ERSTE BANK OPEN: DAY 2 MEDIA NOTES Tuesday, October 20, 2015
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ERSTE BANK OPEN: DAY 2 MEDIA NOTES Tuesday, October 20, 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 FORMER FINALISTS FERRER AND MONFILS JOIN THIEM IN TUESDAY ACTION DAY 2 PREVIEW: Opening-round action heats up at the Erste Bank Open on Tuesday with four of the Top 6 seeds playing on Centre Court. Leading off is a doubles match featuring Austrians Alexander Peya, Andreas Haider-Maurer and Oliver Marach, followed by a big-serving battle between 6-foot-10 John Isner and 6-foot-8 Kenny De Schepper. Fan favorite and 2008 finalist Gael Monfils is third up against Thomaz Bellucci. Monfils is playing his first match since retiring in the US Open first round on Aug. 31 with a lower back injury. Following Monfils vs. Bellucci, top- ranked Austrian Dominic Thiem returns to the scene of his first ATP World Tour win four years ago over legendary countryman Thomas Muster. Thiem takes on Jerzy Janowicz not before 6:30 pm. In the final match of the day, No. 1 seed and 2014 finalist David Ferrer faces fellow Spaniard Albert Ramos-Viñolas, who last week upset Roger Federer at ATP Masters 1000 Shanghai for the biggest win of his career. Ferrer and Thiem are among the title leaders on tour this season. 2015 ATP WORLD TOUR TITLE LEADERS Rank Player Titles W-L 1 Novak Djokovic 9 73-5 2 Roger Federer 5 53-9 T3 Andy Murray 4 64-11 T3 Stan Wawrinka 4 50-14 T3 David Ferrer 4 47-12 T6 Kei Nishikori 3 52-13 T6 Rafael Nadal 3 52-17 T6 Dominic Thiem 3 34-25 T9 Richard Gasquet 2 36-14 T9 Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 2 28-22 INFOSYS ATP SCORES & STATS: No. 1 seed David Ferrer, who meets Albert Ramos-Viñolas in Vienna on Tuesday, leads all players on the ATP World Tour in return games won this season. Coming into the week, Ferrer has won 35% of the return games in his 57 matches (not including Davis Cup). Please note that percentages are rounded to the nearest whole number and ties favor the player who has competed in more ATP World Tour matches this season. For Infosys ATP Scores & Stats leaderboards of all 10 categories, please visit ATPWorldTour.com. Rank Player Pct. Games Won Total Games Matches 1 David Ferrer 35 236 675 57 2 Novak Djokovic 34 329 958 77 3 Rafael Nadal 32 260 814 68 4 Andy Murray 31 276 889 69 5 Gilles Simon 30 227 754 59 Erste Bank Open Day 2 – Tuesday, October 20, 2015 Page 2 of 6 www.ATPWorldTour.com EMIRATES ATP RACE TO LONDON UPDATE: With three weeks 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 Tuesday, 945 race points separate No. 8 David Ferrer and No. 9 Jo- Wilfried Tsonga, who could each gain 500 points by winning the Vienna title. ATP World Tour 250 events in Moscow and Stockholm are also being held 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 2R QF 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 4,280 4,280 4,340 4,440 7 Kei Nishikori 3,945 -------------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- 8 David Ferrer 3,445 Vienna 3,490 3,535 3,625 3,745 3,945 9 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 2,500 Vienna 2,545 2,590 2,680 2,800 3,000 10 Richard Gasquet 2,445 Stockholm 2,445 2,490 2,535 2,595 2,695 11 Kevin Anderson 2,385 Vienna 2,385 2,385 2,475 2,595 2,795 12 John Isner 2,315 Vienna 2,315 2,315 2,405 2,525 2,725 13 Marin Cilic 2,190 Moscow 2,190 2,190 2,235 2,295 2,395 14 Milos Raonic 2,170 -------------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- 15 Gilles Simon 2,055 Stockholm 2,055 2,055 2,055 2,115 2,215 16 Feliciano Lopez 1,680 -------------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- 17 David Goffin 1,670 -------------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- 18 Bernard Tomic 1,630 Stockholm 