[JakeBarkings]

From ITF Grand Slam Media
2009 AUSTRALIAN OPEN
DAY 6 MEN’S NOTESSaturday 24 JanuaryThird Round Top Half



Featured matches
No. 1 Rafael Nadal (ESP) v Tommy Haas (GER)
No. 4 Andy Murray (GBR) v No. 31 Jurgen Melzer (AUT)
No. 5 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) v (Q) Dudi Sela (ISR)
No. 6 Gilles Simon (FRA) v Mario Ancic (CRO)
No. 9 James Blake (USA) v No. 18 Igor Andreev (RUS)
No. 12 Gael Monfils (FRA) v No. 17 Nicolas Almagro (ESP)
No. 13 Fernando Gonzalez (CHI) v No. 24 Richard Gasquet (FRA)
No. 14 Fernando Verdasco (ESP) v No. 22 Radek Stepanek (CZE)

On court today…

• The 4 remaining Frenchmen are all in action today and could match the record here for Frenchmen in the last 16, should they all win their matches.

• There are also 3 Spaniards. Rafael Nadal, Nicolas Almagro and Fernando Verdasco could set an Open Era record of 4 Spaniards in the last 16 here, if they all join Tommy Robredo into the next round.

• Mario Ancic will be battling to join countryman Marin Cilic in the round of 16 to mark the first time in Australian Open Open Era history that two Croats have reached that stage.

• It had been over 14 years since an Israeli man had reached the 3rd round of a Slam, until Dudi Sela achieved the feat here on Thursday. Today he bids to become just the 4th ever Israeli man to reach the round of 16 at a Grand Slam.

• Germany’s Tommy Haas and Austrian Jurgen Melzer are their nation’s last remaining hopes in both the men’s and the women’s 2009 Australian Open.

• The last 2 years’ runners-up Fernando Gonzalez and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga continue their campaign to go one better this year.

• The 3 oldest men left in the tournament – Haas, Radek Stepanek and James Blake.

NO. 1 RAFAEL NADAL (ESP) v TOMMY HAAS (GER)

Head-to-head: Nadal leads 3-0
2006 AMS Cincinnati Hard (O) R16 Nadal 76(5) 63
2006 AMS Madrid Hard (I) R16 Nadal 64 63
2008 AMS Cincinnati Hard (O) R16 Nadal 64 76(0)
Haas is still looking to win his first set against Nadal.
NADALvHAAS
22Age30
1ATP Ranking79
31Titles11
82-14Career Grand Slam Record78-37
16-4Australian Open Record23-8
339-78Career Record432-238
149-51Career Record - Hard272-134
4-12009 Record2-0
4-12009 Record - Hard2-0
10-3Career Five-Set Record17-15
3Comebacks from 0-2 Down3
81-57Career Tiebreak Record149-123
0-02009 Tiebreak Record0-0

• NADAL is playing his 5th Australian Open. Since reaching the 3rd round on his debut in 2004, he has improved one round further on every subsequent appearance to reach the semifinals last year (l. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 62 63 62). He missed the 2006 tournament with a left foot injury.

• Nadal defeated Christophe Rochus 60 62 62 in the 1st round, and Roko Karanusic 62 63 62 in the 2nd. The last time that Nadal failed to reach the last 16 at a major was at the 2005 US Open. (Note – he missed the 2006 Australian Open. (see above)).

• Nadal owns 5 Grand Slam titles, having won at Roland Garros for the last 4 years and winning his 1st Wimbledon title last year.

• As world No. 1, Nadal is top seed for a second Slam. He acquired the top ranking on 18 August 2008 following the Beijing Olympic Tennis Event where he won gold, and played his first Slam as the world No. 1 at the 2008 US Open.

• Nadal is guaranteed to be No.1 after the Australian Open regardless of his final result here.

• Nadal began the 2009 season by playing the Abu Dhabi exhibition event (l. Andy Murray), and the following week reached the quarterfinals at Doha (l. Gael Monfils 64 64). He won the Doha doubles title with Marc Lopez.

