DiscussWorldIssues - Socio-Economic Religion and Political Uncensored Debate - View Single Post

**JakeBarkings** · 01-22-2009, 11:41 AM

From ITF Grand Slam Media
2009 AUSTRALIAN OPEN
DAY 5 MEN’S NOTESFriday 23 January 20093rd Round Bottom Half
Featured matches
No. 2 Roger Federer (SUI) v No. 26 Marat Safin (RUS)
No. 3 Novak Djokovic (SRB) v (LL) Amer Delic (USA)
No. 7 Andy Roddick (USA) v Fabrice Santoro (FRA)
No. 8 Juan Martin del Potro (ARG) v Gilles Muller (LUX)
No. 11 David Ferrer (ESP) v No. 19 Marin Cilic (CRO)
No. 15 Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI) v No. 20 Tomas Berdych (CZE)
No. 21 Tommy Robredo (ESP) v Yen-Hsun Lu (TPE)
No. 23 Mardy Fish (USA) v Marcos Baghdatis (CYP)

On court today…

A clash between two Australian Open champions – Roger Federer and Marat Safin meet on Rod Laver Arena in a repeat of the 2004 final and their 2005 semifinal.

Federer and Safin are 2 of 4 Grand Slam champions in action on Friday as 2003 US Open winner Andy Roddick and last year’s Australian Open champ Novak Djokovic also look to advance to the last 16 here.

Fabrice Santoro bids to become the oldest man to win 3 matches at the Australian Open since 43-year-old Ken Rosewall in December 1977.

Amer Delic, the first lucky loser through to this stage here since 1991, attempts to become the first lucky loser to reach the Australian Open last 16.

Juan Martin del Potro is the sole carrier of Argentine hopes after his 8 countrymen failed to reach the 3rd round, marking the first time since 2001 that only one Argentine has reached the 3rd round here.

Yen-Hsun Lu is the first man from Chinese Taipei to contest a Grand Slam 3rd round and is bidding to match the best result by any player from his country after Su-Wei Hsieh reached the women’s round of 16 here last year.

NO. 2 ROGER FEDERER (SUI) v NO. 26 MARAT SAFIN (RUS)

Head-to-head: Federer leads 9-2
2001 AMS Rome Clay (O) R32 Federer 46 64 76(5)
2002 Davis Cup WG-1R Clay (I) R1 Federer 75 61 62
2002 AMS Hamburg Clay (O) FR Federer 61 63 64
2002 Moscow Carpet (I) QF Safin 75 64
2004 Australian Open Hard (O) FR Federer 76(3) 64 62
2004 Dubai Hard (O) R32 Federer 76(2) 76(4)
2004 Tennis Masters Cup Hard (O) SF Federer 63 76(18)
2005 Australian Open Hard (O) SF Safin 57 64 57 76(6) 97
2005 Halle Grass (O) FR Federer 64 67(6) 64
2007 Wimbledon Grass (O) R32 Federer 61 64 76(4)
2008 Wimbledon Grass (O) SF Federer 63 76(3) 64

The Federer-Safin rivalry extends to a 12th career meeting and 3rd at the Australian Open. The former Australian Open champions and former world No.1s have met in 3 finals and 3 semifinals.

The 2005 event was the scene of Safin’s last victory over Federer, where in the semifinals he saved a match point in the fourth-set tiebreak before going on to win the match and the title.

Federer and Safin also contested the joint longest tiebreak in singles history at the 2004 Tennis Masters Cup in Houston, Federer winning the second set tiebreak 20-18.

Federer, Safin and Rafael Nadal are the only 3 players left in the men’s draw with multiple Grand Slam titles.
.

FEDERERvSAFIN
27Age28*
2ATP Ranking27
57Titles15
164-25Career Grand Slam Record94-34
43-6Australian Open Record31-7
626-153Career Record411-252
369-81Career Record - Hard206-131
5-12009 Record4-2
5-12009 Record - Hard4-2
12-11Career Five-Set Record28-12
3Comebacks from 0-2 Down1
242-128Career Tiebreak Record206-176
3-02009 Tiebreak Record3-2
*turns 29 on 27 January

FEDERER, champion here in 2004 and 2006-07, is through to the 3rd round for the 8th straight year. He lost at this stage on his first two appearances here in 2000 and 2001.

Federer defeated Andreas Seppi 61 76 75 in the first round and qualifier Evgeny Korolev 62 63 61 in the 2nd.

Federer’s victory over Korolev in the 2nd round moved him past Boris Becker and into 7th place for most Open Era Grand Slam match wins (164-25).

Federer is playing his 37th consecutive Grand Slam, the second longest active streak behind Fabrice Santoro (42 straight majors).

The last time Federer failed to reach the round of 16 at a Slam was 2004 Roland Garros, when as top seed he fell in the 3rd round to Gustavo Kuerten.

The last time the No. 2 seed failed to reach the round of 16 at the Australian Open was in 2002, when Gustavo Kuerten lost in the opening round.

Last year, Federer reached the Australian Open semifinals for the 5th successive year, falling to eventual champion Novak Djokovic 75 63 76, ending a run of 10 straight Grand Slam final appearances.

Despite winning four titles and maintaining his streak of winning at least one Grand Slam title a year since 2003, Federer lost his No. 1 ranking to Rafael Nadal in 2008, after a reign of 237 consecutive weeks.Heis seeded No. 2 at a Slam for the first time since the 2004 Australian Open.

Federer won the 2008 US Open (d. Andy Murray in the final), his 13th Grand Slam title, placing him just one short of Pete Sampras’s all-time record of 14.

Federer started his 2009 season at Doha and advanced to the semifinals before losing to eventual champion Andy Murray 67 62 62. He then won the Kooyong exhibition event last week (d. Stanislas Wawrinka in the final).

Federer has been without a permanent coach since splitting from Tony Roche in May 2007 but is being assisted here by Swiss Davis Cup captain Severin Luthi, as he has at the last few majors.

2005 champion SAFIN defeated Ivan Navarro 63 63 64 in the first round and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 75 62 62 in the 2nd.

Safin is contesting his 10th Australian Open, his 38th Grand Slam and possibly his last, having mentioned that this may be his final year on the tour.

Safin was runner-up here in 2002 and 2004, before winning the title in 2005 over Lleyton Hewitt. He is also the 2000 US Open champion.

Melbourne Park is the home of Safin’s last career title. Since lifting the trophy in 2005, he has gone beyond the round of 16 at a Grand Slam just once (2008 Wimbledon) and reached only three tournament finals.

Last year, Safin turned around a poor first five months of the season (where he ranked as low as No. 93 in April) by reaching the semifinals of Wimbledon for the first time. Ranked No. 75, he upset world No. 3 Novak Djokovic in the 2nd round and No. 9 Stanislas Wawrinka in the 4th before losing to Roger Federer 63 76 64 in the semis. In October he reached his first final in two years at Moscow and re-entered the Top 30 the following month. He plays here ranked No. 27.

Safin played one tournament before arriving in Melbourne, teaming up with sister Dinara Safina to represent Russia at the 2009 Hopman Cup in Perth. Together they finished runner-up to Slovak Republic, Safin posting a 2-2 singles record during the week with defeats over Simone Bolelli and Yen-Hsun Lu.

Safin was due to play the Kooyong exhibition event last week, but withdrew after deciding to rest a sore neck which had developed during Hopman Cup.

Safin is coached by Hernan Gurny.

NO. 3 NOVAK DJOKOVIC (SRB) v (LL) AMER DELIC (USA)

Head-to-head: Djokovic leads 1-0
2007 Wimbledon Grass (O) R64 Djokovic 63 36 63 76(4)

DJOKOVICvDELIC
21Age26
3ATP Ranking127
11Titles0
53-15Career Grand Slam Record7-9
12-3Australian Open Record5-3
194-72Career Record24-47
114-41Career Record - Hard21-37
4-22009 Record2-1
4-22009 Record - Hard2-1
8-3Career Five-Set Record3-2
1Comebacks from 0-2 Down1
78-38Career Tiebreak Record16-23
0-12009 Tiebreak Record2-2

DJOKOVIC has advanced to the 3rd round with 2 straight-sets victories, defeating qualifier Andrea Stoppini 62 63 75 in the 1st round and Jeremy Chardy 75 61 63 in the 2nd round.

