OPEN: DAY 3 MEDIA NOTES Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Buenos Aires Lawn Club, , Argentina | February 8 - 14, 2016 Draw: S-28, D-16 | Prize Money: $598,865 | Surface: Clay

ATP Info: Tournament Info: ATP PR & Marketing: www.ATPWorldTour.com www.argentinaopenatp.com Edward La Cava: [email protected] @ATPWorldTour @Argentinaopen Maria Garcia-Planas: [email protected] facebook.com/ATPWorldTour facebook.com/ATPbuenosaires250 Press Room: 5411 4775 8228

TSONGA, ISNER MAKE SOUTH AMERICA DEBUT ON DAY 3

DAY 3 MATCHES: ’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and America’s make their South America debut on Wednesday at the Argentina Open. There are eight matches scheduled (4 singles and 4 doubles).

Leading off play on Guillermo Vilas is the third meeting between the 2011 champion Nicolas Almagro and local hope . Almagro has a 26-9 tournament record which includes two wins here over Delbonis in 2012-13; Delbonis lone came in the second round in 2014 in Sao Paulo in three sets.

Following is the first meeting between Austrian No. 5 seed and Portuguese qualifier Gastao Elias. The 22-year-old Thiem, who is the youngest player in the Top 20 Emirates ATP Ranking, is looking to reach his second ATP World Tour quarter-final of year. He opened the year by reaching his seventh career ATP World Tour semi-final at Brisbane (d. Cilic in QF, l. to Federer). The 25-year-old Elias is looking to reach his first career ATP World Tour quarter-final.

The third match features the No. 4 seed Isner taking on Serbian Dusan Lajovic. Isner won their only previous meeting on clay last year in the quarter-finals at Nice. The big-serving American has career 49- 44 record on clay with one title – 2013 Houston (d. Monaco in SF, d. Almagro).

The final match on Guillermo Vilas is a first time meeting between local hope and No. 3 seed and world No. 9 Tsonga. Mayer the top ranked Argentine opened with a 26 63 63 win over countrymen on Monday to reach the second round here for the fifth time, he has never advanced past this stage here in four previous attempts. Tsonga, the top ranked Frenchmen, has a career 69-38 record on clay and is attempting to reach his first final on clay this week.

DAY 3 FEDEX ATP HEAD 2 HEADS – In Order of Play by Court

COURT CENTRAL GUILLERMO VILAS

Federico Delbonis (ARG) vs Nicolas Almagro (ESP) Almagro Leads 2-1 12 Buenos Aires (Argentina) Clay R16 Nicolas Almagro 6-3 6-2 13 Buenos Aires (Argentina) Clay QF Nicolas Almagro 6-1 7-6(3) 14 Sao Paulo () Clay R16 Federico Delbonis 3-6 6-3 6-2

Delbonis FastFacts: 2016 Highlights: YTD W-L: 4-2 (1-0 on clay) YTD Titles: 0 / Career Titles: 1 Date of Birth: October 5, 1990 Emirates ATP Ranking: 45 Buenos Aires W-L (Best Result): 6-5 (QF in 2013, ‘15)

 The 25-year-old left-hander opened with a 67(4) 64 64 win over No. 6 seed on Tuesday. He is making his 6th consecutive appearance here and has a 6-5 tournament record. Best result was reaching QF twice – 2013 (l. to Almagro) and 2015 (l. to eventual champion Nadal)  Opened year by reaching 2R at Sydney (l. to Gabashvili), followed with first career 3R appearance at (l to Simon) Argentina Open Day 3 – Wednesday, February 10, 2016 Page 2 of 4 www.ATPWorldTour.com

 In 2015, Argentine finished outside Top 100 of Emirates ATP Rankings for 3rd time in 6 years due to wrist injuries  Only played 4 matches all season, reaching Sydney QF (d. Stakhovsky and Fognini, l. to Kukushkin) and falling in 1R at ATP Masters 1000 Miami (l. to Pospisil)  Underwent left wrist surgeries on January 20 and June 18 at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, USA

Almagro FastFacts: 2016 Highlights: YTD W-L: 2-2 (1-0 on clay) YTD Titles: 0 / Career Titles: 12 Date of Birth: August 21, 1985 Emirates ATP Ranking: 72 Buenos Aires W-L (Best Result): 26-9 (Winner in 2011)

