AIRCEL CHENNAI OPEN: PREVIEW & DAY 1 MEDIA NOTES Monday, January 4, 2016 SDAT Tennis Stadium, Chennai, India | January 4-10, 2016 Draw: S-28, D-16 | Prize Money: $425,535 | Surface: Outdoor Hard ATP Info: Tournament Info: ATP PR & Marketing: www.ATPWorldTour.com www.aircelchennaiopen.org Fabienne Benoit: [email protected] Twitter: @ATPWorldTour @chennaiopen Facebook: facebook.com/ATPWorldTour facebook.com/chennaiopen Press Room: +91 44 32220412 AIRCEL CHENNAI OPEN TALKING POINTS TOURNAMENT PREVIEW: The Aircel Chennai Open returns for the 21st consecutive year on the ATP World Tour, kicking the 2016 season off with a field that features the winningest singles and doubles player in tournament history. Stan Wawrinka (3 singles) and Leander Paes (6 doubles) have won more Chennai titles than any other players in history. Wawrinka returns as the No. 1 seed in singles, while Paes and Marcel Granollers are the No. 2 seeds in doubles. Among the players challenging Wawrinka this week are Kevin Anderson and Benoit Paire. The second-seeded Anderson broke into the Top 10 of the Emirates ATP Rankings on Oct. 12 after reaching the US Open quarter-finals. Paire, too, enjoyed a successful US Open campaign. He advanced to the fourth round in New York City and arrives in Chennai at a career-high No. 19. Paire and Wawrinka, the 2013 Chennai doubles champions, are playing with different partners in 2016: Paire with Austin Krajicek and Wawrinka with Guillermo Garcia-Lopez. Mahesh Bhupathi, a five-time champion with Paes, is teaming with first-time partner Gilles Muller. Bhupathi and Paes, who teamed at the inaugural event in 1996, are both playing doubles in Chennai for the 16th time. DAY 1 PREVIEW: Three singles and two doubles matches comprise Monday’s order of play at the Aircel Chennai Open. Spain and Croatia go head-to-head twice on Stadium Court as Nicolas Almagro meets qualifier Ante Pavic, then Marcel Granollers faces No. 8 seed Borna Coric. The 19-year-old Coric led all teenagers with 26 wins on the ATP World Tour in 2015. In the other singles match on Monday’s schedule, John Millman of Australia takes on Evgeny Dosnkoy of Russia. SINGLES HONOR ROLL (since 2006) YEAR CHAMPION RUNNER-UP SCORE 2015 Stan Wawrinka Aljaz Bedene 6-3, 6-4 2014 Stan Wawrinka Edouard Roger-Vasselin 7-5, 6-2 2013 Janko Tipsarevic Roberto Bautista Agut 3-6, 6-1, 6-3 2012 Milos Raonic Janko Tipsarevic 6-7(4), 7-6(4), 7-6(4) 2011 Stan Wawrinka Xavier Malisse 7-5, 4-6, 6-1 2010 Marin Cilic Stan Wawrinka 7-6(2), 7-6(3) 2009 Marin Cilic Somdev Devvarman 6-4, 7-6(3) 2008 Mikhail Youzhny Rafael Nadal 6-0, 6-1 2007 Xavier Malisse Stefan Koubek 6-1, 6-3 2006 Ivan Ljubicic Carlos Moya 7-6(6), 6-2 BOLD: Players in 2016 singles draw Aircel Chennai Open Day 1 – Monday, January 4, 2016 Page 2 of 4 www.ATPWorldTour.com DOUBLES HONOR ROLL (since 2006) YEAR CHAMPION RUNNER-UP 2015 Yen-Hsun Lu/Jonathan Marray Raven Klaasen/Leander Paes 2014 Johan Brunstrom/Frederik Nielsen Marin Draganja/Mate Pavic 2013 Benoit Paire/Stan Wawrinka Andre Begemann/Martin Emmrich 2012 Leander Paes/Janko Tipsarevic Jonathan Erlich/Andy Ram 2011 Mahesh Bhupathi/Leander Paes Robin Haase/David Martin 2010 Marcel Granollers/Santiago Ventura Yen-Hsun Lu/Janko Tipsarevic 2009 Eric Butorac/Rajeev Ram Jean-Claude Scherrer/Stan Wawrinka 2008 Sanchai Ratiwatana/Sonchat Ratiwatana Marcos