This is Djokovic’s 5th straight appearance at the Australian Open. Last year, he won his sole Grand Slam title to date by defeating Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 46 64 63 76 in the final, to become the 50th member of the Grand Slam title club.

The last time that the Australian Open defending champion failed to reach the round of 16 was in 1998. (Petr Korda lost at this stage to Todd Martin) (Note – since 1998, 3 champions did not return to defend the title.). There have been 9 successful title defences at the Australian Open in the Open Era.

En route to the title last year, Djokovic ended Roger Federer’s run of 10 straight Grand Slam finals by defeating the three-time Australian Open champion in the semifinals. Djokovic is the only man other than Federer or Rafael Nadal to win a major since 2005 Roland Garros.

Djokovic has been ranked No. 3 for all but 1 week since 9 July 2007. He has 3 times come within one victory of claiming the No. 2 ranking (2008 AMS Hamburg, 2008 Roland Garros and at Sydney last week).

Djokovic has won both of his previous matches against lucky losers at Grand Slam tournaments.

Djokovic played 2 events before coming here, losing in the 1st round at Brisbane (to Ernests Gulbis) before taking a wildcard into Sydney and reaching the semifinals (l. Jarkko Nieminen 64 76).

Djokovic ended the 2008 season by winning the Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai, his 11th career title and 8th on hard court.

Djokovic is coached by Marian Vajda.

DELIC has advanced to the 3rd round of a Grand Slam for the first time. He defeated Taylor Dent 64 36 46 63 64 in the 1st round and No. 28 seed Paul-Henri Mathieu 16 36 63 76 97.

Delic had lost his previous 5 second-round matches at Grand Slams.

Winning the first two matches in 5 sets at the Australian Open is not such a rare feat. In the last 6 years, 3 players – Felix Mantilla (2003), Thomas Johansson (2005) and Dominik Hrbaty (2006) - have won their first three matches in five sets.

Delic entered the main draw as a lucky loser after Nicolas Kiefer withdrew with a left ankle injury that he sustained at the Hopman Cup. He had lost in the final round of qualifying to Florian Mayer (GER) after defeating Matteo Marrai (ITA) and Lukas Dlouhy (CZE)

Delic is the 1st lucky loser to reach the 3rd round here since Glenn Layendecker in 1991. He is bidding to become the 1st lucky loser to advance to the last 16 here and just the 5th lucky loser to advance to the round of 16 at any Grand Slam after Rolf Gehring (1977 Roland Garros), Stanislav Birner (1978 Roland Garros), John McCurdy (1983 Wimbledon) and Dick Norman (1995 Wimbledon). (2 lucky losers also reached the last 16 at 1973 Wimbledon but there were a total of 50 lucky losers that year in total due to a player boycott.)

Delic has a 1-4 win-loss record against Top 10 players. His sole victory came at 2007 AMS Miami (d. No. 4 Nikolay Davydenko).

Delic is 1 of 3 Americans through to the 3rd round here, along with Mardy Fish and Andy Roddick, He could also be joined by James Blake, who is playing Sebastien de Chaunac in Thursday’s night match on MCA. There have been 5 Americans in the 3rd round here for each of the last 2 years.

Delic qualified at Brisbane and lost in the 1st round to Mario Ancic 76 67 76.

Delic reached his first 2 career quarterfinals in 2008, at Las Vegas and Los Angeles, both on hard court.

Delic is coached by Craig O’Shennessy.

NO. 7 ANDY RODDICK (USA) v FABRICE SANTORO (FRA)

Head-to-head: Roddick leads 3-1
2000 Washington Hard (O) R32 Roddick 46 63 63
2005 Lyon Carpet (I) SF Roddick 64 76(5)
2007 Lyon Carpet (I) R32 Santoro 76(5) 26 64
2008 US Open Hard (O) R128 Roddick 62 62 62

RODDICKvSANTORO
26Age36
9ATP Ranking60
26Titles6
92-30Career Grand Slam Record62-65
27-7Australian Open Record22-16
465-149Career Record457-427
313-92Career Record - Hard236-199
6-12009 Record2-1
6-12009 Record - Hard2-1
10-12Career Five-Set Record20-15
2Comebacks from 0-2 Down1
225-137Career Tiebreak Record156-129
2-02009 Tiebreak Record0-1

World No. 9 RODDICK has advanced to the 3rd round with victories against 2 qualifiers, Bjorn Rehnquist and Xavier Malisse in the 1st two rounds, maintaining his perfect record against qualifiers at Grand Slams.

Last year

, Roddick lost at this stage to Philipp Kohlschreiber in five sets, his earliest exit since falling in the 2nd round on his Australian Open debut in 2002.

Roddick has reached the Australian Open semifinals 3 times, in 2003 (l. Rainer Schuettler), 2005 (l. Lleyton Hewitt) and 2007 (l. Roger Federer).

Roddick won his sole Grand Slam title to date at the 2003 US Open (d. Juan Carlos Ferrero in the final). He is 1 of 5 Grand Slam champions still alive in this year’s men’s draw, along with Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer and Marat Safin who play each other today.

Roddick was the last American male winner of a Grand Slam tournament (see above). 21 majors later, this is the longest gap between Grand Slam triumphs for American men. Roddick is also the last American Grand Slam finalist – he finished runner-up to Roger Federer at the 2006 US Open.

Roddick is 1 of 3 Americans through to the 3rd round here, along with Mardy Fish and Amer Delic. He could also be joined by James Blake, who is playing Sebastien DeChaunac in Wednesday’s night match on MCA. There have been 5 Americans in the 3rd round here for each of the last 3 years.

Roddick began his 2009 season with a runner-up finish at Doha (l. Andy Murray).

Roddick finished 2008 ranked No. 8, his lowest year-end ranking for 6 years but his 7th consecutive year in the Top 10 (the most among active players with Roger Federer). He won 3 titles – all on hard court – at San Jose, Dubai and Beijing, to maintain his record of winning at least one title for the past 8 years.

Roddick sits in 3rd place for most career hard court titles among active players (16), behind Roger Federer (38) and Lleyton Hewitt (19). He has won a total of 26 titles in his career.

Roddick began working with Larry Stefanki at the end of 2008. He split from Jimmy Connors last summer.

SANTORO

advanced to the 3rd round here for the 7th time by defeating No. 32 seed Philipp Kohlschreiber 57 75 36 75 63 in the 2nd round. He had defeated Juan Carlos Ferrero 63 62 67 62 in the 1st round.

Santoro was the oldest man to start in the men’s draw, having turned 36 in December. He is the oldest man to advance to the 3rd round at the Australian Open since Ken Rosewall and Bob Carmichael in 1978 As this was a 64-draw, Rosewall and Carmichael are also the last two players older than Santoro to reach the last 16. If Santoro wins today, he will become the oldest man to win three matches at the Australian Open since Rosewall won 3 matches to advance to the quarterfinals in the December 1977 Australian Open (also 64-draw).

Santoro is the oldest man to appear in the 3rd round of a Grand Slam since Wayne Arthurs at 2007 Wimbledon and is bidding to be the oldest man to reach the last 16 at a Slam since 39-year-old Jimmy Connors at the 1991 US Open.

Santoro produced his best Australian Open – and Grand Slam – result here in 2006, when he reached his 1st Grand Slam quarterfinal in his 54th major. (No man has appeared in more Grand Slams before reaching his 1st quarterfinal.)

This is Santoro’s 66th major overall and he holds the men’s Open Era record for the most Grand Slam appearances. (Amy Frazier (71) and Martina Navratilova (67) are the 2 women to have made more appearances at majors in the Open Era.) He also holds the longest ongoing streak of appearances among active players – this is his 42nd straight Slam.

Santoro began the year at Doha, losing to Rafael Nadal in the 1st round.