• Nadal captured 8 titles in 2008, including his first two on grass at Queen’s and Wimbledon. He became the first ever player to win the Roland Garros-Queen’s-Wimbledon triple crown, after winning his 4th straight title at Roland Garros, at Queen’s becoming the first Spaniard to win a grass court title since 1972, and ending Federer’s five-year reign at Wimbledon in the longest final in Wimbledon history. Nadal also won at AMS Monte Carlo, Barcelona, AMS Hamburg, all on clay and AMS Toronto and the Olympic Tennis Event in Beijing, on hard court.

• Although hard court is Nadal’s least successful surface overall, he improved his performance in 2008, compiling a tour-leading 46-10 record on the surface. As well as his 2 titles above, he also reached the final at AMS Miami, as well as five other semifinals on hard court. Nadal owns 7 career titles on hard court.

• Nadal led Spain to the 2008 Davis Cup final against Argentina in November, but had to withdraw from the line-up due to right knee tendinitis. He has a 10-1 career record in Davis Cup singles.

• Nadal is coached by his uncle Toni.

• HAAS

• has advanced to the 3rd round here for the 5th time. He defeated Eduardo Schwank 63 63 64 in the 1st round and qualifier Flavio Cipolla 61 62 61 in the 2nd.

• Haas is playing his 9th Australian Open but first for 2 years after missing the 2008 tournament while recovering from surgery on his right shoulder.

• On his last appearance here in 2007, Haas equalled his best performance here and reached the Australian Open semifinals for the 3rd time (l. Fernando Gonzalez). He also reached the semifinals here in 1999 (l. Yevgeny Kafelnikov) and in 2002 (l. Marat Safin).

• This is the only Grand Slam at which Haas has reached the semifinals. His best performances away from Australia are three quarterfinal finishes at the US Open in 2004, 2006 and 2007.

• Haas is 1 of 3 unseeded players through to the 3rd round in this half of the draw along with Mario Ancic and qualifier Dudi Sela.

• At 30 years, 9 months, Haas is the oldest man remaining in the men’s draw here.

• Haas is the sole German man to reach the 3rd round. Germany started with 11 players in the main draw.

• Haas had a disappointing 2008, finishing the year ranked No. 84, his lowest year-end ranking since 1996. (He was unranked at the end of 2003 following two surgeries on his right shoulder). As well as missing the start of 2008 after right shoulder surgery, he missed a further six weeks in the spring with an injury to the same shoulder and did not play again after the US Open due to this and right elbow inflammation. His best result was a semifinal finish at Washington.

• Haas turned down a wildcard for 2009 Doha as he was still recovering from right elbow inflammation.

• Haas has won 10 titles on hard court, placing him equal 4th for titles won among active players.

• Haas has a 39-61 win-loss record against Top 10 players.

• Haas has been coached by Dean Goldfine since March 2008.

NO. 4 ANDY MURRAY (GBR) v NO. 31 JURGEN MELZER (AUT)

Head-to-head: Murray leads 3-0
2008 AMS Indian Wells Hard (O) R64 Murray 36 63 63
2008 US Open Hard (O) R32 Murray 67(5) 46 76(5) 61 63
2008 Davis Cup WG-PO Grass (O) R4 Murray 64 57 64 61

MURRAYvMELZER
21Age27
4ATP Ranking32
9Titles1
28-12Career Grand Slam Record26-26
5-3Australian Open Record8-6
162-65Career Record168-170
119-40Career Record - Hard74-79
7-02009 Record3-2
7-02009 Record - Hard3-2
8-4Career Five-Set Record7-8
3Comebacks from 0-2 Down0
55-31Career Tiebreak Record69-79
0-12009 Tiebreak Record2-0

• MURRAY has advanced to the Australian Open 3rd round for the 2nd time. He defeated Andrei Pavel 62 31 ret. (back injury) in the 1st round and Marcel Granollers 64 62 62 in the 2nd round.

• Murray is bidding to match his best result here and reach the last 16 for the 2nd time. He also reached that stage in 2007 before losing to Rafael Nadal.

