[JakeBarkings]

Courtesy of ITF Grand Slam Media:

2009 AUSTRALIAN OPEN
DAY TWO MEN’S NOTESTuesday 20 JanuaryFirst Round Top Half



Featured matches
No. 1 Rafael Nadal (ESP) v Christophe Rochus (BEL)
No. 4 Andy Murray (GBR) v Andrei Pavel (ROU)
No. 5 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) v Juan Monaco (ARG)
No. 6 Gilles Simon (FRA) v Pablo Andujar (ESP)
No. 9 James Blake (USA) v (LL) Frank Dancevic (CAN)
No. 12 Gael Monfils (FRA) v Martin Vassallo Arguello (ARG)
No. 13 Fernando Gonzalez (CHI) v Lleyton Hewitt (AUS)
No. 14 Fernando Verdasco (ESP) v (WC) Adrian Mannarino (FRA)
No. 24 Richard Gasquet (FRA) v Diego Junqueira (ARG)
Eduardo Schwank (ARG) v Tommy Haas (GER)
Chris Guccione (AUS) v Nicolas Devilder (FRA)

On court today…

• Five men who have reached an Australian Open final: 2005 runner-up Lleyton Hewitt and 2007 finalist Fernando Gonzalez take on each other, while Arnaud Clement (2001), Rainer Schuettler (2003) and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (2008) are also in action today.

• Hewitt is playing his 13th straight Australian Open singles event, the most among active players and just one short of the Open Era record jointly held by Wayne Ferreira, Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde.

• A quarter of the men on court today are from either France, which has 9 players in action, or Spain, with 7. The two nations had the most representatives in this year’s men’s draw – Spain starting with 16 and France 15.

• At the other end of the scale, Andrey Golubev becomes the first Kazakh man to play a Grand Slam, while Sergiy Stakhovsky is the first Ukrainian to compete in the Australian Open since 2001.

• As well as the No. 1 player in the world Rafael Nadal starting his Australian Open campaign today, the lowest-ranked man in the draw Andrei Pavel also plays today. After an injury-affected 2008, Pavel is currently ranked No. 1141.

NO. 1 RAFAEL NADAL (ESP) v CHRISTOPHE ROCHUS (BEL)

Head-to-head: first meeting

NADALvROCHUS
22Age30
1ATP Ranking75
31Titles0
80-14Career Grand Slam Record13-30
14-4Australian Open Record8-8
337-78Career Record103-181
147-51Career Record - Hard33-66
2-12009 Record0-1
2-12009 Record - Hard0-1
10-3Career Five-Set Record4-2
3Comebacks from 0-2 Down2
81-57Career Tiebreak Record24-31
0-02009 Tiebreak Record0-1

• NADAL is playing his 5th Australian Open. Since reaching the round of 16 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.

• 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. The top seed has fallen in the opening round of the Australian Open just once, Lleyton Hewitt doing so in 2002.

• Nadal began the 2009 season by playing the Abu Dhabi exhibition event (losing to Andy Murray), and the following week competed at Doha where he fell in the quarterfinals to 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.

• Although hard court is Nadal’s least successful surface overall, he improved his performance on the surface in 2008, compiling a tour-leading 46-10 hardcourt record during the season. As well as his Olympic title, he won the hardcourt title at AMS Toronto and reached the final at AMS Miami, and the semifinals of the Australian Open, AMS Indian Wells, AMS Cincinnati, the US Open and AMS Madrid 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.

• ROCHUS is playing his 9th Australian Open but first since 2007, having failed to qualify last year.

• On his last two appearances here in 2006 and 2007, Rochus lost in the opening round to countryman Kristof Vliegen and Sebastien Grosjean respectively (he retired with breathing difficulties against Grosjean). His best result here is the round of 16, achievedon his debut in 2000, which is also his best ever performance at a Slam.

• Rochus played one tournament ahead of the Australian Open, falling in the first round of Doha to Sergiy Stakhovsky.

• Rochus returned to the Top 100 in 2008, finishing the season ranked No. 69. He won two challenger titles at St. Brieuc (FRA) and Zagreb (CRO), and reached 3 other finals. His best result at tour-level was a quarterfinal finish at Amersfoort. He competed at just one Grand Slam last year, losing his opening match at Wimbledon as a qualifier.

• Rochus is coached by Ananda Vandendooren.