Santoro has said that this will be his last year on tour. To date, he has won 6 singles titles, including 3 on hard court. His most recent title came at Newport (grass) in 2008. He has won 24 doubles titles, including two here with Michael Llodra in 2003-04.

Santoro lost all 6 meetings with Top 10 players last year. His last victory against a Top 10 player was against No. 3 Novak Djokovic in the 2nd round at 2007 AMS Paris. His overall win-loss record against Top 10 players before coming here is 40-85.

Santoro has no coach at present.

NO. 8 JUAN MARTIN DEL POTRO (ARG) v GILLES MULLER (LUX)

Head-to-head: first meeting
Both players celebrated their Grand Slam breakthrough at last year’s US Open, where they reached their first ever Grand Slam quarterfinal. They have also both advanced to the 3rd round here for the first time.

DEL POTROvMULLER
20Age25
6ATP Ranking87
5Titles0
13-10Career Grand Slam Record12-12
4-2Australian Open Record4-4
90-53Career Record70-71
57-34Career Record - Hard49-43
6-02009 Record3-1
6-02009 Record - Hard3-1
2-1Career Five-Set Record6-2
0Comebacks from 0-2 Down2
19-23Career Tiebreak Record41-37
0-02009 Tiebreak Record1-0

DEL POTRO

is into the 3rd round of the Australian Open for the first time. He defeated Mischa Zverev 63 64 62 in the first round and qualifier Florian Mayer 61 75 62 in the 2nd.

Del Potro is enjoying an injury-free Australian Open so far.In 2007 he retired with cramping in the 2nd round, and last year retired in the 2nd round with a back injury when trailing David Ferrer two sets to love.

Del Potro is attempting to advance beyond the 3rd round for just the 2nd time at a Slam, on the back of his breakthrough quarterfinal finish at the 2008 US Open.

Del Potro is the last remaining Argentine in the men’s draw from the 9 to start. This is the first time since 2001 that there has been no more than one Argentine through to the 3rd round here. In 2008, Del Potro was the only Argentine to reach the round of 16 at a Slam.

Del Potro is so far undefeated this year. Last week he won his 5th career title at Auckland, defeating Sam Querrey 64 64 in the final.

Del Potro faces another lefthander today following his first round meeting with Zverev. He has won 11 of his last 13 matches against lefthanders, the two defeats being to Feliciano Lopez.

Del Potro had a breakthrough year in 2008. Having not previously won a tournament, he won four straight events in July-August and built a 23-match winning streak which ended in the US Open quarterfinals. His ranking improved from No. 65 to No. 9 in the second half of the year, and at 20 years old, he was the youngest player to finish in the Top 10 in 2008.

Del Potro plays here on a career-high ranking of No. 6.

Del Potro has been coached by Franco Davin since March 2008. Davin helped Gaston Gaudio to the Roland Garros title in 2004.

MULLER is also into his first Australian Open 3rd round. He upset No. 27 seed Feliciano Lopez 63 76 46 46 1614 in the first round and wildcard Bernard Tomic 36 61 64 62 in the 2nd.

Muller’s five-set victory over Lopez maintained his perfect 4-0 five-set record at Grand Slam events.

At his 2008 US Open breakthrough, Muller became the first qualifier to reach the US Open quarterfinals since Nicolas Escude in 1999. It was his first Grand Slam appearance for over a year, having dropped out of the Top 100 for almost 2 years.

Before coming here, Muller reached the 2nd round at Auckland (l. Sam Querrey).

In addition to his run to the US Open quarterfinals, Muller won two challenger titles in 2008 and finished the year inside the Top 100 for the first time in 3 years.

Muller also enjoyed an excellent junior career. He was ITF Junior World Champion in 2001 after winning the US Open boys’ singles and finishing runner-up at Wimbledon, as well as reaching the semifinals here that year.

Muller is coached by Boris Vallejo.

NO. 11 DAVID FERRER (ESP) v NO. 19 MARIN CILIC (CRO)

Head-to-head: first meeting
FERRERvCILIC
26Age20
12ATP Ranking20
7Titles2
46-24Career Grand Slam Record11-7
13-6Australian Open Record5-2
251-166Career Record63-50
98-75Career Record - Hard37-23
3-12009 Record7-0
3-12009 Record - Hard7-0
10-2Career Five-Set Record2-3
2Comebacks from 0-2 Down0
56-58Career Tiebreak Record19-25
0-42009 Tiebreak Record1-1

FERRER has advanced to the Australian Open 3rd round for the 4th straight year. He defeated Denis Gremelmayr 61 67 61 67 64 in the 1st round and Dominik Hrbaty 62 62 61 in the 2nd round.

Ferrer is making his 7th consecutive Australian Open appearance and is bidding to reach the Australian Open last 16 for the 4th straight year.

Ferrer is 1 of 5 Spaniards through to the 3rd round and he could be joined by a 6th if Marcel Granollers upsets Andy Murray in Thursday’s night session. [A record 6 Spaniards advanced to the 3rd round here in 2003. The most Spanish men to advance to the round of 16 here is 3 in 1997, 2007 and 2008.]

Last year, Ferrer had his best Australian Open result, advancing to the quarterfinals here for the first time before losing to eventual champion Novak Djokovic.

Ferrer achieved his best Grand Slam result at the 2007 US Open, advancing to the semifinals (l. Novak Djokovic).

Ferrer warmed up for Melbourne at Auckland last week, reaching the semifinals (l. Sam Querrey 36 63 76).

Ferrer finished 2008 ranked No. 12, having won titles at Valencia (clay) and ’s-Hertogenbosch (grass) and finished runner-up at Barcelona.

Ferrer was also part of the Spanish team that won its third Davis Cup title in Argentina in November. He lost to David Nalbandian in the opening rubber but Spain went on to win the tie 3-1.

Ferrer has won 7 titles in his career, including 2 on hardcourt (2007 Auckland and 2007 Tokyo)

Ferrer has been coached by Javier Piles since he was a junior.

CILIC defeated Kevin Anderson 63 62 67 63 in the 1st round and Janko Tipsarevic 62 63 46 63 in the 2nd.

This is Cilic’s 3rd Australian Open. After losing in the first round in 2007, Cilic broke through to his first Grand Slam round of 16 in 2008 when he upset 7th seed and 2007 runner-up Fernando Gonzalez in the 3rd round. He then fell to James Blake.

Cilic then equalled his best Grand Slam performance, reaching the round of 16 at 2008 Wimbledon.

Cilic is bidding to ensure Croatian representation in the last 16 here for the 4th successive year.

Cilic won his 2nd career and hard court title at Chennai two weeks ago, defeating wildcard Somdev Devvarman 64 76 in the final. He subsequently reached a career-high ranking of No. 20 last week.

Two of the last 3 winners of the Chennai title have gone on to reach the quarterfinals here – Ivan Ljubicic in 2006 and Mikhail Youzhny last year – the furthest that a Chennai winner has gone in the Australian Open.

Cilic finished 2008 as Croatian No. 1 for the first time, ending the season ranked No. 22. He won his maiden title at New Haven (hard) and reached the semifinals at Chennai (hard) and at Nottingham (grass).

At No. 19, Cilic is seeded for the 2nd time at a Grand Slam and at his highest, having been seeded 30 at the 2008 US Open.

Cilic is coached by Bob Brett and practises at his academy in San Remo, Italy.

NO. 15 STANISLAS WAWRINKA (SUI) v NO. 20 TOMAS BERDYCH (CZE)

Head-to-head: Berdych leads 3-2
2005 AMS Rome Clay (O) R64 Wawrinka 61 64
2007 Davis Cup (WG-PO) Carpet (I) R2 Berdych 76(2) 64 75
2007 Basel Hard (I) R16 Berdych 75 64
2008 AMS Indian Wells Hard (O) R64 Wawrinka 26 76(3) 64
2008 AMS Paris Hard (I) R32 Berdych 63 75

WAWRINKAvBERDYCH
23Age23
16ATP Ranking21
1Titles4
26-15Career Grand Slam Record38-21
6-3Australian Open Record10-5
112-97Career Record188-119
53-47Career Record - Hard97-66
2-12009 Record3-2
2-12009 Record - Hard3-2
11-4Career Five-Set Record10-3
4Comebacks from 0-2 Down2
47-61Career Tiebreak Record68-59
1-02009 Tiebreak Record0-1

WAWRINKA

is attempting to advance to the round of 16 here for the first time.He defeated Ivo Minar 61 26 75 76 in the 1st round and wildcard Brydan Klein 63 64 64 in the 2nd round.