• Murray became the first British player to reach a Grand Slam final since Greg Rusedski in 1997 at last year’s US Open, defeating Rafael Nadal in the semifinals before losing to Roger Federer.

• After last year’s US Open, Murray rose to world No. 4, equalling the highest-ever ranking by a British man and as a result, has his highest Grand Slam seeding here. He would have a chance of taking the No. 3 ranking if he wins the tournament and Novak Djokovic fails to reach the semifinals.

• Murray started the season in great style by successfully defending his title at Doha, defeating Roger Federer (for the 3rd time in a row) 67 62 62 in the semifinals and Andy Roddick 64 62 in the final. Murray also won the Abu Dhabi exhibition, defeating Federer and Nadal to win the event.

• Murray won 5 titles in 2008 (Doha, Marseille, AMS Cincinnati, AMS Madrid, St Petersburg), the most by any British player in one season. Along with Gilles Simon and Andy Roddick, he was one of 3 players to defeat the Top 3 (Nadal, Federer, Djokovic) in 2008. He ended the season by reaching the semifinals of the Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai.

• Murray has won 9 career titles, 8 of which have come on hard court.

• Murray is coached by Miles Maclagan.

• MELZER has reached the 3rd round of the Australian Open for the 3rd time and is today bidding to reach the last 16 of a Grand Slam for the 1st time.

• Melzer lost both of his previous 3rd-round matches here, in 2004 and 2005 and in total, has fallen at this stage of a major 8 times. This is the 4th consecutive Slam where Melzer has reached the 3rd round.

• In reaching the 3rd round, Melzer defeated Kei Nishikori 75 62 61 and qualifier Andreas Beck 57 76 64 63 in the first two rounds.

• Melzer is bidding to become the first Austrian man to reach the last 16 at any Slam since Stefan Koubek, who went on to the quarterfinals here in 2002.

• This is Melzer’s 3rd tournament of 2009. He reached the 2nd round at Brisbane (l. Florent Serra) and fell in the opening round at Sydney (l. Tommy Robredo).

• Melzer finished 2008 with his highest year-end ranking at No. 34. His best result last year was a runner-up finish at Kitzbuhel on clay. He also reached 5 quarterfinals.

• Melzer’s best career hard court results are reaching the final at 2006 Metz and 2007 Las Vegas.

• Melzer has been coached by Joachim Nystrom since November 2007.

NO. 5 JO-WILFRIED TSONGA (FRA) v (Q) DUDI SELA (ISR)

Head-to-head: Tsonga leads 1-0
2008 AMS Indian Wells Hard (O) R64 Tsonga 62 64
TSONGAvSELA
23Age23
7ATP Ranking106
2Titles0
15-6Career Grand Slam Record5-7
8-2Australian Open Record4-2
55-28Career Record31-33
39-20Career Record - Hard29-25
5-12009 Record3-1
5-12009 Record - Hard3-1
0-0Career Five-Set Record2-2
0Comebacks from 0-2 Down0
29-20Career Tiebreak Record14-13
4-12009 Tiebreak Record1-1

• 2008 runner-up TSONGA defeated Juan Monaco 64 64 60 in the first round and Ivan Ljubicic 67 76 76 62 in the 2nd, despite suffering with back pain in his 2nd round match.

• This is Tsonga’s 7th Grand Slam and he is attempting to reach the round of 16 for the 3rd time. As well as here last year, his other round of 16 appearance came at 2007 Wimbledon.

• Tsonga is one of 4 Frenchmen bidding to advance to the round of 16 here. Four is the record amount of Frenchmen to reach that stage here, and this has happened just twice in 1973 and 1998.

• Last year, Tsonga became the 3rd unseeded Australian Open finalist in the last 5 years. He defeated 3 Top 10 players - No. 9 seed Andy Murray in the first round, No. 8 seed Richard Gasquet in the round of 16 and No. 2 seed Rafael Nadal in the semifinals - before losing to Novak Djokovic in the final. Tsonga had not previously reached a tour final.

• As well as reaching the Australian Open final last year, Tsonga won his first career titles at Bangkok and AMS Paris and ended the year with a career-high ranking of No. 6. He missed 3 months of the season after undergoing surgery at the end of May, missing Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the Olympics before returning at the US Open.

