ARGENTINA OPEN: DAY 6 MEDIA NOTES Saturday, February 13, 2016 Buenos Aires Lawn Tennis Club, Buenos Aires, Argentina | February 8 - 14, 2016 Draw: S-28, D-16 | Prize Money: $598,865 | Surface: Clay ATP Info: Tournament Info: ATP PR & Marketing: www.ATPWorldTour.com www.argentinaopenatp.com Edward La Cava: [email protected] @ATPWorldTour @Argentinaopen Maria Garcia-Planas: [email protected] facebook.com/ATPWorldTour facebook.com/ATPbuenosaires250 Press Room: 5411 4775 8228 ALMAGRO AWAITS WINNER OF FERRER – CUEVAS, NADAL FACES THIEM SEMI-FINAL MATCHES: On Saturday at the Argentina Open Nicolas Almagro awaits the winner of the David Ferrer and Pablo Cuevas match which was suspended due to rain (Ferrer leads 4-2) in the first match of the day. Following, in the first semi-final, World No. 5 Rafael Nadal looks to become the sixth player in the Open Era to reach his 100th career ATP World Tour level final as he faces the Austrian No. 5 seed Dominic Thiem. The pair meet only once before with Nadal winning in straight sets in the second round for 2014 Roland Garros. The 22-year-old Thiem has an 1-10 career record vs Top 10 opponents (1-6 vs Top 5),. He has lost eight in a row against Top 10 foes since his lone win over No. 3 Wawrinka at ATP Masters 1000 Madrid in May 2014 as a qualifier. The 2011 champion, Almagro, advanced to the semi-finals here for the fourth year in a row after defeating Jo-Wilfried 62 75 for the first time in seven meetings. It also was his first win over a Top 10 opponent since defeating Nadal in Barcelona two years ago. The 30-year-old, former World No. 9, will be looking to reach 22nd career ATP World Tour final (12-9 record, all on clay) when he faces the winner of the Ferrer / Cuevas match. DAY 6 FEDEX ATP HEAD 2 HEADS – In Order of Play by Court COURT CENTRAL GUILLERMO VILAS [1] Rafael Nadal (ESP) vs [5] Dominic Thiem (AUT) Nadal Leads 1-0 14 Roland Garros (France) Clay R64 Rafael Nadal 6-2 6-2 6-3 Nadal FastFacts: 2016 Highlights: F: Doha (l Djokovic) YTD W-L: 6-2 (2-0 on clay) YTD Titles: 0 / Career Titles: 67 Date of Birth: June 3, 1986 Emirates ATP Ranking: 5 Buenos Aires W-L (Best Result): 8-1 (Winner in 2015) The 29-year-old advanced to the SF with a 76(3) 62 win over Paolo Lorenzi on Friday. Opened with a 64 64 win over Juan Monaco. Last year he defeated Monaco in the final to capture his 46th career clay court. He is playing here for the third time, also reached the QF in 2005 (l. to Gaudio), and has an 8-1 tournament record Attempting to reach his 100th career ATP World Tour final 56th on clay (67-32 record, 47-8 on clay). If he reaches the final he would be the 6th player in the Open Era to reach 100 career finals. He would join: Jimmy Connors 164 (109-55), Ivan Lendl 145 (94-51), Roger Federer 136 (88-48), John McEnroe 109 (77-32) and Vilas Guillermo 104 (62-42) The top ranked Spaniard is playing in his first tournament since falling in the 1R at Australian Open (l. to Verdasco in 5-sets). It was just the second time in his career that he had lost in the 1R of a major – 2013 Wimbledon (l. to Darcis) Opened year by reaching final at Doha (l. to Djokovic) In 2015, Spaniard finished in Top 5 of Emirates ATP Rankings for 11th straight season Argentina Open Day 6 – Saturday, February 13, 2016 Page 2 of 5 www.ATPWorldTour.com Captured titles at Buenos Aires (d. Monaco), Stuttgart (d. Troicki) and Hamburg (d. Fognini), while also reaching finals at ATP Masters 1000 Madrid (l. to No. 3 Murray), Beijing (l. to No. 1 Djokovic) and Basel (l. to No. 3 Federer) Thiem FastFacts: 2016 Highlights: SF: Brisbane (l Federer) YTD W-L: 7-3 (2-0 on clay) YTD Titles: 0 / Career Titles: 3 Date of Birth: September 3, 1993 Emirates ATP Ranking: 19 Buenos Aires W-L (Best Result): 3-0 (SF in 2016) The 22-year-old, who is the youngest player (22) in the Top 20 Emirates ATP Ranking reached the semi-finals here for the first time with a 64 62 win over Dusan Lajovic on Friday. He defeated Pablo Carreno Busta 60 36 63 in his tournament debut on Tuesday and followed with a 36 76(7) 63 win over Portuguese qualifier Gastao Elias on Wednesday Looking to reach 5th career ATP World Tour final (3-1 record, all on clay) Appearing in 8th