The round of 16 is Wawrinka’s best Grand Slam performance. He has reached this stage 3 times, including at both of the last 2 Slams, 2008 Wimbledon and the 2008 US Open.

Wawrinka lost in the 1st round at Chennai in the first week of the season and then finished runner-up to Roger Federer at the Kooyong exhibition event.

Wawrinka had his highest year-end ranking in 2008 at No. 13. His highlights were runner-up finishes at Doha and AMS Rome, and reaching the semifinals at Barcelona and Gstaad, in addition to his two round-of-16 finishes at Wimbledon and the US Open.

Wawrinka won the doubles gold medal at the Beijing Olympic Tennis Event with friend Roger Federer, who he could meet in the next round on Sunday should they both win their matches today.

Wawrinka has been coached by Dimitri Zavialoff since 1993.

BERDYCH

is bidding to advance to the round of 16 here for the 3rd straight year. He defeated Robby Ginepri 64 64 63 in the 1st round, and Brian Dabul 61 61 63 in the 2nd.

Berdych has reached the round of 16 at all 4 Slams, and broke through to his only Grand Slam quarterfinal to date at 2007 Wimbledon (l. Rafael Nadal).

Berdych finished 2008 in the Top 20 for the 3rd straight year and won his 4th career title, and first on hard court, at Tokyo.

Ahead of the 2009 Australian Open, Berdych competed at Brisbane (l. 2nd round to Kei Nishikori) and Sydney (l. first round to Chris Guccione).

Berdych began the 2009 season under the guidance of new coach Tomas Krupa.

NO. 21 TOMMY ROBREDO (ESP) v YEN-HSUN LU (TPE)

Head-to-head: Robredo leads 1-0
2006 Tokyo Hard (O) R32 Robredo 64 61

ROBREDOvLU
26Age25
22ATP Ranking61
7Titles0
64-32Career Grand Slam Record6-12
13-8Australian Open Record3-4
341-207Career Record40-63
146-105Career Record - Hard30-47
3-12009 Record3-3
3-12009 Record - Hard3-3
9-4Career Five-Set Record6-3
2Comebacks from 0-2 Down0
111-88Career Tiebreak Record23-21
0-02009 Tiebreak Record2-2

ROBREDO

defeated Bobby Reynolds 62 75 61 in the first round and Viktor Troicki 61 63 60 in the 2nd round.

This is Robredo’s 33rd consecutive Grand Slam event. His best results over the past 8 years have been quarterfinal finishes at 2003, 2005 and 2007 Roland Garros and also the 2007 Australian Open.

At No. 21, Robredo has received his lowest seeding at the Australian Open since 2003.

Robredo finished 2008 outside of the Top 20 for the first time in 5 years. Highlights of his season include winning his 7th career title at Bastad and finishing runner-up at Warsaw.

Robredo competed at Sydney before arriving in Melbourne, falling in the 2nd round to Mario Ancic.

Robredo helped Spain to the Davis Cup final last year, winning both his singles matches in the first round against Peru. As part of the winning 2008 team, Robredo was presented with his own replica Davis Cup trophy on site on Wednesday.

Robredo is coached by Jose Clavet.

LU is into the 3rd round of a Grand Slam for the first time, after upsetting No. 10 seed David Nalbandian 64 57 46 64 62 on Wednesday. He defeated Thomaz Bellucci in the first round.

In reaching the 3rd round, Lu became the first man from Chinese Taipei to reach the 3rd round of a Slam (Open Era). Today he is attempting to join Su-Wei Hsieh as the only players to appear in the round of 16 of a major in the Open Era. Su-Wei Hsieh became the first woman to do so at last year’s Australian Open.

If Lu wins today, he will also become just the 2nd Asian man in Open Era history to reach the round of 16 at the Australian Open. Thailand’s Paradorn Srichaphan reached that stage here in 2004.

Lu started 2009 at the Hopman Cup, losing both of his singles matches. (He pulled out of his 3rd match with a quad injury.) He then reached the 2nd round at Auckland last week (l. Nicolas Almagro).

Lu’s best results in 2008 were two quarterfinal finishes on hard court at San Jose and Indianapolis. He produced the biggest win of his career over Andy Murray in the first round of the Beijing Olympic Tennis Event.

Lu plays here on a career-high ranking of No. 61. He earned his highest year-end ranking of No. 64 in 2008.

Lu is coached by Dirk Hordorff in Germany.

NO. 23 MARDY FISH (USA) v MARCOS BAGHDATIS (CYP)

Head-to-head: first meeting

FISHvBAGHDATIS
27Age23
24ATP Ranking97
2Titles2
27-24Career Grand Slam Record32-16
12-6Australian Open Record14-4
177-147Career Record134-72
135-99Career Record - Hard65-46
2-22009 Record2-1
2-22009 Record - Hard2-1
2-5Career Five-Set Record8-5
0Comebacks from 0-2 Down1
64-86Career Tiebreak Record56-34
0-22009 Tiebreak Record1-0

FISH has advanced to the Australian Open 3rd round for the 3rd time. He defeated wildcard Sam Groth 67 64 75 60 in the 1st round and Simone Bolelli 64 61 75 in the 2nd.

Fish fell in the 3rd round here both last year (to Jarkko Nieminen) and in 2003 (to Wayne Ferreira).

Fish’s best Australian Open result is a quarterfinal finish in 2007 (l. Andy Roddick).

Fish equalled his best Grand Slam performance when reaching the quarterfinals at last year’s US Open (l. Rafael Nadal).

Fish is 1 of 3 Americans through to the 3rd round here, along with Andy Roddick and Amer Delic, He could also be joined by James Blake, who is playing Sebastien de Chaunac in Wednesday’s night match on MCA. There have been 5 Americans in the 3rd round here for each of the last 2 years.

Fish lost both matches before he came here – to Jurgen Melzer in the 1st round at Brisbane, and to Janko Tipsarevic at Sydney last week.

Fish enjoyed a good 2008, finishing runner-up at AMS Indian Wells and New Haven as well as matching his best Grand Slam result when reaching the quarterfinals at the US Open. He ended the year ranked No. 23, his highest year-end ranking since 2003.

Fish has won 1 title on hard court, at 2003 Stockholm.

Fish is playing his first Grand Slam as a married man, having married Stacey Gardner last September. Gardner is a model on US TV show ‘Deal or No Deal.’

Fish is currently being coached by Craig Boynton.

2006 runner-up BAGHDATIS has reached the 3rd round here for the 4th time in 5 years. He is bidding to reach the round of 16 for the 3rd time.

Baghdatis defeated Julien Benneteau 63 76 62 in the 1st round and upset No. 16 seed Robin Soderling 36 75 63 63 in the 2nd.

Last year

, Baghdatis lost a five-setter at this stage to Lleyton Hewitt in a match that finished at 4.34am, the latest-known finish in tennis history.

Baghdatis produced the best result of his career at the 2006 Australian Open, when ranked No. 54, and in just his 6th Grand Slam tournament, he scored three consecutive victories over Top 10 players to reach the final, where he lost to Roger Federer 57 75 60 62. That same year he reached the Wimbledon semifinals.

Before coming here, Baghdatis played at Brisbane as a wildcard, losing in the first round to Jarkko Nieminen. He then played at the Kooyong exhibition event, losing his first round match but winning his subsequent two.

Baghdatis had an injury-affected 2008. He missed the 2008 clay court season for personal reasons, and then did not play after Wimbledon due to a right wrist injury. He retired in his last 3 tournaments with a back injury. His year-end ranking dropped from No. 16 in 2007 to No. 100 last year.

