KONZUM CROATIA OPEN UMAG: PREVIEW & DAY 1 MEDIA NOTES Monday, July 18, 2016 ATP Stadion, Umag, Croatia | July 18 – 24, 2016 Draw: S-28, D-16 | Prize Money: €520,070 | Surface: Clay ATP Info. Tournament Info: ATP PR & Marketing: www.ATPWorldTour.com www.croatiaopen.hr Stephanie Natal: [email protected] @ATPWorldTour @CroatiaOpenUmag Press Room: +385 52 741 452 facebook.com/ATPWorldTour facebook.com/AtpCroatiaOpenUmag KONZUM CROATIA OPEN UMAG TALKING POINTS TOURNAMENT PREVIEW: The tournament features eight players in the Top 50 Emirates ATP Rankings, led by top seed and World No. 20 Pablo Cuevas, who captured the title two years ago. The other seeds are: Joao Sousa, Jeremy Chardy, Fabio Fognini, Nicolas Almagro, Pablo Carreno Busta, Martin Klizan and Jiri Vesely. Cuevas is the only former winner in the draw. Sousa (2015) and Fognini (2013) are former finalists. Cuevas Top Seed: Top seed Cuevas, who won the title two years ago as a qualifier (d. Robredo) ranked No. 60, is making his fourth tournament appearance (7-2 record). In 2009-10, he lost in the 2R. He reached his career-best fourth ATP World Tour final of the season (2-2) on Sunday in Hamburg (l. to Klizan). The 30-year-old Uruguayan is putting together his best season on the ATP World Tour, winning back-to-back titles in Rio de Janeiro (d. Pella) and Sao Paulo (d. Carreno Busta) in February. He also reached his first grass court final in Nottingham (l. to Johnson). He is ranked a career-high No. 20. Portugal’s Best: No. 2 seed Sousa, who reached the final last year (l. to Thiem), achieved a career- high ranking of No. 28 on May 16. He is the highest-ranked Portuguese player in the history of the Emirates ATP Rankings. After a 5-13 start through April, Sousa has compiled a 13-9 match record, highlighted by the semi-finals in Nice (l. to A. Zverev) and quarter-finals at ATP Masters 1000 Madrid (l. to Nadal) and Bastad (l. to Elias). He is ranked No. 32 this week. Jiri Back on Clay: No. 8 seed Vesely is playing in his first tour level clay court tournament since Roland Garros where he lost in the 2R (l. to Almagro). The 22-year-old Czech Republic native compiled an 8-5 match record on clay after a slow start (1-7) on hard courts in the first three months of the year. He is one of only four players (Lopez, Murray, Querrey) to beat World No.1 Djokovic this season. He defeated Djokovic in the 2R at ATP Masters 1000 Monte-Carlo. This is Vesely’s first tournament since reaching the 4R at Wimbledon (d. No. 8 Thiem in 2R, l. to Berdych in five sets). Klizan Regaining Old Form: No. 7 seed Klizan remained perfect in ATP World Tour finals after defeating Cuevas on Sunday in Hamburg. The left-handed Slovakian is 5-0 in ATP World Tour finals. This season Klizan has been slowed by a right foot injury, causing him to miss 10 weeks of action. In February, he advanced to the semi-finals in Sofia (l. to Troicki) and the following week he captured the biggest title of his career at the 500 level tournament in Rotterdam (d. Monfils). Local Wild Cards: The three wild cards in the main draw went to Croats Franko Skugor (No. 176), Nikola Mektic (No. 292) and Nino Serdarusic (No. 569). Skugor reached the 2R in 2010 while Mektic and Serdarusic are making their first main draw appearance in Umag. The last Croat to win the Umag title was Marin Cilic in 2012. Day 1 Preview: There are two main draw singles matches scheduled on Monday. Serbian qualifier Nikola Cacic opens the tournament in a first-time meeting on the ATP World Tour with British No. 3 Aljaz Bedene, who turns 27 years old on Monday. The 25-year-old Cacic is looking for his first career tour-level win. The next match is another first-time meeting between Argentine Leonardo Mayer and Croatian wild card Mektic. Two months ago the 27-year-old Mektic earned his first tour-level win at Marrakech (d. El Amrani in 1R, l. to Vesely in 2R) as a qualifier. Konzum Croatia Open Umag Day 1 – Monday, July 18, 2016 Page 2 of 5 www.ATPWorldTour.com EMIRATES ATP RANKING POINTS AND PRIZE MONEY Konzum Croatia Open Umag W F SF QF R16 R32 SINGLES RANKING POINTS 250 150 90 45 20* 0 SINGLES PRIZE MONEY (€) 82,450 43,430 23,525 13,400 7,900 4,680 DOUBLES RANKING POINTS 250 150 90 45 0 — DOUBLES PRIZE MONEY (€) 25,070 13,170 7,140 4,080 2,390 — * Singles players who receive first-round byes and lose in the second round earn 0 points. WHO TO WATCH THIS WEEK SINGLES: SEED PLAYER RECORD BEST