career ATP World Tour SF (4-3 record) and second this year Playing first event since reaching 3R at Australian Open (l. to Goffin) Opened year by reaching SF at Brisbane (d. Cilic in QF, l. to Federer), ret. down 76(2) 22 in 2R at Sydney (l. to Muller) due to blisters In 2015, Austrian improved his year-end Emirates ATP Ranking for 5th straight season and finished as youngest player in Top 20 Achieved career-high No. 18 on August 10 after reaching SF at Kitzbühel Captured 1st 3 ATP World Tour titles of career -- all on clay: Nice (d. L. Mayer 76 in 3rd), Umag (d. Sousa) and Gstaad (d. Goffin) Won career-high 36 matches (previous-best was 22 in 2014) Career 1-10 record vs Top 10 opponents (1-6 vs Top 5), has lost 8 against Top 10 foes, lone win was over No. 3 Wawrinka at 2014 Madrid as a qualifier Almagro FastFacts: 2016 Highlights: YTD W-L: 4-2 (3-0 on clay) YTD Titles: 0 / Career Titles: 12 Date of Birth: August 21, 1985 Emirates ATP Ranking: 72 Buenos Aires W-L (Best Result): 28-9 (Winner in 2011) The 30-year-old advanced to the SF for the fourth straight year with a 62 75 win over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Friday. The 2011 champion (d. Chela) defeated Federico Delbonis 63 46 64 to reach the QF on Wednesday. Knocked off qualifier Albert Montanes 63 63 in the 1R on Monday. He is making his 11th appearance here and has a 28-9 tournament record. Also reached the finals in 2012 (l. to Ferrer) and has reached the SF the past three years – 2013 (l. to Wawrinka), 2014 (l. to Ferrer), and 2015 (l. to Monaco) Looking to reach 22nd career ATP World Tour final (12-9 record, all on clay) Appearing in first ATP World Tour SF of the year and first since reaching the finals at Kitzbühel (l. to Mathieu) last August One of 14 Spaniards in Top 100 Emirates ATP Rankings Playing in first event since falling in 2R at Australian Open (l. to Thiem), fell in 1R at Chennai (l. to Pavic) In 2015, Spaniard finished in Top 100 for 10th straight season Earned 16 of 18 wins on clay with SF runs at Buenos Aires (l. to Monaco) and Kitzbühel (l. to Mathieu) Has a career 18-64 record against Top 10 opponents, prior to defeating No.9 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga had lost last six. His last win was over No. 1 Nadal at Barcelona in April 2014 Argentina Open Day 6 – Saturday, February 13, 2016 Page 3 of 5 www.ATPWorldTour.com TO FINISH FERRER LEADS 4-2 [8] Pablo Cuevas (URU) vs [2] David Ferrer (ESP) Ferrer Leads 2-0 10 Acapulco (Mexico) Clay QF David Ferrer 7-5 6-4 10 Båstad (Sweden) Clay QF David Ferrer 6-3 6-3 Cuevas FastFacts: 2016 Highlights: YTD W-L: 4-2 (2-0 on clay) YTD Titles: 0 / Career Titles: 3 Date of Birth: January 1, 1986 Emirates ATP Ranking: 35 Buenos Aires W-L (Best Result): 5-5 (QF in 2015-16) The 30-year-old opened with a 75 62 win over Albert Ramos-Vinolas on Tuesday and advanced to the QF for the second year in a row with a 64 62 win over Santiago Giraldo on Thursday. He is making his 6th appearance and has a 5-5 tournament record. Best result was QF last year (l. to Monaco) Playing in first ATP World Tour QF since reaching the SF at Bastad (l. to eventual champion Paire) last July Looking to reach 12th career ATP World Tour SF (4-7 record) and 5th final (3-1 record, all on clay) Playing tournament since falling in the 2R at Australian Open (l. to Kyrgios). Opened season by reaching 2R at Sydney (l. to Dimitrov) In 2015, Uruguayan enjoyed 2nd straight Top 50 finish in comeback from right knee injury Won 3rd singles title of career at São Paulo (d. Vanni 76 in 3rd). Also reached Istanbul final (d. Dimitrov, l. to No. 2 Federer) Earned career-high 29 singles wins (previous-best 21 in 2010) Has a 2-6 career record vs Top 10 opponents with wins over No. 5 Berdych at 2015 Beijing and No. 8 Roddick at 2011 Miami Ferrer FastFacts: 2016 Highlights: SF: Auckland (l Sock); QF: Australian Open (l Murray) YTD W-L: 7-3 (1-0 on clay) YTD Titles: 0 / Career Titles: 26 Date of Birth: April 2, 1982 Emirates ATP Ranking: 6 Buenos Aires W-L (Best Result): 22-4 (Winner in 2012-14) The 33-year-old opened with a 62 62 win over qualifier Renzo Olivo in the 2R on Thursday. He is a three-time champion here 2012 (d.