This is the first time since Baghdatis’s 2006 Australian Open success that he has not been seeded at a Grand Slam.

Baghdatis owns 1 career hard court title. He won at 2006 Beijing.

Baghdatis has been coached by Olivier Soules since November 2008.

01-22-2009, 11:41 AM	#6
JakeBarkings Join Date Nov 2005 Posts 471 Senior Member	From ITF Grand Slam Media 2009 AUSTRALIAN OPEN DAY 5 MEN’S NOTESFriday 23 January 20093rd Round Bottom Half Featured matches No. 2 Roger Federer (SUI) v No. 26 Marat Safin (RUS) No. 3 Novak Djokovic (SRB) v (LL) Amer Delic (USA) No. 7 Andy Roddick (USA) v Fabrice Santoro (FRA) No. 8 Juan Martin del Potro (ARG) v Gilles Muller (LUX) No. 11 David Ferrer (ESP) v No. 19 Marin Cilic (CRO) No. 15 Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI) v No. 20 Tomas Berdych (CZE) No. 21 Tommy Robredo (ESP) v Yen-Hsun Lu (TPE) No. 23 Mardy Fish (USA) v Marcos Baghdatis (CYP) On court today… A clash between two Australian Open champions – Roger Federer and Marat Safin meet on Rod Laver Arena in a repeat of the 2004 final and their 2005 semifinal. Federer and Safin are 2 of 4 Grand Slam champions in action on Friday as 2003 US Open winner Andy Roddick and last year’s Australian Open champ Novak Djokovic also look to advance to the last 16 here. Fabrice Santoro bids to become the oldest man to win 3 matches at the Australian Open since 43-year-old Ken Rosewall in December 1977. Amer Delic, the first lucky loser through to this stage here since 1991, attempts to become the first lucky loser to reach the Australian Open last 16. Juan Martin del Potro is the sole carrier of Argentine hopes after his 8 countrymen failed to reach the 3rd round, marking the first time since 2001 that only one Argentine has reached the 3rd round here. Yen-Hsun Lu is the first man from Chinese Taipei to contest a Grand Slam 3rd round and is bidding to match the best result by any player from his country after Su-Wei Hsieh reached the women’s round of 16 here last year. NO. 2 ROGER FEDERER (SUI) v NO. 26 MARAT SAFIN (RUS) Head-to-head: Federer leads 9-2 2001 AMS Rome Clay (O) R32 Federer 46 64 76(5) 2002 Davis Cup WG-1R Clay (I) R1 Federer 75 61 62 2002 AMS Hamburg Clay (O) FR Federer 61 63 64 2002 Moscow Carpet (I) QF Safin 75 64 2004 Australian Open Hard (O) FR Federer 76(3) 64 62 2004 Dubai Hard (O) R32 Federer 76(2) 76(4) 2004 Tennis Masters Cup Hard (O) SF Federer 63 76(18) 2005 Australian Open Hard (O) SF Safin 57 64 57 76(6) 97 2005 Halle Grass (O) FR Federer 64 67(6) 64 2007 Wimbledon Grass (O) R32 Federer 61 64 76(4) 2008 Wimbledon Grass (O) SF Federer 63 76(3) 64 The Federer-Safin rivalry extends to a 12th career meeting and 3rd at the Australian Open. The former Australian Open champions and former world No.1s have met in 3 finals and 3 semifinals. The 2005 event was the scene of Safin’s last victory over Federer, where in the semifinals he saved a match point in the fourth-set tiebreak before going on to win the match and the title. Federer and Safin also contested the joint longest tiebreak in singles history at the 2004 Tennis Masters Cup in Houston, Federer winning the second set tiebreak 20-18. Federer, Safin and Rafael Nadal are the only 3 players left in the men’s draw with multiple Grand Slam titles. . FEDERERvSAFIN 27Age28* 2ATP Ranking27 57Titles15 164-25Career Grand Slam Record94-34 43-6Australian Open Record31-7 626-153Career Record411-252 369-81Career Record - Hard206-131 5-12009 Record4-2 5-12009 Record - Hard4-2 12-11Career Five-Set Record28-12 3Comebacks from 0-2 Down1 242-128Career Tiebreak Record206-176 3-02009 Tiebreak Record3-2 turns 29 on 27 January FEDERER,* champion here in 2004 and 2006-07, is through to the 3rd round for the 8th straight year. He lost at this stage on his first two appearances here in 2000 and 2001. Federer defeated Andreas Seppi 61 76 75 in the first round and qualifier Evgeny Korolev 62 63 61 in the 2nd. Federer’s victory over Korolev in the 2nd round moved him past Boris Becker and into 7th place for most Open Era Grand Slam match wins (164-25). Federer is playing his 37th consecutive Grand Slam, the second longest active streak behind Fabrice Santoro (42 straight majors). The last time Federer failed to reach the round of 16 at a Slam was 2004 Roland Garros, when as top seed he fell in the 3rd round to Gustavo Kuerten. The last time the No. 2 seed failed to reach the round of 16 at the Australian Open was in 2002, when Gustavo Kuerten lost in the opening round. Last year, Federer reached the Australian Open semifinals for the 5th successive year, falling to eventual champion Novak Djokovic 75 63 76, ending a run of 10 straight Grand Slam final appearances. Despite winning four titles and maintaining his streak of winning at least one Grand Slam title a year since 2003, Federer lost his No. 1 ranking to Rafael Nadal in 2008, after a reign of 237 consecutive weeks.Heis seeded No. 2 at a Slam for the first time since the 2004 Australian Open. Federer won the 2008 US Open (d. Andy Murray in the final), his 13th Grand Slam title, placing him just one short of Pete Sampras’s all-time record of 14. Federer started his 2009 season at Doha and advanced to the semifinals before losing to eventual champion Andy Murray 67 62 62. He then won the Kooyong exhibition event last week (d. Stanislas Wawrinka in the final). Federer has been without a permanent coach since splitting from Tony Roche in May 2007 but is being assisted here by Swiss Davis Cup captain Severin Luthi, as he has at the last few majors. 2005 champion SAFIN defeated Ivan Navarro 63 63 64 in the first round and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 75 62 62 in the 2nd. Safin is contesting his 10th Australian Open, his 38th Grand Slam and possibly his last, having mentioned that this may be his final year on the tour. Safin was runner-up here in 2002 and 2004, before winning the title in 2005 over Lleyton Hewitt. He is also the 2000 US Open champion. Melbourne Park is the home of Safin’s last career title. Since lifting the trophy in 2005, he has gone beyond the round of 16 at a Grand Slam just once (2008 Wimbledon) and reached only three tournament finals. Last year, Safin turned around a poor first five months of the season (where he ranked as low as No. 93 in April) by reaching the semifinals of Wimbledon for the first time. Ranked No. 75, he upset world No. 3 Novak Djokovic in the 2nd round and No. 9 Stanislas Wawrinka in the 4th before losing to Roger Federer 63 76 64 in the semis. In October he reached his first final in two years at Moscow and re-entered the Top 30 the following month. He plays here ranked No. 27. Safin played one tournament before arriving in Melbourne, teaming up with sister Dinara Safina to represent Russia at the 2009 Hopman Cup in Perth. Together they finished runner-up to Slovak Republic, Safin posting a 2-2 singles record during the week with defeats over Simone Bolelli and Yen-Hsun Lu. Safin was due to play the Kooyong exhibition event last week, but withdrew after deciding to rest a sore neck which had developed during Hopman Cup. Safin is coached by Hernan Gurny. NO. 3 NOVAK DJOKOVIC (SRB) v (LL) AMER DELIC (USA) Head-to-head: Djokovic leads 1-0 2007 Wimbledon Grass (O) R64 Djokovic 63 36 63 76(4) DJOKOVICvDELIC 21Age26 3ATP Ranking127 11Titles0 53-15Career Grand Slam Record7-9 12-3Australian Open Record5-3 194-72Career Record24-47 114-41Career Record - Hard21-37 4-22009 Record2-1 4-22009 Record - Hard2-1 8-3Career Five-Set Record3-2 1Comebacks from 0-2 Down1 78-38Career Tiebreak Record16-23 0-12009 Tiebreak Record2-2 DJOKOVIC has advanced to the 3rd round with 2 straight-sets victories, defeating qualifier Andrea Stoppini 62 63 75 in the 1st