 The 30-year-old Spaniard and 2011 champion (d. Chela) defeated qualifier Albert Montanes 63 63 in the 1R on Monday. He is making his 11th appearance here and has a 26-9 tournament record. Also reached the finals in 2012 (l. to Ferrer) and has reached the SF the past three years – 2013 (l. to Wawrinka), 2014 (l. to Ferrer), and 2015 (l. to Monaco)  One of 14 Spaniards ranked in Top 100 Emirates ATP Rankings  Playing in first event since falling in 2R at Australian Open (l. to Thiem), fell in 1R at Chennai (l. to Pavic)  In 2015, Spaniard finished in Top 100 for 10th straight season  Earned 16 of 18 wins on clay with SF runs at Buenos Aires (l. to Monaco) and Kitzbühel (l. to Mathieu)

[Q] Gastao Elias (POR) vs [5] Dominic Thiem (AUT) First Meeting

Elias FastFacts: 2016 Highlights: YTD W-L: 1-0 (1-0 on clay) YTD Titles: 0 / Career Titles: 0 Date of Birth: November 24, 1990 Emirates ATP Ranking: 142 Buenos Aires W-L (Best Result): 1-1 (2R in 2016)

• The 25-year-old opened with a 46 64 61 win over Daniel Munoz de la Nava on Tuesday in his first tour-level match of the year. Last year as a qualifier in his tournament debut fell in the 1R (l. to Robredo) • Fell in qualifying at Australian Open (l.to Herbert in Q1) • In Challenger play reached QF at Rio de Janeiro (l. to Bagnis) and Bucaramanga (l. to Lorenzi) • Has career record of 137-102 (4-8 in finals) Challengers and 79-44 (4-4 in finals) in Futures

Thiem FastFacts: 2016 Highlights: SF: Brisbane (l Federer) YTD W-L: 6-3 (1-0 on clay) YTD Titles: 0 / Career Titles: 3 Date of Birth: September 3, 1993 Emirates ATP Ranking: 19 Buenos Aires W-L (Best Result): 1-0 (2R in 2016)

 The 22-year-old, who is the youngest player in the Top 20 Emirates ATP Ranking, defeated Pablo Carreno Busta 60 36 63 in his tournament debut on Tuesday  Playing first event since reaching 3R at Australian Open (l. to Goffin)  Opened year by reaching 7th career ATP World Tour SF at Brisbane (d. Cilic in QF, l. to Federer), ret. down 76(2) 22 in 2R at Sydney (l. to Muller) due to blisters  In 2015, Austrian improved his year-end Emirates ATP Ranking for 5th straight season and finished as youngest player in Top 20 Argentina Open Day 3 – Wednesday, February 10, 2016 Page 3 of 4 www.ATPWorldTour.com

 Achieved career-high No. 18 on August 10 after reaching SF at Kitzbühel  Captured 1st 3 ATP World Tour titles of career -- all on clay: Nice (d. L. Mayer 76 in 3rd), Umag (d. Sousa) and Gstaad (d. Goffin)  Won career-high 36 matches (previous-best was 22 in 2014)

[4] John Isner (USA) vs Dusan Lajovic (SRB) Isner Leads 1-0 15 Nice (France) Clay QF John Isner 7-6(3) 6-4

Isner FastFacts: 2016 Highlights: QF: Auckland (l Bautista Agut) YTD W-L: 4-2 (0-0 on clay) YTD Titles: 0 / Career Titles: 10 Date of Birth: April 26, 1985 Emirates ATP Ranking: 12 Buenos Aires W-L (Best Result): Debut

 The top ranked American is making his South America debut  Playing first event since reaching 4R at Australian Open (l. to Ferrer)  Opened season by reaching QF at Auckland (l. to Batista Agut in 3-sets)  Has career 49-44 record on clay with one title – 2013 Houston (d. Monaco in SF, d. Almagro)  In 2015, American finished at year-end best No. 11, as No. 1 American for 4th straight season, and in Top 20 for 6th year in a row  Owns a 10-10 record in ATP World Tour finals after winning 3rd straight Atlanta title (d. Baghdatis) and finishing as Washington runner-up (l. to No. 5 Nishikori). All 10 titles have been at ATP World Tour 250 events  Matched career-high with 45 wins (also in 2012) and surpassed 35 wins for 6th straight season

