CHENGDU OPEN: DAY 2 MEDIA NOTES Tuesday, September 27, 2016 Sichuan International Tennis Center, Chengdu, China | September 26-October 2, 2016 Draw: S-28, D-16 | Prize Money: $840,915 | Surface: Outdoor Hard ATP World Tour Info Tournament Info ATP PR & Marketing www.ATPWorldTour.com www.ChengduOpenTennis.com Richard Evans: [email protected] Twitter: @ATPWorldTour Twitter: @ChengduOpen Karina Duckitt: [email protected] Facebook: @ATPWorldTour Facebook: @ChengduOpenTennis Press Room: +86 28 8589 3129 HISTORY-MAKING DI WU SEEKS ELUSIVE ATP WORLD TOUR WIN DAY 2 PREVIEW: Di Wu etched his name in the record books on January 31 when he upset top seed and current World No. 54 Kyle Edmund in Maui, USA to become the first ATP Challenger Tour singles champion from China. The Chinese No. 2 hopes to break through again at the Chengdu Open on Tuesday when he meets Konstantin Kravchuk. Wu is 0-13 lifetime in ATP World Tour and Grand Slam main draw matches, coming closest to his first victory when he held a match point against Marin Cilic at 2015 ATP Masters 1000 Shanghai. All 17 of Wu’s tour-level wins have come as a member of China’s Davis Cup team. Also in first-round action is Czech qualifier Radek Stepanek, who turns 38 on November 27. By defeating Japanese players Takuto Niki and Go Soeda over the weekend, Stepanek qualified for the eighth time on tour in 2016, tied for the lead with Shenzhen Open qualifier Mischa Zverev. Stepanek won his main draw opener at five of the previous seven tournaments in which he qualified. His opponent Tuesday is Yen-Hsun Lu, who extended his own record with his 23rd and 24th Challenger titles at grass-court events in June. Among the other matches scheduled for Stadium Court is the first meeting between World No. 36 Marcos Baghdatis and World No. 39 Pablo Carreño Busta. Both are coming off strong showings at the US Open, where Baghdatis reached the fourth round of a major for the first time since 2009. As for Carreño Busta, the 2013 ATP World Tour Most Improved Player of the Year is again a contender for the award. He’s reached the first seven tour-level finals of his career in 2016 (3 singles, 4 doubles), highlighted by the Winston- Salem singles title and a US Open runner-up finish with countryman Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in doubles. Taking to the outer courts are No. 5 seed Albert Ramos-Viñolas, No. 8 seed Paolo Lorenzi and 17-year- old wild card Casper Ruud. Ramos-Viñolas (Båstad) and Lorenzi (Kitzbühel) won the first tour-level titles of their respective careers in July, while Ruud is making his ATP World Tour debut after winning the Seville, ESP Challenger title on September 10. In doubles, No. 1 seeds Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram continue their quest for qualification at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals against Yecong He and Fajing Sun. EMIRATES ATP DOUBLES RACE TO LONDON Position Team Points Barclays ATP World Tour Finals 1 Pierre-Hugues Herbert/Nicolas Mahut* 7,075 1-2: 2015 Round Robin 2 Jamie Murray/Bruno Soares* 6,800 Never Qualified as a Team 3 Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan* 5,530 35-20: 4-time Champions 4 Ivan Dodig/Marcelo Melo 4,130 8-5: 2014 Finalists 5 Feliciano Lopez/Marc Lopez* 3,990 Never Qualified as a Team 6 Treat Huey/Max Mirnyi 3,065 Never Qualified as a Team 7 Raven Klaasen/Rajeev Ram 3,050 Never Qualified as a Team 8 Henri Kontinen/John Peers 2,710 Never Qualified as a Team 12 Juan Sebastian Cabal/Robert Farah 2,050 Never Qualified as a Team * Qualified for Barclays ATP World Tour Finals (4 spots remain) Bold: Team in Chengdu Open draw Chengdu Open Day 2 – Tuesday, September 27, 2016 Page 2 of 5 www.ATPWorldTour.com FEDEX ATP HEAD 2 HEADS: DAY 2 FIRST-ROUND SINGLES MATCHES STADIUM COURT [Q] Radek Stepanek (CZE) vs Yen-Hsun Lu (TPE) Stepanek Leads 2-0 04 London/Queen's Club (Great Britain) Grass R16 Radek Stepanek 6-2 6-4 08 San Jose (U.S.A.) Hard QF Radek Stepanek 6-2 7-6(5) Stepanek 2016 FastFacts QF: Stuttgart (l. to Kohlschreiber) YTD W-L: 9-9 (4-4 on hard) YTD Titles: 0 / Career Titles: 5 Date of Birth: November 27, 1978 Emirates ATP Ranking: 105 • Tied with M. Zverev for ATP World Tour lead by qualifying for 8 tour-level events in 2016 • Qualified and won 1+ main draw match at Aus. Open (l. to No. 4 Wawrinka in 2R), Barcelona (l. to Kuznetsov in 3R), Madrid (l. to No, 2 Murray in 2R), Stuttgart (d. Cilic, l. to Kohlschreiber in QF) and Toronto (l. to No. 1 Djokovic in 3R) • Also qualified at Roland Garros (l. to No. 2 Murray in 1R after leading by 2 sets) and US Open (l. to Simon in 1R) • Oldest player to win a tour-level singles match since 38-year-old El Aynaoui at 2010 Doha • Advanced to 5th Grand Slam doubles final at Aus. Open w/Nestor (d. Cuevas/Granollers, l. to J. Murray/Soares) • Stepanek, 37, and Nestor, 43, became oldest team to reach a Grand Slam men’s doubles final in Open Era • Improved to 16-2 in Davis Cup doubles matches w/Berdych, beating Kohlschreiber/Petzschner in 1R tie Lu 2016 FastFacts QF: Winston-Salem (l. to Bautista Agut) YTD W-L: 6-7 (5-5 on hard) YTD Titles: 0 / Career Titles: 0 Date of Birth: August 14, 1983 Emirates ATP Ranking: 63 • Advanced to QF-or-better for 4th straight year at Winston-Salem (l. to Bautista Agut in QF) • Fell to No. 1 Djokovic in Roland Garros 1R, No. 2 Murray in Wimbledon 2R and Karlovic in US Open 1R • Also advanced to 2R at Washington (l. to Monfils) and ATP Masters 1000 Toronto (d. A. Zverev, l. to No. 7 Raonic) • Extended all-time record with 23rd and 24th Challenger titles at Surbiton, GBR (d. Copil) and Ilkley, GBR (d. Millot) • Reached Challenger finals at Seoul, KOR (l. to Stakhovsky after holding 7 MPs) and Manchester, GBR (l. to Brown) • Underwent right elbow surgery on January 18 and did not make season debut until week of May 9 [7] Joao Sousa (POR) vs Karen Khachanov (RUS) First Meeting Sousa 2016 FastFacts SF: Nice (l. to A. Zverev); QF (4): ATP Masters 1000 Madrid (l. to Nadal); Båstad (l. to Elias); Umag (l. to An. Martin); St. Petersburg (l. to Bautista Agut) YTD W-L: 23-28 (9-15 on hard) YTD Titles: 0 / Career Titles: 2 Date of Birth: March 30, 1989 Emirates ATP Ranking: 34 • Advanced to 1st ATP Masters 1000 QF at Madrid (d. Mahut, Granollers and Sock; l. to No. 5 Nadal) • Achieved career-high No. 28 in Emirates ATP Rankings on May 16 • Defeated No. 20 Anderson en route to Nice SF (l. to A. Zverev in 3 sets), but did not beat any Top 100 players to reach QFs at Båstad (l. to Elias), Umag (l. to An. Martin in 3 sets) and St. Petersburg (l. to Bautista Agut in 3 sets) • Reached 3R at Australian Open (l. to No. 2 Murray in 4 sets), Wimbledon (l. to Vesely) and US Open (l. to Dimitrov) • Lost 21st straight match vs. Top 10 opponent in Halle 1R vs. No. 7 Thiem (1-23 overall) • Fell to Fognini in Auckland 1R after holding 2 MPs Chengdu Open Day 2 – Tuesday, September 27, 2016 Page 3 of 5 www.ATPWorldTour.com Khachanov 2016 FastFacts QF: Kitzbühel (l. to Lajovic) YTD W-L: 6-7 (1-3 on hard) YTD Titles: 0 / Career Titles: 0 Date of Birth: May 21, 1996 Emirates ATP Ranking: 101 • Advanced to 2nd ATP World Tour QF at Kitzbühel (d. Volandri and Kohlschreiber, l. to Lajovic) • Made winning Grand Slam main draw debut at US Open as Q (d. Fabbiano, l. to No. 7 Nishikori in 2R) • Qualified and advanced to 3R at Barcelona, saving 1 MP vs. Bedene, then beating Bautista Agut (l. to Dolgopolov) • Broke into Top 100 on June 6 and achieved career-high No. 81 in Emirates ATP Rankings on September 12 • Fell to countryman Donskoy in Båstad 1R 36 76(4) 63 after holding 2 MPs • Captured 2nd Challenger title at Samarkand, UZB (d. Ramirez Hidalgo, who is 18+ years older) • Reached Challenger final at Jonkoping, SWE (d. Krajinovic and Struff, l. to Golubev after holding 4 MPs) • Fell in qualifying at Australian Open, Montpellier, Marseille, Monte-Carlo, Roland Garros and Wimbledon Kevin Anderson (RSA) vs Jordan Thompson (AUS) First Meeting Anderson 2016 FastFacts QF (4): Auckland (l. to Sock); Nice (l. to Sousa); Nottingham (l. to Johnson); ATP Masters 1000 Toronto (l. to Wawrinka) YTD W-L: 12-16 (8-9 on hard) YTD Titles: 0 / Career Titles: 3 Date of Birth: May 18, 1986 Emirates ATP Ranking: 45 • Fell to 0-7 in ATP Masters 1000 QFs at Toronto (d. Troicki, No. 9 Thiem and Tomic; l. to No. 5 Wawrinka) • Reached 3R at ATP Masters 1000 Cincinnati (l. to No. 2 Murray) and US Open (l. to Tsonga) • As World No. 20, qualified at London/Queen’s Club (l. to Tomic in 1R) • Lost to Vesely in opening match as defending champion at Winston-Salem • In Wimbledon 1R, suffered 4th loss of career from 2 sets up after holding 1 MP vs. Istomin • Also held 2 MPs in Atlanta 2R vs. Opelka before falling 75 in 3rd • Retired from 2 matches and withdrew from 8 events due to left knee, right shoulder and ankle injuries • Dropped to No.