• Tsonga and countryman Gilles Simon finished 2008 in the Top 10, marking the first time since 1986 that two Frenchmen have ended a season in the Top 10.

• Tsonga reached the quarterfinals at both Brisbane and Sydney before coming here. He was forced to withdraw from his quarterfinal at Sydney with his back injury.

• Tsonga is coached by Eric Winogradsky.

• Qualifier SELA has broken through to his first ever Grand Slam 3rd round. He defeated No. 30 Rainer Schuettler 16 62 64 64 in the first round and Victor Hanescu 63 63 62 in the 2nd.

• Sela reached the 2nd round on his previous two appearances here in 2007-08.

• Sela is the first Israeli man since Amos Mansdorf at 1994 Wimbledon to reach the 3rd round of a Slam. He is bidding to become the 4th different Israeli man to reach the round of 16 at a Slam, which has happened here on 3 occasions. [See table overleaf.]

Israelis in Grand Slam round of 16 (Open Era)
Player
Slam
Shlomo Glickstein
1981 Australian Open
Gilad Bloom
1990 US Open
Amos Mansdorf
1989 Australian Open, 1989 Wimbledon 1990 US Open
1992 Australian Open

• Sela was seeded No. 3 in qualifying, and defeated Jaroslav Pospisil, Giovanni Lapentti and Grega Zemlja to earn his place in the main draw of the 2009 Australian Open. This was the first time he needed to qualify for a Grand Slam since the 2007 US Open.

• Marcos Baghdatis was the last qualifier to reach the round of 16 here in 2005.

• At No. 106, Sela is the lowest-ranked player left in the men’s draw.

• Sela played at Chennai before coming here, falling in the 2nd round to Janko Tipsarevic.

• Sela reached his first career final in 2008 at Beijing, finishing runner-up to Andy Roddick. There, he became the first Israeli man to reach a final since Harel Levy at 2001 Nottingham. He reached a career-high ranking of No. 57 in April last year, but plays here at No. 106.

• Sela is coached by Yoav Shav.

NO. 6 GILLES SIMON (FRA) v MARIO ANCIC (CRO)

Head-to-head: Ancic leads 1-0
2008 AMS Miami Hard (O) R128 Ancic 62 67(2) 63
SIMONvANCIC
24Age24
8ATP Ranking36
5Titles3
14-13Career Grand Slam Record43-20
6-3Australian Open Record14-5
120-86Career Record200-128
59-44Career Record - Hard103-75
4-22009 Record5-2
4-22009 Record - Hard5-2
3-2Career Five-Set Record10-5
0Comebacks from 0-2 Down2
34-33Career Tiebreak Record84-79
2-12009 Tiebreak Record3-1

• SIMON is through to the 3rd round here for the 3rd time. He is bidding to reach his first ever Grand Slam round of 16.

• Simon defeated Pablo Andujar 64 61 61 in the first round and dismissed the last remaining Aussie man Chris Guccione 67 64 61 62 in the 2nd.

• Simon is one of 4 Frenchmen bidding to advance to the round of 16 here. Four is the record amount of Frenchmen to reach that stage here, and this has happened just twice in 1973 and 1998.

• Simon began 2009 at the Hopman Cup, winning 2 of his 3 singles matches. He then lost in the 2nd round (after a first-round bye) at Sydney to Richard Gasquet.

• Simon had a breakthrough year in 2008, winning 3 titles (Casablanca, Indianapolis and Bucharest) and finishing runner-up at AMS Madrid. He ended the year ranked No. 7, and reached the semifinals on his Tennis Masters Cup debut. As a result, he has his highest seeding at a Grand Slam.

• Simon and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga

• finished 2008 in the Top 10, marking the first time since 1986 that two Frenchmen have ended a season in the Top 10.

• Simon was one of 3 players, along with Andy Murray and Andy Roddick, to defeat the Top 3 players (Nadal, Federer and Djokovic) in 2008.

• Simon is coached by Thierry Tulasne.

