DUBAI DUTY FREE TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS: DAY 4 MEDIA NOTES Thursday, February 25, 2016 Dubai Duty Free Stadium, Dubai, United Arab Emirates | February 22 – February 27, 2016 Draw: S-32, D-16 | Prize Money: $2,674,445 | Surface: Outdoor Hard ATP Info: Tournament Info: ATP PR & Marketing: www.ATPWorldTour.com www.dubaidutyfreetennischampionships.com Nicola Arzani: [email protected] @ATPWorldTour @DDFTennis Richard Evans: [email protected] facebook.com/ATPWorldTour facebook.com/Dubai-Duty-Free-Tennis-Championships-146132218775533 SIX SEEDS, KYRGIOS AND BAGHDATIS IN QF ACTION DAY 4 PREVIEW: Six seeds, a young rising star and a former Top 10 player comprise the quarter-finals on Thursday at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships. The first quarter-final is a rematch of last Saturday’s semi-final at Marseille when the 20-year-old Aussie Nick Kyrgios defeated the No. 3 seed Tomas Berdych in straight sets en route to his first career ATP World Tour title. It was just his second tournament of the season and first since Australian Open, where he reached the third round and fell to Berdych in their first ever meeting. The World No. 7 Berdych is a two-time finalist (2013-14), has reached the semi-finals or better in four of the last five years, owns a 22- 9 career record in Dubai. Following is a first time meeting between the Spanish No. 4 seed Roberto Bautista Agut and former World No. 8 Marcos Baghdatis. The No. 3 Spaniard is off to a career best start, 16-3 record and is appearing in his fifth ATP World Tour quarter-final of the year. The 30-year-old Baghdatis is appearing in second quarter-final of the year and is looking to reach his first semi-final since last October in Stockholm (ret. vs. Berdych). The third quarter-final is the third meeting between the No. 2 seed Stan Wawrinka and No. 8 Philipp Kohlschreiber (Wawrinka leads 2-0). Both players are appearing in their third ATP World Tour quarter- final of the year (1-1 record each). The best result of the year for the Swiss No. 2 was claiming his 12th career title at Chennai, fourth overall and third straight (d. Coric). The best result for the top ranked German is the semi-finals at Rotterdam (d. Cilic in QF, l. to Monfils). Milestone winners Novak Djokovic and Feliciano Lopez meet for the eighth time in the last quarter- final of the day (Djokovic leads 7-0). On Wednesday the Top seed and World No. 1 Djokovic became the 12th player in the Open Era to record 700 singles victories with his 61 62 win over Malek Jaziri. He also became the third active player to accomplish the feat, joining Roger Federer (1,067) and Rafael Nadal (775). On Monday the No. 6 seed Lopez recorded his 400th tour-level win of his career as he defeated countryman Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 61 46 64. DAY 4 FEDEX ATP HEAD 2 HEADS – In Order of Play by Court Centre Court Nick Kyrgios (AUS) vs [3] Tomas Berdych (CZE) Series Tied 1-1 16 Australian Open (Australia) Hard R32 Tomas Berdych 6-3 6-4 1-6 6-4 16 Marseille (France) Hard SF Nick Kyrgios 6-4 6-2 Kyrgios FastFacts: 2016 Highlights: W: Marseille (d Cilic) YTD W-L: 8-1 (8-1 in hard) YTD Titles: 1 / Career Titles: 1 Date of Birth: April 27, 1995 Emirates ATP Ranking: 33 Dubai (Best Result-Year): 2-0 (QF 2016) Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships Day 4 – Thursday, February 25, 2016 Page 2 of 5 www.ATPWorldTour.com The 20-year-old opened with a 36 63 62 win over No. 7 seed Martin Klizan in his tournament debut on Monday and followed with a 63 62 Mikhail Kukushkin on Wednesday Appearing in 7th career ATP World Tour QF (3-3 record) and looking to reach 4th career SF (2-1 mark) On Sunday captured his 1st career ATP World Tour title at Marseille (d. No. 10 Gasquet in QF, No. 8 Berdych in SF, d. No. 12 Cilic). He did not drop serve all tournament, becoming the first first-time winner to do so in a tour-level event in the Open Era. Also became the first first-time winner and youngest winner on the ATP World Tour this season It was just his second tournament of the season and first since Australian Open, where he reached 3R (l. to No. 6 Berdych) Missed Rotterdam with an elbow injury In 2015, Aussie rose in year-end rankings for 3rd straight season, finishing at No. 30 after peaking at No. 25 on June 8 Reached 2nd career