Baghdatis/Marc Gicquel 2007 Xavier Malisse/Dick Norman Rafael Nadal/Bartolome Salva-Vidal 2006 Michal Mertinak/Petr Pala Prakash Amritraj/Rohan Bopanna BOLD: Players in 2016 doubles draw WHO TO WATCH IN SINGLES SEED PLAYER CHENNAI W-L BEST FINISH 1 Stan Wawrinka 19-4 2011, 2014-15 Champion 2 Kevin Anderson 0-0 2016 Debut 3 Benoit Paire 5-3 2013 Semi-finalist 4 Roberto Bautista Agut 6-3 2013 Runner-up 5 Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 8-5 2005 Semi-finalist 6 Gilles Muller 4-3 2006, 2015 Quarter-finalist 7 Vasek Pospisil 2-2 2014 Semi-finalist 8 Borna Coric 1-1 2015 Round of 16 WILD CARDS (3) YOUNGEST Karen Khachanov (RUS) Andrey Rublev (RUS) – 18 years, 2 months Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) Andrey Rublev (RUS) OLDEST Gilles Muller (LUX) – 32 years, 7 months QUALIFIERS (4) Somdev Devvarman (IND) TOP COUNTRY BREAKDOWN Thomas Fabbiano (ITA) Spain (5), Russia (3), Croatia (2), India (2), Jozef Kovalik (SVK) Italy (2), United States (2) Ante Pavic (CRO) Aircel Chennai Open Day 1 – Monday, January 4, 2016 Page 3 of 4 www.ATPWorldTour.com WHO TO WATCH IN DOUBLES SEED TEAM BEST FINISH Klaasen: 2015 Runner-up 1 Raven Klaasen/Rajeev Ram Ram: 2009 Champion Granollers: 2010 Champion 2 Marcel Granollers/Leander Paes Paes: 1997-99, 2002, 2011-12 Champion Marach: 2009 Quarter-finalist 3 Oliver Marach/Fabrice Martin Martin: 2016 Debut Daniell: 2016 Debut 4 Marcus Daniell/Artem Sitak Sitak: 2016 Debut EMIRATES ATP RANKING POINTS AND PRIZE MONEY W FSFQFR16 R32 SINGLES RANKING POINTS 250 150 90 45 20* 0 SINGLES PRIZE MONEY ($) $75,700 $39,870 $21,600 $12,300 $7,250 $4,295 DOUBLES RANKING POINTS 250 150 90 45 0 — DOUBLES PRIZE MONEY ($) $23,000 $12,090 $6,550 $3,750 $2,200 — * Second-round losers who received a first-round bye earn 0 points DAY 1 FEDEX ATP HEAD 2 HEADS – In Order of Play STADIUM COURT Nicolas Almagro (ESP) vs. [Q] Ante Pavic (CRO) First Meeting Almagro 2015 FastFacts SF (2): Buenos Aires (l. to Monaco); Kitzbühel (l. to Mathieu) QF (3): São Paulo (l. to Cuevas); Casablanca (l. to Klizan); Estoril (l. to Gasquet) 2015 W-L: 18-20 (2-6 on hard) 2015 Titles: 0 / Career Titles: 12 Date of Birth: August 21, 1985 Emirates ATP Ranking: 73 Chennai W-L (Best Result): 1-1 (2012 Semi-finalist) Pavic 2015 FastFacts 2015 W-L: 0-2 (0-1 on hard) 2015 Titles: 0 / Career Titles: 0 Date of Birth: March 7, 1989 Emirates ATP Ranking: 449 Chennai W-L (Best Result): 7-4 (Main Draw Debut) Aircel Chennai Open Day 1 – Monday, January 4, 2016 Page 4 of 4 www.ATPWorldTour.com [8] Borna Coric (CRO) vs. Marcel Granollers (ESP) Coric Leads 1-0 15 Umag (Croatia) Clay R32 Borna Coric 6-3 6-3 Coric 2015 FastFacts SF (2): Dubai (l. to Federer); Nice (l. to L. Mayer); QF (3): Estoril (l. to Garcia-Lopez); Umag (l. to Bautista Agut); Winston-Salem (l. to Anderson) 2015 W-L: 26-28 (12-18 on hard) 2015 Titles: 0 / Career Titles: 0 Date of Birth: November 14, 1996 Emirates ATP Ranking: 44 Chennai W-L (Best Result): 1-1 (2015 Round of 16) Granollers 2015 FastFacts SF: Zagreb (l. to Seppi) 2015 W-L: 14-21 (6-11 on hard) 2015 Titles: 0 / Career Titles: 4 Date of Birth: April 12, 1986 Emirates ATP Ranking: 84 Chennai W-L (Best Result): 7-4 (2009, 2014 Semi-finalist) COURT 1 John Millman (AUS) vs. Evgeny Donskoy (RUS) First ATP Meeting Other Meeting: 15 Istanbul Q (Turkey) Clay 2R Evgeny Donskoy 6-4 6-1 .