• ANCIC

• has maintained his record of always reaching the 3rd round here.

• Ancicdefeated qualifier Wayne Odesnik 75 64 46 62 in the first round and extended countryman and No. 25 seed Ivo Karlovic’s losing five-set record to 0-10 when defeating him 57 75 46 64 63 in the 2nd round.

• Ancic is bidding to match his best Australian Open result by reaching the round of 16. He reached that stage on his debut in 2003 and on his last appearance here in 2007.

• Ancic is also hoping to join countryman Marin Cilic in the round of 16, and have two Croatians in the Australian Open round of 16 for the first time in Open Era history.

• Ancic has recorded just one victory over a Top 10 player in his last 11 such meetings, defeating No. 5 seed David Ferrer in the 2008 Wimbledon 3rd round.

• Ancic reached the Wimbledon semifinals in 2004 (l. Andy Roddick), which is his best result at a major to date.

• Ancic has only played 6 of the last 12 Grand Slam tournaments due to illness and injury over the past 3 years. He was diagnosed with glandular fever in 2007, which returned last summer and forced him to miss the Beijing Olympics and the 2008 US Open.He missed last year’s Australian Open with a stomach illness.

• His best result of the 2008 season was a runner-up finish to Andy Murray at Marseille, as well as his quarterfinal result at Wimbledon.

• Ancic began the 2009 season at Brisbane, losing in the 2nd round, before reaching the quarterfinals at Sydney.

• Ancic is coached by his brother Ivica.

• Ancic graduated from law school at the University of Split last April. He wrote a 68-page thesis entitled ‘ATP Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow’, describing the legal foundation and organisation of the ATP Tour.

NO. 9 JAMES BLAKE (USA) v NO. 18 IGOR ANDREEV (RUS)

Head-to-head: Blake leads 5-0
2004 Scottsdale Hard (O) R16 Blake 63 62
2005 US Open Hard (O) R64 Blake 62 62 64
2006 Sydney Hard (O) FR Blake 62 36 76
2006 AMS Indian Wells Hard (O) QF Blake 61 64
2007 Wimbledon Grass (O) R128 Blake 63 64 64

BLAKEvANDREEV
29Age25
10ATP Ranking19
10Titles3
49-27Career Grand Slam Record25-17
18-7Australian Open Record6-5
304-181Career Record165-136
231-111Career Record - Hard63-58
3-12009 Record2-2
3-12009 Record - Hard2-2
4-11Career Five-Set Record2-7
1Comebacks from 0-2 Down1
108-97Career Tiebreak Record69-65
1-22009 Tiebreak Record1-0

• BLAKE defeated lucky loser Frank Dancevic 64 63 75 in the 1st round and qualifier Sebastien De Chaunac 63 62 63 to reach the 3rd round for the 4th straight year

• Blake posted his best Australian Open result last year when he lost in the quarterfinals to Roger Federer.

• In reaching the quarterfinals here last year, Blake also equalled his best Grand Slam performance, having previously reached that stage twice at the US Open in 2005-06.

• Blake was one of 4 Americans through to the 3rd round. He is bidding to join Andy Roddick (and possibly Mardy Fish, who was playing the night match on Hisense Arena on Friday) in the last 16. There has been at least 1 American in the last 16 of the men’s singles every year since 1974.

• Blake played for USA with Meghann Shaughessy at the 2009 Hopman Cup, winning 2 of his 3 matches.

• Blake had a very consistent 2008 – he reached the quarterfinals or better 13 times in his 21 tournaments, with his best result a runner-up finish at both Delray Beach and Houston.

• All of Blake’s 10 career titles have come on hardcourt, placing him equal 4th for titles won among active players.

• Blake has been coached by Brian Barker since he was 12.

• ANDREEV

• has reached the 3rd round at the Australian Open for the 3rd time in the last 4 years and is now bidding to reach the round of 16 here for the 1st time.