round and Jeremy Chardy 75 61 63 in the 2nd round. This is Djokovic’s 5th straight appearance at the Australian Open. Last year, he won his sole Grand Slam title to date by defeating Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 46 64 63 76 in the final, to become the 50th member of the Grand Slam title club. The last time that the Australian Open defending champion failed to reach the round of 16 was in 1998. (Petr Korda lost at this stage to Todd Martin) (Note – since 1998, 3 champions did not return to defend the title.). There have been 9 successful title defences at the Australian Open in the Open Era. En route to the title last year, Djokovic ended Roger Federer’s run of 10 straight Grand Slam finals by defeating the three-time Australian Open champion in the semifinals. Djokovic is the only man other than Federer or Rafael Nadal to win a major since 2005 Roland Garros. Djokovic has been ranked No. 3 for all but 1 week since 9 July 2007. He has 3 times come within one victory of claiming the No. 2 ranking (2008 AMS Hamburg, 2008 Roland Garros and at Sydney last week). Djokovic has won both of his previous matches against lucky losers at Grand Slam tournaments. Djokovic played 2 events before coming here, losing in the 1st round at Brisbane (to Ernests Gulbis) before taking a wildcard into Sydney and reaching the semifinals (l. Jarkko Nieminen 64 76). Djokovic ended the 2008 season by winning the Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai, his 11th career title and 8th on hard court. Djokovic is coached by Marian Vajda. DELIC has advanced to the 3rd round of a Grand Slam for the first time. He defeated Taylor Dent 64 36 46 63 64 in the 1st round and No. 28 seed Paul-Henri Mathieu 16 36 63 76 97. Delic had lost his previous 5 second-round matches at Grand Slams. Winning the first two matches in 5 sets at the Australian Open is not such a rare feat. In the last 6 years, 3 players – Felix Mantilla (2003), Thomas Johansson (2005) and Dominik Hrbaty (2006) - have won their first three matches in five sets. Delic entered the main draw as a lucky loser after Nicolas Kiefer withdrew with a left ankle injury that he sustained at the Hopman Cup. He had lost in the final round of qualifying to Florian Mayer (GER) after defeating Matteo Marrai (ITA) and Lukas Dlouhy (CZE) Delic is the 1st lucky loser to reach the 3rd round here since Glenn Layendecker in 1991. He is bidding to become the 1st lucky loser to advance to the last 16 here and just the 5th lucky loser to advance to the round of 16 at any Grand Slam after Rolf Gehring (1977 Roland Garros), Stanislav Birner (1978 Roland Garros), John McCurdy (1983 Wimbledon) and Dick Norman (1995 Wimbledon). (2 lucky losers also reached the last 16 at 1973 Wimbledon but there were a total of 50 lucky losers that year in total due to a player boycott.) Delic has a 1-4 win-loss record against Top 10 players. His sole victory came at 2007 AMS Miami (d. No. 4 Nikolay Davydenko). Delic is 1 of 3 Americans through to the 3rd round here, along with Mardy Fish and Andy Roddick, He could also be joined by James Blake, who is playing Sebastien de Chaunac in Thursday’s night match on MCA. There have been 5 Americans in the 3rd round here for each of the last 2 years. Delic qualified at Brisbane and lost in the 1st round to Mario Ancic 76 67 76. Delic reached his first 2 career quarterfinals in 2008, at Las Vegas and Los Angeles, both on hard court. Delic is coached by Craig O’Shennessy. NO. 7 ANDY RODDICK (USA) v FABRICE SANTORO (FRA) Head-to-head: Roddick leads 3-1 2000 Washington Hard (O) R32 Roddick 46 63 63 2005 Lyon Carpet (I) SF Roddick 64 76(5) 2007 Lyon Carpet (I) R32 Santoro 76(5) 26 64 2008 US Open Hard (O) R128 Roddick 62 62 62 RODDICKvSANTORO 26Age36 9ATP Ranking60 26Titles6 92-30Career Grand Slam Record62-65 27-7Australian Open Record22-16 465-149Career Record457-427 313-92Career Record - Hard236-199 6-12009 Record2-1 6-12009 Record - Hard2-1 10-12Career Five-Set Record20-15 2Comebacks from 0-2 Down1 225-137Career Tiebreak Record156-129 2-02009 Tiebreak Record0-1 World No. 9 RODDICK has advanced to the 3rd round with victories against 2 qualifiers, Bjorn Rehnquist and Xavier Malisse in the 1st two rounds, maintaining his perfect record against qualifiers at Grand Slams. Last year , Roddick lost at this stage to Philipp Kohlschreiber in five sets, his earliest exit since falling in the 2nd round on his Australian Open debut in 2002. Roddick has reached the Australian Open semifinals 3 times, in 2003 (l. Rainer Schuettler), 2005 (l. Lleyton Hewitt) and 2007 (l. Roger Federer). Roddick won his sole Grand Slam title to date at the 2003 US Open (d. Juan Carlos Ferrero in the final). He is 1 of 5 Grand Slam champions still alive in this year’s men’s draw, along with Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer and Marat Safin who play each other today. Roddick was the last American male winner of a Grand Slam tournament (see above). 21 majors later, this is the longest gap between Grand Slam triumphs for American men. Roddick is also the last American Grand Slam finalist – he finished runner-up to Roger Federer at the 2006 US Open. Roddick is 1 of 3 Americans through to the 3rd round here, along with Mardy Fish and Amer Delic. He could also be joined by James Blake, who is playing Sebastien DeChaunac in Wednesday’s night match on MCA. There have been 5 Americans in the 3rd round here for each of the last 3 years. Roddick began his 2009 season with a runner-up finish at Doha (l. Andy Murray). Roddick finished 2008 ranked No. 8, his lowest year-end ranking for 6 years but his 7th consecutive year in the Top 10 (the most among active players with Roger Federer). He won 3 titles – all on hard court – at San Jose, Dubai and Beijing, to maintain his record of winning at least one title for the past 8 years. Roddick sits in 3rd place for most career hard court titles among active players (16), behind Roger Federer (38) and Lleyton Hewitt (19). He has won a total of 26 titles in his career. Roddick began working with Larry Stefanki at the end of 2008. He split from Jimmy Connors last summer. SANTORO advanced to the 3rd round here for the 7th time by defeating No. 32 seed Philipp Kohlschreiber 57 75 36 75 63 in the 2nd round. He had defeated Juan Carlos Ferrero 63 62 67 62 in the 1st round. Santoro was the oldest man to start in the men’s draw, having turned 36 in December. He is the oldest man to advance to the 3rd round at the Australian Open since Ken Rosewall and Bob Carmichael in 1978 As this was a 64-draw, Rosewall and Carmichael are also the last two players older than Santoro to reach the last 16. If Santoro wins today, he will become the oldest man to win three matches at the Australian Open since Rosewall won 3 matches to advance to the quarterfinals in the December 1977 Australian Open (also 64-draw). Santoro is the oldest man to appear in the 3rd round of a Grand Slam since Wayne Arthurs at 2007 Wimbledon and is bidding to be the oldest man to reach the last 16 at a Slam since 39-year-old Jimmy Connors at the 1991 US Open. Santoro produced his best Australian Open – and Grand Slam – result here in 2006, when he reached his 1st Grand Slam quarterfinal in his 54th major. (No man has appeared in more Grand Slams before reaching his 1st quarterfinal.) This is Santoro’s 66th major overall and he holds the men’s Open Era record for the most Grand Slam appearances. (Amy Frazier (71) and Martina Navratilova (67) are the 2 women to have made more appearances at majors in the Open Era.) He also holds the longest ongoing streak of appearances among active players – this is his 42nd straight Slam. Santoro began the year at Doha, losing