ERSTE BANK OPEN: DAY 5 MEDIA NOTES Friday, October 23, 2015
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ERSTE BANK OPEN: DAY 5 MEDIA NOTES Friday, October 23, 2015 Wiener Stadthalle, Vienna, Austria | October 19-25, 2015 Draw: S-32, D-16 | Prize Money: €1,745,040 | Surface: Indoor Hard ATP Info: Tournament Info: ATP PR & Marketing: www.ATPWorldTour.com www.erstebank-open.com Martin Dagahs: [email protected] @ATPWorldTour facebook.com/ErsteBankOpenVienna Fabienne Benoit: [email protected] facebook.com/ATPWorldTour Press Room: +43 1 98100578 ANDERSON NEARS 1,000 ACES; FOGNINI SEEKS 1ST WIN OVER FERRER QUARTER-FINAL PREVIEW: Storylines abound in Friday’s Erste Bank Open semi-finals. No. 2 seed Kevin Anderson, who has already clinched a career-high 44 wins in 2015, could surpass 1,000 aces on the season against unseeded American Steve Johnson. The ATP World Tour’s ace leader, No. 7 seed Ivo Karlovic, meets a resurgent Ernests Gulbis, who is seeking his first semi- final appearance of the season. Also playing for his first semi in over a year is Lukas Rosol, who looks to build off his upset of No. 4 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga with another of No. 6 seed Gael Monfils. No. 1 seed David Ferrer takes an 8-0 FedEx Head 2 Head record (17-2 in sets) against No. 8 seed Fabio Fognini into their quarter-final match. The in-form Italian Fognini won the Australian Open doubles title with countryman Simone Bolelli and has posted strong singles results late in the season, just as his fiancée Flavia Pennetta is doing on the women’s tour. Fognini watched from Arthur Ashe Stadium as Pennetta captured the US Open title on Sept. 12, and earlier this week both Italians qualified for their respective year-end championships. FABIO AND FLAVIA: A MATCH ON AND OFF THE COURT IN 2015 2015 Statistic Fabio Fognini Flavia Pennetta Singles W-L 32-23 (.582) 27-17 (.614) Singles W-L since Aug. 31 11-3 (.786) 10-2 (.833) Singles W-L vs. Top 10 3-5 (.375) 4-5 (.444) Doubles W-L 29-16 (.644) 23-15 (.605) Grand Slam Title Australian Open Doubles US Open Singles Career-High Ranking No. 7 in Doubles on July 20 No. 6 in Singles on Sept. 28 World Group Play-off Clinched Italy’s Davis Cup win Clinched Italy’s Fed Cup win Year-End Championships* Barclays ATP World Tour Finals BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore * Fognini qualified in doubles; Pennetta qualified in singles INFOSYS ATP SCORES & STATS: No. 2 seed Kevin Anderson, who meets Steve Johnson on Friday, is 20 aces shy of 1,000 for the season. No. 3 seed John Isner and No. 7 seed Ivo Karlovic have already eclipsed 1,000 aces in 2015. If and when Anderson joins them, they will become the first trio in ATP World Tour history to hit 1,000 or more aces during the same season (Infosys ATP Scores & Stats have been tracked since 1991). Please note that the statistics below include first- round and second-round matches from this week’s events, but do not include Davis Cup matches. Rank Player Height Aces Matches Average 1 Ivo Karlovic 6’11” 1,321 58 23 2 John Isner 6’10” 1,162 63 18 3 Kevin Anderson 6’8” 980 65 15 4 Gilles Muller 6’4” 744 53 14 5 Milos Raonic 6’5” 743 47 16 Erste Bank Open Day 5 – Friday, October 23, 2015 Page 2 of 6 www.ATPWorldTour.com EMIRATES ATP RACE TO LONDON UPDATE: With 17 days remaining in the Emirates ATP Race to London, two spots are up for grabs at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals Nov. 15-22. The Top 8 players in the race on Nov. 9 will compete at the year-end championships. Six players have qualified so far: Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Roger Federer, Stan Wawrinka, Rafael Nadal and Tomas Berdych. As of Friday, 990 race points separate No. 8 David Ferrer and No. 9 Jo- Wilfried Tsonga, and Ferrer can widen the gap with each win in Vienna. ATP World Tour 250 events in Moscow and Stockholm are also taking place this week. A maximum of 1,500 points are at stake after the Erste Bank Open at an ATP World Tour 250 event in Valencia (Oct. 26-Nov. 1); an ATP World Tour 500 event in Basel (Oct. 26-Nov. 1); and ATP Masters 1000 Paris (Nov. 2-8). Race Player Points This Week SF F W 1 Novak Djokovic* 14,285 -------------- ------- ------- ------- 2 Andy Murray* 7,870 -------------- ------- ------- ------- 3 Roger Federer* 6,750 -------------- ------- ------- ------- 4 Stan Wawrinka* 6,140 -------------- ------- ------- ------- 5 Rafael Nadal* 4,330 -------------- ------- ------- ------- 6 Tomas Berdych* 4,280 Stockholm 4,280 4,340 4,440 7 Kei Nishikori 3,945 -------------- ------- ------- ------- 8 David Ferrer 3,535 Vienna 3,625 3,745 3,945 9 