NO. 4 ANDY MURRAY (GBR) v ANDREI PAVEL (ROU)

Head-to-head: Murray leads 1-0
2005 US Open Hard (O) R128 Murray 63 36 36 61 64

MURRAYvPAVEL
21Age34*
4ATP Ranking1141
9Titles3
26-12Career Grand Slam Record34-37
3-3Australian Open Record11-9
160-65Career Record279-260
117-40Career Record - Hard116-116
5-02009 Record0-0
5-02009 Record - Hard0-0
8-4Career Five-Set Record9-9
3Comebacks from 0-2 Down3
55-31Career Tiebreak Record119-118
0-12009 Tiebreak Record0-0
*turns 35 on 27 January

• This is MURRAY’S 4th Australian Open. His best result here is reaching the round of 16 in 2007 (l. Rafael Nadal).

• Last year

• , 9th seeded Murray made a surprise exit in the first round to eventual runner-up Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, 75 64 06 76.

• Murray matched the highest-ever ranking by a British man when he rose to world No. 4 in September 2008, following his first ever Grand Slam final appearance at the US Open. He was the first Briton to reach a Grand Slam final since Greg Rusedski at the 1997 US Open.

• Murray is a hot topic at the 2009 Australian Open, having begun the season with a perfect 5-0 record and victories over Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. He successfully defended his title at Doha, defeating Roger Federer 67 62 62 in the semifinals and Andy Roddick 64 62 in the final. His victory over Federer improved their head-to-head to 5-2 in Murray’s favour, the Brit having won their three subsequent meetings after the 2008 US Open final. Murray also played an exhibition event in Abu Dhabi on 1-3 January and again defeated Federer and Nadal in back-to-back matches 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 defeated Nadal in the US Open semifinals, and Djokovic twice in the quarterfinals of AMS Toronto and final of AMS Cincinnati. He ended the season by reaching the semifinals of the Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai.

• Murray is coached by Miles Maclagan.

• 34-year-old PAVEL is playing his 10th Australian Open and 39th Grand Slam. He is the second oldest man in the men’s draw behind 36-year-old Fabrice Santoro.

• Pavel’s best result here is reaching the round of 16 in 1999 and 2004. Last year, he fell in the first round to Igor Andreev 57 62 76 63.

• Melbourne Park is the site of Pavel’s last Grand Slam appearance. He plays here on a protected ranking of No. 100due to a long-term back injury which has forced him to sit out the last 3 majors. This is his first tournament of the year.

• Pavel’s best result at a Grand Slam is reaching the quarterfinals at 2002 Roland Garros (l. Alex Corretja). His match against the Spaniard spanned three days due to rain, during which Pavel returned to Germany for the early arrival of his second child.

• Pavel’s last victory over a Top 5 player occurred at Romania’s 2006 Davis Cup first round tie against USA, when he defeated the then world No. 3 Andy Roddick from two sets down (Romania lost the tie 4-1). He has a 8-21 career record against Top 5 players.

• Pavel replaces Florin Segarceanu and Adrian Marcu as Romanian Davis Cup captain this year. Romania plays Russia in the first round in March.

• Pavel is coached by Adrian Marcu.

NO. 5 JO-WILFRIED TSONGA (FRA) v JUAN MONACO (ARG)

Head-to-head: first meeting
TSONGAvMONACO
23Age24
7ATP Ranking49
2Titles3
13-6Career Grand Slam Record12-16
6-2Australian Open Record3-4
53-28Career Record121-101
37-20Career Record - Hard28-39
3-12009 Record1-1
3-12009 Record - Hard1-1
0-0Career Five-Set Record2-2
0Comebacks from 0-2 Down1
27-19Career Tiebreak Record31-39
2-02009 Tiebreak Record0-0

• 2008 runner-up TSONGA is playing his 3rd straight Australian Open. He lost in the 1st round on his debut here in 2007 before reaching the final last year.

• Last year, Tsonga became the 3rd unseeded Australian Open finalist in the last 5 years. He defeated No. 2 seed Rafael Nadal in the semifinals before losing to Novak Djokovic in the final. Tsonga had not previously reached a career final.

• As well as reaching the Australian Open final last year, Tsonga won 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 reached the quarterfinals at both Brisbane and Sydney before coming here. He was forced to withdraw from his quarterfinal at Sydney with a back injury.

• Tsonga is coached by Eric Winogradsky.

• MONACO

• is making his 5th Australian Open appearance. He has lost in the 1st round here twice.

• Monaco’s best Australian Open result came last year, when he advanced to the 3rd round (l. Tomas Berdych).