to Rafael Nadal in the 1st round. Santoro has said that this will be his last year on tour. To date, he has won 6 singles titles, including 3 on hard court. His most recent title came at Newport (grass) in 2008. He has won 24 doubles titles, including two here with Michael Llodra in 2003-04. Santoro lost all 6 meetings with Top 10 players last year. His last victory against a Top 10 player was against No. 3 Novak Djokovic in the 2nd round at 2007 AMS Paris. His overall win-loss record against Top 10 players before coming here is 40-85. Santoro has no coach at present. NO. 8 JUAN MARTIN DEL POTRO (ARG) v GILLES MULLER (LUX) Head-to-head: first meeting Both players celebrated their Grand Slam breakthrough at last year’s US Open, where they reached their first ever Grand Slam quarterfinal. They have also both advanced to the 3rd round here for the first time. DEL POTROvMULLER 20Age25 6ATP Ranking87 5Titles0 13-10Career Grand Slam Record12-12 4-2Australian Open Record4-4 90-53Career Record70-71 57-34Career Record - Hard49-43 6-02009 Record3-1 6-02009 Record - Hard3-1 2-1Career Five-Set Record6-2 0Comebacks from 0-2 Down2 19-23Career Tiebreak Record41-37 0-02009 Tiebreak Record1-0 DEL POTRO is into the 3rd round of the Australian Open for the first time. He defeated Mischa Zverev 63 64 62 in the first round and qualifier Florian Mayer 61 75 62 in the 2nd. Del Potro is enjoying an injury-free Australian Open so far.In 2007 he retired with cramping in the 2nd round, and last year retired in the 2nd round with a back injury when trailing David Ferrer two sets to love. Del Potro is attempting to advance beyond the 3rd round for just the 2nd time at a Slam, on the back of his breakthrough quarterfinal finish at the 2008 US Open. Del Potro is the last remaining Argentine in the men’s draw from the 9 to start. This is the first time since 2001 that there has been no more than one Argentine through to the 3rd round here. In 2008, Del Potro was the only Argentine to reach the round of 16 at a Slam. Del Potro is so far undefeated this year. Last week he won his 5th career title at Auckland, defeating Sam Querrey 64 64 in the final. Del Potro faces another lefthander today following his first round meeting with Zverev. He has won 11 of his last 13 matches against lefthanders, the two defeats being to Feliciano Lopez. Del Potro had a breakthrough year in 2008. Having not previously won a tournament, he won four straight events in July-August and built a 23-match winning streak which ended in the US Open quarterfinals. His ranking improved from No. 65 to No. 9 in the second half of the year, and at 20 years old, he was the youngest player to finish in the Top 10 in 2008. Del Potro plays here on a career-high ranking of No. 6. Del Potro has been coached by Franco Davin since March 2008. Davin helped Gaston Gaudio to the Roland Garros title in 2004. MULLER is also into his first Australian Open 3rd round. He upset No. 27 seed Feliciano Lopez 63 76 46 46 1614 in the first round and wildcard Bernard Tomic 36 61 64 62 in the 2nd. Muller’s five-set victory over Lopez maintained his perfect 4-0 five-set record at Grand Slam events. At his 2008 US Open breakthrough, Muller became the first qualifier to reach the US Open quarterfinals since Nicolas Escude in 1999. It was his first Grand Slam appearance for over a year, having dropped out of the Top 100 for almost 2 years. Before coming here, Muller reached the 2nd round at Auckland (l. Sam Querrey). In addition to his run to the US Open quarterfinals, Muller won two challenger titles in 2008 and finished the year inside the Top 100 for the first time in 3 years. Muller also enjoyed an excellent junior career. He was ITF Junior World Champion in 2001 after winning the US Open boys’ singles and finishing runner-up at Wimbledon, as well as reaching the semifinals here that year. Muller is coached by Boris Vallejo. NO. 11 DAVID FERRER (ESP) v NO. 19 MARIN CILIC (CRO) Head-to-head: first meeting FERRERvCILIC 26Age20 12ATP Ranking20 7Titles2 46-24Career Grand Slam Record11-7 13-6Australian Open Record5-2 251-166Career Record63-50 98-75Career Record - Hard37-23 3-12009 Record7-0 3-12009 Record - Hard7-0 10-2Career Five-Set Record2-3 2Comebacks from 0-2 Down0 56-58Career Tiebreak Record19-25 0-42009 Tiebreak Record1-1 FERRER has advanced to the Australian Open 3rd round for the 4th straight year. He defeated Denis Gremelmayr 61 67 61 67 64 in the 1st round and Dominik Hrbaty 62 62 61 in the 2nd round. Ferrer is making his 7th consecutive Australian Open appearance and is bidding to reach the Australian Open last 16 for the 4th straight year. Ferrer is 1 of 5 Spaniards through to the 3rd round and he could be joined by a 6th if Marcel Granollers upsets Andy Murray in Thursday’s night session. [A record 6 Spaniards advanced to the 3rd round here in 2003. The most Spanish men to advance to the round of 16 here is 3 in 1997, 2007 and 2008.] Last year, Ferrer had his best Australian Open result, advancing to the quarterfinals here for the first time before losing to eventual champion Novak Djokovic. Ferrer achieved his best Grand Slam result at the 2007 US Open, advancing to the semifinals (l. Novak Djokovic). Ferrer warmed up for Melbourne at Auckland last week, reaching the semifinals (l. Sam Querrey 36 63 76). Ferrer finished 2008 ranked No. 12, having won titles at Valencia (clay) and ’s-Hertogenbosch (grass) and finished runner-up at Barcelona. Ferrer was also part of the Spanish team that won its third Davis Cup title in Argentina in November. He lost to David Nalbandian in the opening rubber but Spain went on to win the tie 3-1. Ferrer has won 7 titles in his career, including 2 on hardcourt (2007 Auckland and 2007 Tokyo) Ferrer has been coached by Javier Piles since he was a junior. CILIC defeated Kevin Anderson 63 62 67 63 in the 1st round and Janko Tipsarevic 62 63 46 63 in the 2nd. This is Cilic’s 3rd Australian Open. After losing in the first round in 2007, Cilic broke through to his first Grand Slam round of 16 in 2008 when he upset 7th seed and 2007 runner-up Fernando Gonzalez in the 3rd round. He then fell to James Blake. Cilic then equalled his best Grand Slam performance, reaching the round of 16 at 2008 Wimbledon. Cilic is bidding to ensure Croatian representation in the last 16 here for the 4th successive year. Cilic won his 2nd career and hard court title at Chennai two weeks ago, defeating wildcard Somdev Devvarman 64 76 in the final. He subsequently reached a career-high ranking of No. 20 last week. Two of the last 3 winners of the Chennai title have gone on to reach the quarterfinals here – Ivan Ljubicic in 2006 and Mikhail Youzhny last year – the furthest that a Chennai winner has gone in the Australian Open. Cilic finished 2008 as Croatian No. 1 for the first time, ending the season ranked No. 22. He won his maiden title at New Haven (hard) and reached the semifinals at Chennai (hard) and at Nottingham (grass). At No. 19, Cilic is seeded for the 2nd time at a Grand Slam and at his highest, having been seeded 30 at the 2008 US Open. Cilic is coached by Bob Brett and practises at his academy in San Remo, Italy. NO. 15 STANISLAS WAWRINKA (SUI) v NO. 20 TOMAS BERDYCH (CZE) Head-to-head: Berdych leads 3-2 2005 AMS Rome Clay (O) R64 Wawrinka 61 64 2007 Davis Cup (WG-PO) Carpet (I) R2 Berdych 76(2) 64 75 2007 Basel Hard (I) R16 Berdych 75 64 2008 AMS Indian Wells Hard (O) R64 Wawrinka 26 76(3) 64 2008 AMS Paris Hard (I) R32 Berdych 63 75 WAWRINKAvBERDYCH 23Age23 16ATP Ranking21 1Titles4 26-15Career Grand Slam Record38-21 6-3Australian Open Record10-5 112-97Career Record188-119 53-47Career Record - Hard97-66 2-12009 Record3-2 2-12009 Record - Hard3-2 