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 2,545 Vienna ------- ------- ------- 10 Richard Gasquet 2,490 Stockholm 2,535 2,595 2,695 11 Kevin Anderson 2,385 Vienna 2,475 2,595 2,795 12 John Isner 2,315 Vienna ------- ------- ------- 13 Marin Cilic 2,190 Moscow 2,235 2,295 2,395 14 Milos Raonic 2,170 -------------- ------- ------- ------- 15 Gilles Simon 2,055 Stockholm 2,055 2,115 2,215 16 Feliciano Lopez 1,680 -------------- ------- ------- ------- 17 David Goffin 1,670 -------------- ------- ------- ------- 18 Bernard Tomic 1,630 Stockholm ------- ------- ------- 19 Dominic Thiem 1,555 Vienna ------- ------- ------- 20 Fabio Fognini 1,505 Vienna 1,595 1,715 1,915 * Qualified EMIRATES ATP DOUBLES RACE TO LONDON UPDATE: The Top 8 teams in the Emirates ATP Doubles Race to London on Nov. 9 will qualify for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals Nov. 15-22. As is the case in singles, only two spots remain. In Vienna, the race within this race is between No. 1 Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan and No. 2 Jean-Julien Rojer/Horia Tecau. With Bob Bryan off this week, Wimbledon champions Rojer and Tecau can take over as No. 1 in the race by winning the Erste Bank Open title. In addition, Marcelo Melo has an opportunity to narrow the gap between him and the Bryans in the Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings. Following titles at Tokyo and ATP Masters 1000 Shanghai, World No. 3 Melo trails the Bryans by only 510 points in the rankings. He and Lukasz Kubot meet Rojer and Tecau in an important match for both teams in Vienna on Friday. Race Team Points SF F W 1 Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan* 6,285 ------- ------- ------- 2 Jean-Julien Rojer/Horia Tecau* 6,040 6,130 6,250 6,450 3 Jamie Murray/John Peers* 5,215 ------- 5,335 5,555 4 Ivan Dodig/Marcelo Melo* 5,140 ------- ------- ------- 5 Simone Bolelli/Fabio Fognini* 4,895 ------- ------- ------- 6 Pierre-Hugues Herbert/Nicolas Mahut* 4,765 ------- ------- ------- 7 Marcin Matkowski/Nenad Zimonjic 4,200 ------- ------- ------- 8 Rohan Bopanna/Florin Mergea 3,455 ------- ------- ------- * Qualified Erste Bank Open Day 5 – Friday, October 23, 2015 Page 3 of 6 www.ATPWorldTour.com DAY 5 FEDEX ATP HEAD 2 HEADS – In Order of Play CENTRE COURT [7] Ivo Karlovic (CRO) vs Ernests Gulbis (LAT) Gulbis Leads 1-0 10 Delray Beach (U.S.A.) Hard F Ernests Gulbis 6-2 6-3 Karlovic 2015 FastFacts W: Delray Beach (d. Young); F: Newport (l. to Ram); SF (3): Doha (l. to Ferrer); Halle (l. to Federer); Bogota (l. to Mannarino); QF (4): Acapulco (l. to Harrison); Bucharest (l. to Vesely); ’s-Hertogenbosch (l. to Haase); Kuala Lumpur (l. to Kyrgios) YTD W-L: 36-22 (24-15 on hard) YTD Titles: 1 / Career Titles: 6 Date of Birth: February 28, 1979 Emirates ATP Ranking: 20 Vienna W-L (Best Result): 4-3 (2014-15 Quarter-finalist) • No. 2 Croat defeated Seppi 76(5) 63 in 1R and Stakhovsky 64 75 in 2R • Set ATP ace record for a career on Oct. 8 by blasting 26 aces in Beijing 2R loss to Cuevas • His 10,316 career aces entering Vienna QF are 79 more than countryman Ivanisevic's 10,237 (statistics since 1991 and not including Davis Cup) • The 36-year-old is oldest player in Top 20 of Emirates ATP Rankings since Connors week of Feb. 19, 1990 • Captured 6th career title at Delray Beach (d. Young) to become oldest champion on ATP World Tour since 37-year-old Connors won 1989 Tel Aviv • 1 of only 4 players to defeat Djokovic in 2015 and only man to do it before a final (Doha QF) • Hit 45 aces in Halle QF win over No. 6 Berdych, most ever in best-of-3 sets (l. to No. 2 Federer in SF) • Posted best Grand Slam result of season by reaching Wimbledon 4R (l. to Murray in 4 sets) Gulbis 2015 FastFacts QF (2): Nice (l. to Thiem); ATP Masters 1000 Montréal (l. to Djokovic) YTD W-L: 10-22 (6-12 on hard) YTD Titles: 0 / Career Titles: 6 Date of Birth: August 30, 1988 Emirates ATP Ranking: 117 Vienna W-L (Best Result): 4-2 (2015 Quarter-finalist) • No. 1 Latvian ended 5-match losing streak by defeating [Q] Miedler 63 26 63, then [3] Isner 64 46 64 • Had not beaten a player ranked as high as No. 13 Isner since run to 2014 Roland Garros SF (d. No. 4 Federer in 4R and No. 6 Berdych in QF) • Seeking 1st SF appearance since Oct. 18, 2014 at Moscow (l. to Bautista Agut) • Enjoyed best week of season as a qualifier at ATP Masters 1000 Montréal • In Montréal, saved 2 MPs to beat Thiem in 1R en route to QF (l. to No. 1 Djokovic in 3 sets) • Also reached Nice QF (bye, d. Dolgopolov, l. to Thiem) • Started 1-11 and has suffered 3 losing streaks of 5-or-more matches this season • Lone Grand Slam win of season came at Roland Garros (d.