• Monaco played his first tournament of 2009 at Auckland last week, as No. 8 seed, reaching the 2nd round (l. Viktor Troicki).

• Monaco finished 2008 ranked No. 47, down from No. 23 at the end of 2007, when he won 3 clay court titles. His best results last year were 2 runner-up finishes (Vina del Mar and Portschach, both on clay). He missed six weeks of the summer after suffering from pneumonia; he lost 7 kilos (15 pounds).

• Monaco has a 4-18 win-loss record against Top 10 players, winning 4 of his last 9 such matches.

• Monaco has been coached by Luis Lobo since November 2008.

NO. 6 GILLES SIMON (FRA) v PABLO ANDUJAR (ESP)

Head-to-head: first meeting
SIMONvANDUJAR
24Age22*
8ATP Ranking98
5Titles0
12-13Career Grand Slam Record1-2
4-3Australian Open Record0-0
118-86Career Record6-11
57-44Career Record - Hard0-3
2-22009 Record0-1
2-22009 Record - Hard0-1
3-2Career Five-Set Record0-0
0Comebacks from 0-2 Down0
34-32Career Tiebreak Record1-5
2-02009 Tiebreak Record0-0
* turns 23 on 23 January (Friday)

• SIMON is making his 4th Australian Open appearance.

• Last year

• , Simon equalled his best performance here and reached the 3rd round (l. Rafael Nadal) for the 2nd time, having also done so here in 2006.

• Simon began 2009 at the Hopman Cup, winning 2 of his 3 singles matches. He then lost in the 2nd round (after a 1st-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, having qualified for the Tennis Masters Cup for the first time, where he reached the semifinals.

• Simon was 1 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.

• ANDUJAR

• is making his Australian Open debut today.

• Andujar made his Grand Slam debut at 2008 Roland Garros as a lucky loser, reaching the 2nd round and he also played at the US Open, losing in the 1st round.

• Andujar attempted to qualify for the 2007 Australian Open, losing in the 1st round of the qualifying competition.

• Andujar started 2009 at Chennai, losing in the 1st round to Janko Tipsarevic.

• Andujar broke the Top 100 for the first time in August 2008 before finishing the year at No. 103 after winning back-to-back challengers in his native Spain (Vigo and San Sebastian).

• Andujar played six tour-level events in 2008, reaching the 2nd round on 3 occasions but failed to win back-to-back matches at any of them.

• Andujar is coached by Alex Calatrava.

NO. 9 JAMES BLAKE (USA) v (LL) FRANK DANCEVIC (CAN)

Head-to-head: Blake leads 1-0
2007 Stockholm Hard (I) R16 Blake 63 62
BLAKEvDANCEVIC
29Age24
10ATP Ranking131
10Titles0
48-27Career Grand Slam Record3-8
17-7Australian Open Record1-2
303-181Career Record41-62
230-111Career Record - Hard24-37
2-12009 Record0-1
2-12009 Record - Hard0-1
4-11Career Five-Set Record2-4
1Comebacks from 0-2 Down0
108-97Career Tiebreak Record23-19
1-22009 Tiebreak Record0-1

• BLAKE is making his 8th Australian Open appearance and has never lost in the 1st round here.

• Last year, Blake posted his best Australian Open result in reaching the quarterfinals (l. Roger Federer 75 76 64), also equalling his best Grand Slam performance, having previously reached that stage twice at the US Open in 2005-06.

• Blake warmed up for this year’s Australian Open at the 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.

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

• DANCEVIC

• is playing his 3rd Australian Open.

• Dancevic lost to Jarkko Nieminen in the 1st round here last year. He reached the 2nd round on his debut in 2007.

• Dancevic has lost in the 1st round on 5 of his 8 Grand Slam appearances. As well as here in 2007, he has advanced to the 2nd round at Wimbledon for the last 2 years.

• Dancevic qualified for Sydney last week but lost in the 1st round to Igor Andreev 76 63.

• Dancevic’s best result in 2008 was advancing to the semifinals at Newport on grass.

• Dancevic is coached by Boris Vallejo.

NO. 12 GAEL MONFILS (FRA) v MARTIN VASSALLO ARGUELLO (ARG)

Head-to-head: Monfils leads 1-0
2007 Bucharest Clay (O) R16 Monfils 64 64

MONFILSvVASSALLO ARGUELLO
22Age28
13ATP Ranking71
1Titles0
21-13Career Grand Slam Record6-11
3-3Australian Open Record0-2
102-82Career Record32-51
49-43Career Record - Hard1-9
3-12009 Record0-0
3-12009 Record - Hard0-0
5-1Career Five-Set Record4-1
0Comebacks from 0-2 Down0
45-34Career Tiebreak Record6-11
1-12009 Tiebreak Record0-0

• MONFILS makes his return to Melbourne Park after missing last year’s event with a left wrist and knee tendon injury. This is his 4th Australian Open.