Grand Slam QF at Australian Open (also 2014 Wimbledon) Advanced to 1st career F at Estoril (l. to Gasquet) and 2nd SF at Kuala Lumpur (l. to F. Lopez) Saved 2 MPs to beat No. 2 Federer in ATP Masters 1000 Madrid 2R (l. to Isner in 3R) Advanced to 1st career final at Estoril (l. to Gasquet) and 2nd SF at Kuala Lumpur (l. to F. Lopez) Saved 2 MPs to beat No. 2 Federer in ATP Masters 1000 Madrid 2R (l. to Isner in 3R) Career 6-11 (2-1 in 2016) record vs Top 10 opponents Berdych FastFacts: 2016 Highlights: SF (2): Doha (l Djokovic); Marseille (l Kyrgios); QF: Australian Open (l Federer) YTD W-L: 11-3 (11-3 on hard) YTD Titles: 0 / Career Titles: 12 Date of Birth: September 17, 1985 Emirates ATP Ranking: 7 Dubai (Best Result-Year): 22-9 (RUP 2013-14) The 30-year-old knocked off Italian qualifier Thomas Fabbiano 62 62 to reach the QF on Wednesday. Opened with a 61 64 win over Joao Sousa on Tuesday. He is making his 10th appearance here and has a 22-9 tournament record. The two-time finalist – 2013 (d. Federer in SF, l. to Djokovic) and 2014 (l. to Federer), also reached the SF twice – 2011 (l. to eventual champion Djokovic) and 2015 (l. to Djokovic) Appearing in 4th ATP World Tour QF of the year (2-1 record) Last week reached 2nd ATP World Tour SF of the year at Marseille (l. to eventual champion Kyrgios) Opened season with SF appearance at Doha (l. to eventual champion Djokovic) before QF appearance at Australian Open (l. to No. 3 Federer) In 2015, Czech finished at No. 6 or No. 7 in Emirates ATP Rankings for 6th straight season Achieved career-high of No. 4 on May 18 after reaching ATP Masters 1000 Rome QF (l. to No. 2 Federer) Captured 11th and 12th titles of career at Shenzhen (d. Garcia-Lopez) and Stockholm (d. Sock) Reached QF or better at 15 of 22 events in 2015 and won 2 or more matches at 18 of 22 [4] Roberto Bautista Agut (ESP) vs Marcos Baghdatis (CYP) First Meeting Bautista Agut FastFacts: 2016 Highlights: W (2): Auckland (d Sock); Sofia (d Troicki); QF (2): Chennai (l Coric); Rotterdam (l Klizan) YTD W-L: 16-3 (16-3 on hard) YTD Titles: 2 / Career Titles: 4 Date of Birth: April 14, 1988 Emirates ATP Ranking: 18 Dubai (Best Result-Year): 5-3 (QF 2016) The 27-year-old advanced to the QF here for the first time with a 60 61 win over Hyeon Chung on Wednesday. Opened with a 62 64 win over Simone Bolelli on Tuesday. He is playing here for the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships Day 4 – Thursday, February 25, 2016 Page 3 of 5 www.ATPWorldTour.com fourth straight year (5-3 record) and had fallen in the 2R on three previous – 2013 (l. to eventual champion Djokovic), 2014 (l. to Djokovic) and 2015 (l. to Gasquet) Appearing in his 5th ATP World Tour QF of the year (2-2 mark) The No. 3 Spaniard (behind No. 5 Nadal, No. 8 Ferrer) captured his second title of the year and fourth overall at Sofia (d. Troicki). Has a 16-3 match record, his best career start. Reached QF two weeks ago at Rotterdam (l. to eventual champion Klizan) In opening month of season, lost in QFs in Chennai (after bye) to Borna Coric in third set TB and followed with third career ATP World Tour title in Auckland (d. No. 10 Tsonga in SF, Sock in F). Then reached personal-best 4R at Australian Open (l. to No. 6 Berdych in five sets) In 2015, Spaniard finished in Top 25 of Emirates ATP Rankings for 2nd straight season and Top 100 for 4th straight Baghdatis FastFacts: 2016 Highlights: QF: Montpellier (l Gasquet) YTD W-L: 5-3 (5-3 on hard) YTD Titles: 0 / Career Titles: 4 Date of Birth: June 17, 1985 Emirates ATP Ranking: 57 Dubai (Best Result-Year): 6-6 (SF 2010) The 30-year-old opened with a 76(2) 62 win over No. 5 seed Viktor Troicki and followed with a 64 62 win over Vasek Pospisil on Wednesday. He is making his 7th appearance here and has a 6-6 tournament record. Best result was SF in 2010 (l. to eventual champion Djokovic) Appearing in 2nd ATP World Tour QF of the year. Reached QF at Montpellier (l. to eventual champion Gasquet). It was his first ATP World Tour QF since last October in Stockholm where he advanced to semi-finals (ret. vs. Berdych) Fell in 2R at Rotterdam (l. to Klizan) and 1R Australian Open (l. to No. 10 Tsonga in 4-sets) In 2015, Cypriot enjoyed 11th straight finish in Top 100 of Emirates ATP Rankings at No. 46 Fell to 4-8 in career ATP World Tour-level finals at Atlanta (l.