• Andreev defeated qualifier Peter Polansky in five sets in the 1st round and Ernests Gulbis in the 2nd, also in 5 sets – the 2nd player to reach this year’s 3rd round with 2 5-set victories after Amer Delic. In the last 6 years, 3 players – Felix Mantilla (2003), Thomas Johansson (2005) and Dominik Hrbaty (2006) - have won their first three matches here in five sets.

• Andreev’s best Grand Slam result came at 2007 Roland Garros, where he reached the quarterfinals (l. Novak Djokovic).

• Andreev was 1 of 2 Russians to reach the 3rd round (Marat Safin was due to play Roger Federer in Friday’s RLA night match.). There has been at least 1 Russian man in the last 16 here every year since 1999.

• Andreev played 2 events before coming here, losing in the 1st round at Doha (to Mikhail Youzhny) and in the 2nd round at Sydney (to Jeremy Chardy).

• Andreev had a very good 2008, reaching back-to-back finals at Gstaad and Umag, and reaching 6 quarterfinals. He achieved a career-high ranking of No. 18 on 3 November 2008 and finished the year ranked inside the Top 20 (No. 19) for the 1st time.

• Andreev’s best career hard court result was a runner-up finish at 2006 Sydney.

• Andreev has lost his last 11 matches against Top 10 players, his last victory being against No. 8 Richard Gasquet at 2008 Dubai. Overall, he has a 10-27 win-loss record in such matches.

• Andreev is currently without a coach. He had previously worked with Jose Altur for 10 years until last April.

NO. 12 GAEL MONFILS (FRA) v NO. 17 NICOLAS ALMAGRO (ESP)

Head-to-head: tied 1-1
2006 Barcelona Clay (O) R32 Almagro 62 64
2008 Beijing Olympics Hard (O) R64 Monfils 64 36 63
MONFILSvALMAGRO
22Age23
13ATP Ranking18
1Titles4
23-13Career Grand Slam Record15-17
5-3Australian Open Record2-4
104-82Career Record115-95
51-43Career Record - Hard18-31
5-12009 Record3-1
5-12009 Record - Hard3-1
5-1Career Five-Set Record1-5
0Comebacks from 0-2 Down0
45-34Career Tiebreak Record35-55
1-12009 Tiebreak Record0-1

• MONFILS is today attempting to reach the round of 16 at the Australian Open for the first time.

• Monfils has matched his best performance here in reaching the 3rd round. He defeated Martin Vassallo Arguello 61 63 75 in the first round and Stefan Koubek 64 64 36 62 in the 2nd.

• Monfils reached this stage in 2007 but missed last year’s Australian Open with a left wrist and knee tendon injury.

• Monfils’s best Grand Slam result is reaching the semifinals at last year’s Roland Garros. He upset No. 5 seed David Ferrer in the quarterfinals before falling to Roger Federer.

• Monfils is one of 4 Frenchmen bidding to advance to the round of 16 here. Four is the record amount of Frenchmen to reach that stage here, and this has happened just twice in 1973 and 1998.

• Monfils began working with Lleyton Hewitt’s former coach Roger Rasheed in July of last year, and has since risen to a career-high ranking of No. 13 this month. He broke the Top 20 for the first time after reaching the final of Vienna in October, his 6th career final, despite being plagued by wrist, knee and shoulder injuries in 2008 (his shoulder caused him to miss Wimbledon).

• Monfils reached the semifinals at Doha two weeks ago, defeating Rafael Nadal 64 64 in the quarterfinals before falling to Andy Roddick 76 36 63.

• Monfils is a three-time finalist on hard court (2005 Metz, 2006 Doha, 2008 Vienna).

• Monfils, Andy Roddick and Marcos Baghdatis were the three former Australian Open boys’ champions to reach the 3rd round (Baghdatis was playing his 3rd round match at the time of writing). Monfils won the title in 2004, and the same year, picked up the Roland Garros and Wimbledon boys’ titles. Stefan Edberg is the only player in the Open Era to collect both the junior and senior Australian Open titles.

• After 4 straight first round losses, ALMAGRO has won matches at the Australian Open for the first time.

• Almagro defeated Nicolas Massu 64 64 36 57 63 in the first round and Fabio Fognini 62 75 60 in the 2nd. His victory over Massu was his first ever five-set victory in 6 such matches.