• Monfils’s best result here is a 3rd round finish in 2007 (l. Richard Gasquet). Across all four Grand Slams, his best 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 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, and in 2008 won a personal best 30 matches. He was plagued by wrist, knee and shoulder injuries in 2008, his shoulder causing 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 one of 7 former Australian Open boys’ champions to start in the men’s draw. He won the title in 2004, and the same year, picked up the Roland Garros and Wimbledon boys’ titles.

• VASSALLO ARGUELLO is bidding for his first victory at the Australian Open. In 2007 he fell to Danai Udomchoke in the opening round and then Jesse Levine last year.

• Vassallo Arguello’s best result at a Grand Slam is a round of 16 finish at 2006 Roland Garros. He won back-to-back five-set matches in the 2nd and 3rd rounds before falling to David Nalbandian 64 64 64.

• This is Vassallo Arguello’s first tournament of the year. He finished the 2008 season ranked No. 85, his lowest year-end ranking since 2005, but picked up two challenger titles on clay at Ascuncion and Buenos Aires. He produced a 5-13 win-loss record at tour-level.

• Vassallo Arguello has a 1-4 record against Top 20 players. His sole victory came against world No. 4 Nikolay Davydenko in the 2007 Sopot round of 16, who retired at one-set all with tendonitis in his toe.

• Vassallo Arguello is coached by Horacio De La Pena.

NO. 13 FERNANDO GONZALEZ (CHI) v LLEYTON HEWITT (AUS)

Head-to-head: Gonzalez leads 3-2
2002 AMS Cincinnati Hard (O) SF Hewitt 67(3) 75 62
2003 AMS Hamburg Clay (O) R16 Gonzalez 61 36 60
2004 Rotterdam Hard (I) R32 Hewitt 62 61
2004 World Team Cup Clay (O) R1 Gonzalez 75 62
2007 Australian Open Hard (O) R32 Gonzalez 62 62 57 64
Gonzalez and Hewitt are both Australian Open finalists. Gonzalez recorded his best career Grand Slam result here in 2007 when he finished runner-up to Roger Federer, while Hewitt became the first Australian to reach the final here in 17 years in 2005 before losing to Marat Safin.

GONZALEZvHEWITT
28Age27
14ATP Ranking70
10Titles26
54-31Career Grand Slam Record118-38
14-8Australian Open Record24-12
310-168Career Record497-165
138-86Career Record - Hard314-101
0-02009 Record4-2
0-02009 Record - Hard4-2
12-12Career Five-Set Record27-11
4Comebacks from 0-2 Down4
135-87Career Tiebreak Record130-119
0-02009 Tiebreak Record1-3

• 2007 runner-up GONZALEZ is playing his 9th straight Australian Open and has lost in the 1st round here 3 times.

• Last year, Gonzalez fell to Marin Cilic 62 67 63 61 in the 3rd round here. His best result here was in 2007, when he reached his only Grand Slam final to date, where he lost to Roger Federer 76 64 64.

• This is Gonzalez’s first tournament of the year, although he did play the exhibition event at Kooyong last week, winning 1 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 split from coach Larry Stefanki at the end of 2008 and is now working with Martin Rodriguez.

• HEWITT

• is playing his 13th Australian Open, having played here every year since his debut as a qualifier in 1997, when he was the youngest player to play in the men’s singles here in the Open Era.

• Hewitt has not lost in the 1st round here since 2002. This is the 1st time since the 2000 Australian Open that he has not been seeded at a Grand Slam event.

• Last year

• , Hewitt reached the last 16 here (l. eventual champion Novak Djokovic). He defeated Marcos Baghdatis in the 3rd round, in a match that finished at 4.34am, the latest- known finish in tennis history.

• Hewitt played two events before coming here. He posted a 2-1 record at the Hopman Cup and reached the quarterfinals last week at Sydney. The Hopman Cup was Hewitt’s 1st tournament since the Beijing Olympics, having surgery on his left hip at the end of August 2008.