1,630 1,630 1,675 1,735 1,835 19 Dominic Thiem 1,555 Vienna 1,555 1,600 1,690 1,810 2,010 20 Fabio Fognini 1,460 Vienna 1,460 1,505 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. Six of the Top 11 teams in the race are competing at the Erste Bank Open, including No. 7 Marcin Matkowski/Nenad Zimonjic and No. 8 Rohan Bopanna/Florin Mergea. The race within this race, however, 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 Vienna title. Race Team Points QF SF F W 1 Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan* 6,285 ------- ------- ------- ------- 2 Jean-Julien Rojer/Horia Tecau* 5,950 6,040 6,130 6,250 6,450 3 Ivan Dodig/Marcelo Melo* 5,140 ------- ------- ------- ------- 4 Jamie Murray/John Peers* 5,125 5,125 5,215 5,335 5,555 5 Simone Bolelli/Fabio Fognini* 4,895 ------- ------- ------- ------- 6 Pierre-Hugues Herbert/Nicolas Mahut* 4,765 ------- ------- ------- ------- 7 Marcin Matkowski/Nenad Zimonjic 4,110 4,200 4,290 4,410 4,610 8 Rohan Bopanna/Florin Mergea 3,455 3,545 3,635 3,755 3,955 9 Vasek Pospisil/Jack Sock 2,820 ------- ------- ------- ------- 10 Alexander Peya/Bruno Soares 2,740 2,830 2,920 3,040 3,240 11 Juan Sebastian Cabal/Robert Farah 2,690 2,735 2,825 2,945 3,145 * Qualified Erste Bank Open Day 2 – Tuesday, October 20, 2015 Page 3 of 6 www.ATPWorldTour.com DAY 2 FEDEX ATP HEAD 2 HEADS – In Order of Play CENTRE COURT [Q] Kenny De Schepper (FRA) vs [3] John Isner (USA) First Meeting De Schepper 2015 FastFacts YTD W-L: 4-9 (2-4 on hard) YTD Titles: 0 / Career Titles: 0 Date of Birth: May 29, 1987 Emirates ATP Ranking: 123 Vienna W-L (Best Result): Main Draw Debut • Left-handed Frenchman qualified with 63 63 win over Chiudinelli and 63 62 win over Bemelmans • At Wimbledon, qualified with 5-set win over countryman Robert and followed with comeback from 2 sets down to beat Smith in 1R (l. to Gasquet in 2R) • Tied for 2nd on tour by qualifying for 6 events in 2015, also doing so at Auckland, Estoril, Kitzbühel and Metz • Owns a 13-11 record this season at Challengers, highlighted by back-to-back SFs at Orleans, FRA (l. to Struff) and Mons, BEL (l. to Becker in 3 TBs) Isner 2015 FastFacts W: Atlanta (d. Baghdatis); F: Washington (l. to Nishikori); SF (2): ATP Masters 1000 Miami (l. to Djokovic); Nice (l. to Thiem); QF (5): Memphis (l. to Querrey); ATP Masters 1000 Madrid (l. to Berdych); London/Queen's Club (l. to Troicki); ATP Masters 1000 Montréal (l. to Chardy); Beijing (l. to Djokovic) YTD W-L: 41-22 (27-13 on hard) YTD Titles: 1 / Career Titles: 10 Date of Birth: April 26, 1985 Emirates ATP Ranking: 13 Vienna W-L (Best Result): 0-1 (2009 1st Round) • No. 1 American won 3rd straight Atlanta title (d. Baghdatis) and reached Washington final (l. to No. 5 Nishikori) to improve career ATP World Tour finals record to 10-10 • Eclipsed 40 wins for 2nd time in career (45-21 in 2012) • Started 5-6 before defeating No. 6 Raonic and No. 5 Nishikori en route to ATP Masters 1000 Miami SF (l. to No. 1 Djokovic) • Comes in No. 2 in aces (1,130), 1st serve pct. (70%) and service games won (94%) and No. 3 in 1st serve pts. won (80%) and break pts. saved (74%) • Reached 3R at Wimbledon (l. to Cilic 12-10 in 5th), matching best result at All England Club (also 2014) • Other Grand Slam results: Australian Open 3R (l. to Muller), Roland Garros 2R (l. to Chardy), US Open 4R (l. to No. 2 Federer) • Fell to No. 111 Ward 15-13 in 5th and No. 5 Murray during Davis Cup 1R (GBR d. USA 3-2) • Lost last 9 matches vs. Top 10 opponents since defeating No. 5 Nishikori in Miami QF (16-44 overall) Thomaz Bellucci (BRA) vs [6] Gael Monfils (FRA) Monfils Leads 2-0 09 Acapulco (Mexico) Clay R16 Gael Monfils 7-6(4) 6-7(5) 6-1 12 Australian Open (Australia) Hard R64 Gael Monfils 2-6 6-0 6-4 6-2 Bellucci 2015 FastFacts W: Geneva (d.