddick (9,074 aces in 780 matches) have also passed the 9,000-ace mark. Earlier this season in Halle 36-year-old Karlovic set a new record for the most aces in a three-set match, hitting 45 past Tomas Berdych to reach the semi-finals (l. to Federer). Karlovic, who has hit a Tour-leading 987 aces in 43 YEAR ACES MATCHES AVG PER MATCH matches in 2015 (avg. 23 per match) and is 13 aces away from his third 2007 1,318 64 20.6 1,000-ace season (see right), claimed 2008 961 57 16.9 the sixth title of his career in Delray 2014 1,185 64 18.5 Beach (d. Young) in February. The 2015 987* 43* 23 oldest player in the Montreal draw faces CAREER 9,982 526 19 Canadian No. 8 seed Milos Raonic. Here are Ivo’s 900 more ace seasons: MILOS’S MILESTONE: World No. 10 Raonic is searching for a landmark win against Karlovic. The 24-year-old is one victory away from his 200th ATP PLAYER MATCH WINS World Tour match win, having compiled a record of 199-98 Milos Raonic 199 since turning pro in 2008 – a Canadian record. Raonic has 25 wins in 2015, reaching one final (Brisbane, l. to Sebastien Laureau 99 Federer) and the quarterfinals or better at three ATP Daniel Nestor 85 Masters 1000 events (Indian Wells SF, Monte-Carlo QF, Grant Connell 75 Madrid QF) and the Australian Open (l. QF to Djokovic). Glenn Michibata 72 Here are the Canadian match winners in the Open Era: Coupe Rogers présentée par Banque Nationale Day 2 – Tuesday, August 11, 2015 Page 3 of 13 www.ATPWorldTour.com DAY 2 FEDEX ATP HEAD 2 HEADS – In Order of Play by Court COURT CENTRAL Fernando Verdasco (ESP) vs Nick Kyrgios (AUS) FedEx Head 2 Head: First ATP World Tour meeting 2015 Highlights 2015 Highlights SF (2): Quito (l. to F Lopez) F: Estoril (l. to Gasquet) Houston (l. to Querrey) QF: Australian Open (l. to Murray) Verdasco vs Kyrgios 31 (Nov 15, 1983) Age (DOB) 20 (Apr 27, 1995) 38 (7 – Apr 20, 2009) Emirates ATP Rankings (high) 41 (25 – Jun 8, 2015) 9-7 Rogers Cup W-L 1-1 20-17 (7-5) 2015 W-L (on hard) 16-12 (5-3) 425-301 (190-154) Career W-L (on hard) 28-23 (9-9) 6 (0) Career titles (2015) 0 (0) Sergio Perez Coach Lleyton Hewitt (advisory) Verdasco is making his eighth appearance at the Rogers Cup, and his first since 2011 (l. 2R to Tipsarevic). He reached 3R in 2006 (l. to Gasquet), ‘07 (l. to Dancevic) and ‘09 (l. to Roddick). th Verdasco is looking for his 100 career ATP World Tour Masters 1000 match win. His current record stands at 99-95, including one final appearance (2010 Monte-Carlo, l. to Nadal). Verdasco arrives in Montreal after consecutive first-round defeats on clay in Bastad (l. to Almagro) and Hamburg (l. to eventual champion Nadal). Verdasco reached semi-finals in Quito (l. to F Lopez) in February and Houston in April (l. to Querrey), both on clay. He has two Top 10 wins in 2015 (2-8 overall), over No.