• Hewitt suffered a small tear to his hip at 2008 AMS Indian Wells, and played only six events between then and August. His best results in 2008 were reaching the last 16 here and at Wimbledon and reaching the quarterfinals at Adelaide and Queen’s. Until last year, Hewitt had won at least 1 title every year from 1998 onwards.

• As a result of his injury, Hewitt dropped out of the Top 50 last August for the first time since May 1999.

• Hewitt has been coached by Tony Roche since July 2007.

NO. 14 FERNANDO VERDASCO (ESP) v (WC) ADRIAN MANNARINO (FRA)

Head-to-head: first meeting
This is a match-up between two of the 20 lefthanders to start in the men’s draw (the most since 1999). It’s also one of four all-lefthanded first round match-ups.
VERDASCOvMANNARINO
25Age20
15ATP Ranking129
2Titles0
34-22Career Grand Slam Record0-1
4-5Australian Open Record0-0
191-149Career Record3-3
80-74Career Record - Hard3-2
4-12009 Record0-0
4-12009 Record - Hard0-0
7-5Career Five-Set Record0-0
2Comebacks from 0-2 Down0
71-72Career Tiebreak Record1-2
0-02009 Tiebreak Record0-0

• VERDASCO is playing his 6th straight Australian Open. He is bidding to reach the 2nd round for the 5th straight year, which is the furthest he has advanced here to date.

• Verdasco has reached the round of 16 at the other 3 majors, but has yet to appear in the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam.

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

• Verdasco gained notoriety at the 2008 Davis Cup final between Spain and Argentina in Mar del Plata, when he won the fourth rubber against Jose Acasuso from 2-1 down and Spain its third Davis Cup title.

• Verdasco achieved his highest year-end ranking in 2008 (No. 16) and won a career-high 47 matches during the season. 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 is currently without a coach.

• Wildcard MANNARINO makes his Australian Open debut today and is playing just his 2nd Grand Slam. He fell in the first round as a wildcard at 2008 Roland Garros.

• 20-year-old Mannarino received his wildcard as part of a reciprocal arrangement between Tennis Australia and the French Tennis Federation.

• This is Mannarino’s 4th tour-level event. He made his tour-level debut in 2008 at Roland Garros, and in September, had his career highlight at Metz when he reached the semifinals as a qualifier (l. Paul-Henri Mathieu). In October, he entered AMS Paris but lost in the first round to Dmitry Tursunov. He won his first challenger title in Jersey (GBR) last year, defeating Andreas Beck 76 76 in the final. Between 2007 and 2008, Mannarino jumped 236 places in the rankings to finish the 2008 season at No. 131.

• Mannarino played one event before arriving in Melbourne, as No. 3 seed losing in the first round of the New Caledonia Challenger to Jean-Rene Lisnard.

• Mannarino is coached by his father, Florent.

NO. 24 RICHARD GASQUET (FRA) v DIEGO JUNQUEIRA (ARG)

Head-to-head: first meeting

GASQUETvJUNQUEIRA
22Age28
25ATP Ranking76
5Titles0
28-19Career Grand Slam Record1-1
6-5Australian Open Record0-0
168-108Career Record3-7
80-53Career Record - Hard0-1
6-22009 Record0-1
6-22009 Record - Hard0-1
4-8Career Five-Set Record0-0
1Comebacks from 0-2 Down0
55-57Career Tiebreak Record1-1
2-02009 Tiebreak Record0-0

• This is GASQUET’S 6th Australian Open. His best results at Melbourne Park have occurred in the last two years when he reached the round of 16. He lost to Tommy Robredo at that stage in 2007, and last year to compatriot Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

• 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 finished 2008 in the Top 25 for the 4th straight year (No. 24) but it was his lowest year-end ranking in four years. He failed to win a title for the first time since 2004, his best result being a runner-up finish to Juan Martin del Potro at Stuttgart. An injury to his left knee forced him to pull out of Roland Garros, the first time he had missed a Slam since chicken pox affected his 2005 Australian Open campaign.

• Gasquet is coached by Guillaume Peyre.

• JUNQUEIRA makes his Australian Open debut today. This is his just second Grand Slam, having made the 2nd round at 2008 Roland Garros as a qualifier.

• This is Junqueira’s 7th tour-level event. His best result to date is winning two matches at 2006 Stuttgart to reach the round of 16.

• Junqueira played at Doha two weeks ago but lost in the first round to Arnaud Clement.

• Junqueira was the leading player at challenger level last year, compiling a 48-22 win-loss record for the season. He won 3 challengers at San Remo, Rimini and Como and reached 3 other finals to break into the Top 100 on 4 August. He had the third biggest rankings jump of those players finishing 2008 in the Top 100, rising 162 places over the course of the year.