• If Almagro wins his match today he will have won 3 matches at one hard court event for only the second time in his career (after 2007 AMS Cincinnati).His overall hard court record is 18-31.

• At last year’s Roland Garros, Almagro broke through to his first Grand Slam quarterfinal, having only advanced beyond the 2nd round once in 14 previous Grand Slam events.

• Almagro won two titles at Costa do Sauipe and Acapulco last February, finished runner-up at Valencia and reached a career-high ranking of No. 11 last July. But after his run at Roland Garros he struggled through the second half of the season following an operation on a tendon in his right hand in July, winning just four matches for the rest of the year while not fully recuperated.

• Almagro has received his highest ever seeding at a Grand Slam event.

• Almagro played at Auckland before coming to Melbourne, reaching the quarterfinals after a first round bye.

• Almagro has been coached by Antonio Gonzalez since 1992.

NO. 13 FERNANDO GONZALEZ (CHI) v NO. 24 RICHARD GASQUET (FRA)

Head-to-head: first meeting
GONZALEZvGASQUET
28Age22
14ATP Ranking25
10Titles5
56-31Career Grand Slam Record30-19
16-8Australian Open Record8-5
312-168Career Record170-108
140-86Career Record - Hard82-53
2-02009 Record8-2
2-02009 Record - Hard8-2
13-12Career Five-Set Record4-8
4Comebacks from 0-2 Down1
135-87Career Tiebreak Record56-58
0-02009 Tiebreak Record3-1

• 2007 runner-up GONZALEZ defeated Lleyton Hewitt 57 62 62 36 63 in the first round and Guillermo Canas 75 63 64 in the 2nd.

• In 2007, Gonzalez reached his only Grand Slam final to date, losing to Roger Federer 76 64 64. Last year he fell in the 3rd round.

• Gonzalez has made quarterfinal appearances at all 4 Slams and is one of 8 current players to have achieved this feat.

• This is Gonzalez’s first tournament of the year, although he did play the exhibition event at Kooyong last week, winning one of his 3 matches.

• Gonzalez won two titles in 2008 at Vina del Mar and Munich. He also won the silver medal at the Olympic Tennis Event in Beijing, and having won the bronze medal in Athens in 2004, became the first man to medal in singles at two different Olympic Games since tennis returned to the Olympics in 1988.

• Gonzalez has won 2 hard court titles – 2005 Auckland and 2007 Beijing – out of his total of 10.

• Gonzalez could meet world No. 1 Rafael Nadal in the next round if they both win today. He is on a 3-match losing streak to the Spaniard (including his runner-up silver medal finish to Nadal at the Beijing Olympics), but he did defeat him in the quarterfinals of the 2007 Australian Open.

• Gonzalez split from coach Larry Stefanki at the end of 2008 and is now working with Martin Rodriguez.

• GASQUET

• is bidding to reach the round of 16 for the 3rd straight year here, and so match his best Australian Open performance.

• Gasquet defeated Diego Junquiera 67 76 63 64 in the first round and wildcard Denis Istomin 63 64 64 in the 2nd.

• After losing in the first round on his first 3 appearances here, Gasquet reached the round of 16 in 2007 (l. Tommy Robredo) and again last year to compatriot Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

• Gasquet is one of 4 Frenchmen bidding to advance to the round of 16 here. Four is the record amount of Frenchmen to reach that stage here, and this has happened just twice in 1973 and 1998.

• After the departure of Fabrice Santoro in the 3rd round on Friday, Gasquet is the lowest-ranked of the 4 Frenchmen bidding to advance to the round of 16. He used to be the No. 1 Frenchman for 3 years, finishing the nation’s leading player from 2005 to 2007.

• Gasquet broke through to his only Grand Slam semifinal at 2007 Wimbledon, when he came back from two sets down to defeat Andy Roddick in the quarters before falling to Roger Federer. His least successful major is his home Slam, Roland Garros.

• Gasquet has received his lowest Grand Slam seeding since the 2006 US Open.