Lajovic FastFacts: 2016 Highlights: YTD W-L: 2-3 (1-1 on clay) YTD Titles: 0 / Career Titles: 0 Date of Birth: June 30, 1990 Emirates ATP Ranking: 79 Buenos Aires W-L (Best Result): 1-1 (2R in 2016)

 The 25-year-old opened with a 76(7) 63 win over Lucky Loser Facundo Arguello. He is playing here for the second time fell in 1R last year (l. to Gimeno-Traver) as a qualifier in his tournament debut  Last week fell in 1R at Quito (l. to Ramos-Vinolas)  Opened season with 1R loss at Brisbane (l. to Stepanek), fell in qualifying at Sydney (l. to Mahut in Q2) and reached 2R at Australian Open (l. to Bautista Agut)  In 2015, Serb finished in Top 100 of Emirates ATP Rankings for 2nd straight season  Earned career-high 17 tour-level wins, including 1R victory at Roland Garros (d. M. Gonzalez, l. to eventual champion Wawrinka)

Leonardo Mayer (ARG) vs [3] Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) First Meeting

Mayer FastFacts: 2016 Highlights: QF: Doha (l Djokovic) YTD W-L: 3-3 (1-0 on clay) YTD Titles: 0 / Career Titles: 1 Date of Birth: May 15, 1987 Emirates ATP Ranking: 37 Buenos Aires W-L (Best Result): 5-5 (2R in 2011, 13-16)

 The top ranked Argentine opened with a 26 63 63 win over countrymen Guido Pella on Monday to reach the 2R here for the fifth time. He is playing here for the 6th time and has a 5-5 tournament Argentina Open Day 3 – Wednesday, February 10, 2016 Page 4 of 4 www.ATPWorldTour.com

record. Also reached 2R in 2011 (l. to eventual champion Almagro), 2013 (l. to Ramos-Vinolas), 2014 (l. to Fognini) and 2015 (l. to Monaco)  The top ranked Argentine is one of six Argentines in the Top 100 Emirates ATP Rankings (No. 37 Mayer, No. 45 Delbonis, No. 55 Monaco, No. 71 Pella, No. 89 Schwartzman and No. 97 Bagnis)  The 28-year-old opened the year by reaching the QF at Doha (l. to eventual champion Djokovic), followed with 1R losses at Sydney (l. to Gabashvili) and Australian Open (l. to Thiem)  In 2015, Argentine won 28 matches and finished in Top 35 of Emirates ATP Rankings for 2nd straight season  Led Argentina to SF with 2 singles wins over Brazil and 1 singles & 1 doubles win over Serbia. In 1R, won longest Davis Cup singles match ever by beating Souza 15-13 in 5th on 11th MP (6 hours, 43 minutes)  In Davis Cup SF, won both of his matches (d. Darcis, w/Berlocq d. Bemelmans/Darcis), but Argentina lost to Belgium 3-2  Sustained torn right adductor during Davis Cup SF  Career 1-23 record vs Top 10 opponents (0-1 in 2016), has lost last seven since lone win over No. 7 in finals at 2014 Hamburg

Tsonga FastFacts: 2016 Highlights: SF: Auckland (l Bautista Agut) YTD W-L: 5-2 (0-0 on clay) YTD Titles: 0 / Career Titles: 12 Date of Birth: April 17, 1985 Emirates 2016 ATP Ranking: 9 Buenos Aires W-L (Best Result): Debut

 The 30-year-old is making his South America debut  The top ranked Frenchman is one of six Frenchmen ranked in the Top 30 Emirates ATP Rankings (joined by: No. 10 Gasquet, No. 15 Simon, No. 18 Monfils, No. 21 Paire and No. 28 Chardy)  Opened season by reaching the SF at Auckland (l. to Bautista Agut) and reached 4R at Australian Open (l.to Nishikori)  In 2015, Frenchman finished in Top 10 for 6th time in 8 seasons (all but 2010 and 2014). Also won 30+ matches and ended in Top 15 for 8th straight season  Missed 1st 11 weeks with an arm injury before season debut at ATP Masters 1000 Miami in March  Career 69-38 record on clay and looking to reach first final