FINISH 1. Pablo Cuevas (URU) 7-2 WINNER 2014 2. Joao Sousa (POR) 4-3 RUP 2015 3. Jeremy Chardy (FRA) DEBUT __ 4. Fabio Fognini (ITA) 15-8 RUP 2013 5. Nicolas Almagro (ESP) 2-2 2R 2004, ‘09 6. Pablo Carreno Busta (ESP) 1-2 QF 2014 7. Martin Klizan (SVK) 4-4 QF 2013 8. Jiri Vesely (CZE) 0-3 1R 2013-15 WILDCARDS (3): YOUNGEST: Nikola Mektic (CRO) Nino Serdarusic (CRO) – 19 years, 7 months Nino Serdarusic (CRO) Franko Skugor (CRO) OLDEST: Andre Ghem (BRA) – 34 years, 1 month QUALIFIERS (4): Nikola Cacic (SRB) TOP COUNTRY BREAKDOWN: Andre Ghem (BRA) Spain (4), Argentina (3), Croatia (3), Italy (3), Michael Linzer (AUT) Portugal (2), Serbia (2), Slovakia (2) Enrique Lopez-Perez (ESP) Countries in total: 16 DOUBLES: SEED PLAYER BEST FINISH 1. Colin Fleming / Mariusz Fyrstenberg TEAM DEBUT 2. Nicholas Monroe / Artem Sitak TEAM DEBUT 3. Andrej Martin / Hans Podlipnik Castillo TEAM DEBUT 4. Nikola Mektic / Antanio Sancic TEAM DEBUT Konzum Croatia Open Umag Day 1 – Monday, July 18, 2016 Page 3 of 5 www.ATPWorldTour.com PAST FINALISTS SINGLES (Since 2005): YEAR CHAMPION RUNNER-UP SCORE 2015 Dominic Thiem Joao Sousa 6-4, 6-1 2014 Pablo Cuevas Tommy Robredo 6-3, 6-4 2013 Tommy Robredo Fabio Fognini 6-0,6-3 2012 Marin Cilic Marcel Granollers 6-4, 6-2 2011 Alexandr Dolgopolov Marin Cilic 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 2010 Juan Carlos Ferrero Potito Starace 6-4, 6-4 2009 Nikolay Davydenko Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-3, 6-0 2008 Fernando Verdasco Igor Andreev 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(4) 2007 Carlos Moya Andrei Pavel 6-4, 6-2 2006 Stan Wawrinka Novak Djokovic 6-6 ret. 2005 Guillermo Coria Carlos Moya 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 BOLD: Players in 2016 singles draw DOUBLES CHAMPIONS (Since 2005): YEAR CHAMPION RUNNER-UP SCORE 2015 Maximo Gonzalez / Andre Sa Mariusz Fyrstenberg / Santiago Gonzalez 4-6, 6-3.[10-5] 2014 Frantisek Cermak / Lukas Rosol Dusan Lajovic / Franko Skugor 6-4, 7-6 (5) 2013 Martin Klizan / David Marrero Nicholas Monroe / Simon Stadler 6-1, 5-7, [10-7] 2012 David Marrero / Fernando Verdasco Marcel Granollers / Marc Lopez 6-3, 7-6(4) 2011 Simone Bolelli / Fabio Fognini Marin Cilic / Lovro Zovko 6-3, 5-7, [10-7] 2010 Leos Friedl / Filip Polasek Frantisek Cermak / Michal Mertinak 6-3, 7-6(7) 2009 Frantisek Cermak / Michal Mertinak Johan Brunstrom / Jean-Julien Rojer 6-4, 6-4 2008 Michal Mertinak / Petr Pala Carlos Berlocq / Fabio Fognini 2-6, 6-3, [10-5] 2007 Lukas Dlouhy / Michal Mertinak Jaroslav Levinsky / David Skoch 6-1, 6-1 2006 Jaroslav Levinsky / David Skoch Guillermo Garcia Lopez / Albert Portas 6-4, 6-4 2005 Jiri Novak / Petr Pala Michal Mertinak / David Skoch 6-3, 6-3 FEDEX ATP HEAD 2 HEADS: DAY 1 FIRST-ROUND MATCHES Centre Court Aljaz Bedene (GBR) vs [Q] Nikola Cacic (SRB) First ATP Meeting Other meeting: 13 Trnava CH (Slovakia) Clay R32 Aljaz Bedene 3-6 6-2 6-3 Bedene 2016 FastFacts: SF: Chennai (l Coric) YTD W-L: 11-16 (4-7 on clay) YTD Titles: 0 / Career Titles: 0 Konzum Croatia Open Umag Day 1 – Monday, July 18, 2016 Page 4 of 5 www.ATPWorldTour.com Date of Birth: July 18, 1989 Emirates ATP Ranking: 69 Umag W-L (Best Result-Year): 3-3 (QF 2013) • Tournament Note: The 27-year-old British No. 3 reached QF in 2013 (l. to eventual champion Robredo) • Advanced to Grand Slam 3R for 1st time at Roland Garros (d. Carreño Busta in 5 sets, l. to No. 1 Djokovic) • Reached QF-or-better for 4th straight year at Chennai, falling in SF (l. to Coric) • Won 1R matches at Acapulco, Miami, Monte-Carlo, ’s-Hertogenbosch and London/Queen’s Club • Fell to 11-2 in Challenger finals with loss to Granollers in Irving, USA championship match • Held 5 MPs vs. Querrey in Auckland 1R before retiring in 3rd set due to leg injury • Also held 1 MP vs. Khachanov in Barcelona 1R before falling 76 in 3rd • Retired in ATP Masters 1000 Miami 2R vs. Bautista Agut and withdrew from Marrakech due to right wrist injury Cacic 2016 FastFacts: YTD W-L: 0-0 (0-0 on clay) YTD Titles: 0 / Career Titles: 0 Date of Birth: December 7, 1990 Emirates ATP Ranking: 761 Umag W-L (Best Result-Year): DEBUT • Tournament Note: The 25-year-old Serb qualified for first tour-level main draw with a 63 62 win over Michal Konecny in Q2 and 4-1 ret. win over Antal Van Der Duim in Q1 • Making ATP World Tour main draw debut • Has a career 151-120 (8-6 in 2016) record in Futures with four titles in eight finals.