• Junqueira hit a career-high ranking of No. 76 last week, and plays here at the same ranking.

• Junqueira is coached by Wally Grinovero.

EDUARDO SCHWANK (ARG) v TOMMY HAAS (GER)

Head-to-head: first meeting
SCHWANKvHAAS
22Age30
54ATP Ranking79
0Titles11
2-3Career Grand Slam Record76-37
0-0Australian Open Record21-8
15-16Career Record430-238
4-6Career Record - Hard270-134
0-02009 Record0-0
0-02009 Record - Hard0-0
1-0Career Five-Set Record17-15
0Comebacks from 0-2 Down3
5-10Career Tiebreak Record149-123
0-02009 Tiebreak Record0-0

• SCHWANK is making his Australian Open debut today.

• This is Schwank’s 4th Grand Slam tournament and he has now competed at all 4 majors.

• Schwank produced his best Grand Slam performance in his first major at last year’s Roland Garros, where as a qualifier, he defeated former champion Carlos Moya and Marcel Granollers before losing to Paul-Henri Mathieu.

• This is Schwank’s first tournament of the year. He ended 2008 ranked No. 58, just below his career-high of No. 54.

• Schwank advanced to his first career semifinal at 2008 Stuttgart and reached 3 quarterfinals. He also won 3 challenger tournaments in a row at Cremona, Rome and Bordeaux, in the lead-up to Roland Garros.

• Schwank is coached by Javier Nalbandian, David’s brother.

• 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 reached the Australian Open semifinals for the 3rd time before losing to Fernando Gonzalez. He also reached the semifinals here in 1999 (l. Yevgeny Kafelnikov) and in 2002 (l. Marat Safin).

• 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 been coached by Dean Goldfine since March 2008.

CHRIS GUCCIONE (AUS) v NICOLAS DEVILDER (FRA)

Head-to-head: Devilder leads 1-0
2008 Roland Garros Clay (O) R128 Devilder 64 61 64
This is a match-up between two of the 20 lefthanders to start in the men’s draw (the most since 1999). It’s also one of four all-lefthanded first round match-ups.
GUCCIONEvDEVILDER
23Age28
132ATP Ranking72
0Titles0
4-12Career Grand Slam Record3-6
1-5Australian Open Record0-1
35-50Career Record19-32
26-30Career Record - Hard5-13
1-12009 Record1-1
1-12009 Record - Hard1-1
3-2Career Five-Set Record0-0
0Comebacks from 0-2 Down0
40-38Career Tiebreak Record5-9
0-12009 Tiebreak Record0-1

• Melburnian GUCCIONE is bidding to break his four-year first round losing streak at the Australian Open. Since reaching the 2nd round on his debut in 2004, he has fallen to Guillermo Canas, Ivan Ljubicic, Olivier Rochus and Hyung-Taik Lee in his subsequent first round matches.

• The 2nd round is Guccione’s best finish at a Grand Slam. He has reached that stage 4 times in 12 previous Grand Slam appearances, once at each Slam.

• Guccione was one of 7 Australians to start in the men’s draw. For the last 3 years, 3 Aussies have reached at least the 2nd round of the Australian Open.

• Ahead of the 2009 Australian Open, Guccione competed at Sydney, where he finished runner-up in 2008, and reached the 2nd round (l. Jarkko Nieminen 76 63). He failed to qualify at Brisbane.

• Guccione finished 2008 inside the Top 100 for the first time. His best performance of the year was reaching his second career final at Sydney (l. Dmitry Tursunov).

• Guccione is currently without a coach.

• This is DEVILDER’S second visit to Melbourne Park. He fell in the first round in 2007 and last year failed to qualify.

• The furthest Devilder has advanced at a Grand Slam is the 2nd round, having done so 3 times in 6 previous Grand Slam appearances (2007 Wimbledon, 2008 Roland Garros and the 2008 US Open).

• Devilder reached the 2nd round at Doha two weeks ago, falling to Gael Monfils 75 76.

• Devilder finished the 2008 season ranked No. 71. His best result of the year was reaching the quarterfinals at Kitzbuhel, and he was successful at challenger level, winning three titles in four finals during June and July - Braunschweig (GER), Constanta (ROU) and Poznan (POL).

• Devilder is a member of Team Lagardere, which looks after several of the top French players, and is coached by Olivier Malcor and Olivier Soules.