11-4Career Five-Set Record10-3 4Comebacks from 0-2 Down2 47-61Career Tiebreak Record68-59 1-02009 Tiebreak Record0-1 WAWRINKA is attempting to advance to the round of 16 here for the first time.He defeated Ivo Minar 61 26 75 76 in the 1st round and wildcard Brydan Klein 63 64 64 in the 2nd round. The round of 16 is Wawrinka’s best Grand Slam performance. He has reached this stage 3 times, including at both of the last 2 Slams, 2008 Wimbledon and the 2008 US Open. Wawrinka lost in the 1st round at Chennai in the first week of the season and then finished runner-up to Roger Federer at the Kooyong exhibition event. Wawrinka had his highest year-end ranking in 2008 at No. 13. His highlights were runner-up finishes at Doha and AMS Rome, and reaching the semifinals at Barcelona and Gstaad, in addition to his two round-of-16 finishes at Wimbledon and the US Open. Wawrinka won the doubles gold medal at the Beijing Olympic Tennis Event with friend Roger Federer, who he could meet in the next round on Sunday should they both win their matches today. Wawrinka has been coached by Dimitri Zavialoff since 1993. BERDYCH is bidding to advance to the round of 16 here for the 3rd straight year. He defeated Robby Ginepri 64 64 63 in the 1st round, and Brian Dabul 61 61 63 in the 2nd. Berdych has reached the round of 16 at all 4 Slams, and broke through to his only Grand Slam quarterfinal to date at 2007 Wimbledon (l. Rafael Nadal). Berdych finished 2008 in the Top 20 for the 3rd straight year and won his 4th career title, and first on hard court, at Tokyo. Ahead of the 2009 Australian Open, Berdych competed at Brisbane (l. 2nd round to Kei Nishikori) and Sydney (l. first round to Chris Guccione). Berdych began the 2009 season under the guidance of new coach Tomas Krupa. NO. 21 TOMMY ROBREDO (ESP) v YEN-HSUN LU (TPE) Head-to-head: Robredo leads 1-0 2006 Tokyo Hard (O) R32 Robredo 64 61 ROBREDOvLU 26Age25 22ATP Ranking61 7Titles0 64-32Career Grand Slam Record6-12 13-8Australian Open Record3-4 341-207Career Record40-63 146-105Career Record - Hard30-47 3-12009 Record3-3 3-12009 Record - Hard3-3 9-4Career Five-Set Record6-3 2Comebacks from 0-2 Down0 111-88Career Tiebreak Record23-21 0-02009 Tiebreak Record2-2 ROBREDO defeated Bobby Reynolds 62 75 61 in the first round and Viktor Troicki 61 63 60 in the 2nd round. This is Robredo’s 33rd consecutive Grand Slam event. His best results over the past 8 years have been quarterfinal finishes at 2003, 2005 and 2007 Roland Garros and also the 2007 Australian Open. At No. 21, Robredo has received his lowest seeding at the Australian Open since 2003. Robredo finished 2008 outside of the Top 20 for the first time in 5 years. Highlights of his season include winning his 7th career title at Bastad and finishing runner-up at Warsaw. Robredo competed at Sydney before arriving in Melbourne, falling in the 2nd round to Mario Ancic. Robredo helped Spain to the Davis Cup final last year, winning both his singles matches in the first round against Peru. As part of the winning 2008 team, Robredo was presented with his own replica Davis Cup trophy on site on Wednesday. Robredo is coached by Jose Clavet. LU is into the 3rd round of a Grand Slam for the first time, after upsetting No. 10 seed David Nalbandian 64 57 46 64 62 on Wednesday. He defeated Thomaz Bellucci in the first round. In reaching the 3rd round, Lu became the first man from Chinese Taipei to reach the 3rd round of a Slam (Open Era). Today he is attempting to join Su-Wei Hsieh as the only players to appear in the round of 16 of a major in the Open Era. Su-Wei Hsieh became the first woman to do so at last year’s Australian Open. If Lu wins today, he will also become just the 2nd Asian man in Open Era history to reach the round of 16 at the Australian Open. Thailand’s Paradorn Srichaphan reached that stage here in 2004. Lu started 2009 at the Hopman Cup, losing both of his singles matches. (He pulled out of his 3rd match with a quad injury.) He then reached the 2nd round at Auckland last week (l. Nicolas Almagro). Lu’s best results in 2008 were two quarterfinal finishes on hard court at San Jose and Indianapolis. He produced the biggest win of his career over Andy Murray in the first round of the Beijing Olympic Tennis Event. Lu plays here on a career-high ranking of No. 61. He earned his highest year-end ranking of No. 64 in 2008. Lu is coached by Dirk Hordorff in Germany. NO. 23 MARDY FISH (USA) v MARCOS BAGHDATIS (CYP) Head-to-head: first meeting FISHvBAGHDATIS 27Age23 24ATP Ranking97 2Titles2 27-24Career Grand Slam Record32-16 12-6Australian Open Record14-4 177-147Career Record134-72 135-99Career Record - Hard65-46 2-22009 Record2-1 2-22009 Record - Hard2-1 2-5Career Five-Set Record8-5 0Comebacks from 0-2 Down1 64-86Career Tiebreak Record56-34 0-22009 Tiebreak Record1-0 FISH has advanced to the Australian Open 3rd round for the 3rd time. He defeated wildcard Sam Groth 67 64 75 60 in the 1st round and Simone Bolelli 64 61 75 in the 2nd. Fish fell in the 3rd round here both last year (to Jarkko Nieminen) and in 2003 (to Wayne Ferreira). Fish’s best Australian Open result is a quarterfinal finish in 2007 (l. Andy Roddick). Fish equalled his best Grand Slam performance when reaching the quarterfinals at last year’s US Open (l. Rafael Nadal). Fish is 1 of 3 Americans through to the 3rd round here, along with Andy Roddick and Amer Delic, He could also be joined by James Blake, who is playing Sebastien de Chaunac in Wednesday’s night match on MCA. There have been 5 Americans in the 3rd round here for each of the last 2 years. Fish lost both matches before he came here – to Jurgen Melzer in the 1st round at Brisbane, and to Janko Tipsarevic at Sydney last week. Fish enjoyed a good 2008, finishing runner-up at AMS Indian Wells and New Haven as well as matching his best Grand Slam result when reaching the quarterfinals at the US Open. He ended the year ranked No. 23, his highest year-end ranking since 2003. Fish has won 1 title on hard court, at 2003 Stockholm. Fish is playing his first Grand Slam as a married man, having married Stacey Gardner last September. Gardner is a model on US TV show ‘Deal or No Deal.’ Fish is currently being coached by Craig Boynton. 2006 runner-up BAGHDATIS has reached the 3rd round here for the 4th time in 5 years. He is bidding to reach the round of 16 for the 3rd time. Baghdatis defeated Julien Benneteau 63 76 62 in the 1st round and upset No. 16 seed Robin Soderling 36 75 63 63 in the 2nd. Last year , Baghdatis lost a five-setter at this stage to Lleyton Hewitt in a match that finished at 4.34am, the latest-known finish in tennis history. Baghdatis produced the best result of his career at the 2006 Australian Open, when ranked No. 54, and in just his 6th Grand Slam tournament, he scored three consecutive victories over Top 10 players to reach the final, where he lost to Roger Federer 57 75 60 62. That same year he reached the Wimbledon semifinals. Before coming here, Baghdatis played at Brisbane as a wildcard, losing in the first round to Jarkko Nieminen. He then played at the Kooyong exhibition event, losing his first round match but winning his subsequent two. Baghdatis had an injury-affected 2008. He missed the 2008 clay court season for personal reasons, and then did not play after Wimbledon due to a right wrist injury. He retired in his last 3 tournaments with a back injury. His year-end ranking dropped from No. 16 in 2007 to No. 100 last year. This is the first time since Baghdatis’s 2006 Australian Open success that he has not been seeded at a Grand Slam. Baghdatis owns 1 career hard court title. He won at 2006 Beijing. Baghdatis has been coached by Olivier Soules since November 2008.
	Quote