• Gasquet reached the semifinals at both Brisbane and Sydney before arriving at Melbourne. He fell to the eventual champions at both tournaments – Radek Stepanek at Brisbane and David Nalbandian at Sydney.

• Gasquet failed to win a title in 2008 for the first time since 2004, his best result being a runner-up finish to Juan Martin del Potro at Stuttgart and he finished with his lowest year-end ranking for 4 years (No. 24). An injury to his left knee forced him to pull out of Roland Garros, the first time he had missed a Slam since missing the 2005 Australian Open with chicken pox.

• Gasquet could meet Rafael Nadal in the next round should both win their matches today, but Gasquet would have a mountain to climb, having lost to Nadal in all 6 of their previous meetings.

• Gasquet is coached by Guillaume Peyre.

NO. 14 FERNANDO VERDASCO (ESP) v NO. 22 RADEK STEPANEK (CZE)

Head-to-head: Stepanek leads 3-0
2004 AMS Miami Hard (O) R64 Stepanek 76(6) 76(3)
2006 Wimbledon Grass (O) R16 Stepanek 67(4) 63 46 64 62
2009 Brisbane Hard (O) FR Stepanek 36 63 64
A rematch of the Brisbane final just two weeks ago, in which Stepanek won his 3rd career title.
VERDASCOvSTEPANEK
25Age30
15ATP Ranking23
2Titles3
36-22Career Grand Slam Record37-25
6-5Australian Open Record10-6
193-149Career Record218-159
82-74Career Record - Hard100-82
6-12009 Record7-1
6-12009 Record - Hard7-1
7-5Career Five-Set Record9-15
2Comebacks from 0-2 Down4
71-72Career Tiebreak Record93-96
0-02009 Tiebreak Record1-1

• VERDASCO has reached the 3rd round of the Australian Open for the 1st time. He defeated Frenchmen Adrian Mannarino and Arnaud Clement for the loss of just 8 games in total.

• Verdasco is bidding to reach the round of 16 and equal his best Grand Slam result, having reached that stage at each of the other 3 majors.

• Verdasco was 1 of 4 Spaniards to reach the 3rd round. Rafael Nadal and Nicolas Almagro are also in action today and all 3 are bidding to join Tommy Robredo in the last 16. There were a record 3 Spaniards through to the last 16 here in 1997, 2007 and 2008.

• Verdasco reached his 7th career final at Brisbane two weeks ago, falling to Stepanek 36 63 64.

• Verdasco achieved his highest year-end ranking in 2008 (No. 16), winning a career-high 47 matches. He won his 2nd career title at Umag in July, finished runner-up on grass at Nottingham, and reached three other semifinals. He obtained a career-high ranking of No. 11 on 21 July.

• Verdasco clinched the 2008 Davis Cup title for Spain when he won the fourth rubber against Jose Acasuso from 2-1 down to give Spain a winning 3-1 lead.

• Verdasco is currently without a coach.

• STEPANEK is through to the 3rd round of the Australian Open for the 4th time and is bidding to advance to the last 16 here for the 1st time.

• Stepanekdefeated Nicolas Lapentti 36 63 64 64 and Michael Berrer 63 62 67 75 in the first two rounds.

• Stepanek’s best Grand Slam result is a quarterfinal finish at 2006 Wimbledon.

• Stepanek was 1 of 2 Czechs through to the 3rd round here this year (Tomas Berdych was due to play Stanislas Wawrinka in Saturday’s MCA night match.)

• Stepanek won his 3rd career title at Brisbane 2 weeks ago, all 3 of his titles have been on hard court. He retired in his 1st round match at Sydney due to illness.

• Stepanek’s best 2008 result was a runner-up finish at San Jose (indoor hard). He also reached 4 semifinals. His best Grand Slam result last year was reaching the last 16 at Roland Garros.

• Since the start of 2009, Stepanek has been coached full-time by 1998 Australian Open champion Petr Korda, having previously worked with him on a part-time basis. Until the end of last year, he also worked with Tomas Krupa, who now coaches Stepanek’s Davis Cup teammate Tomas Berdych.