[JakeBarkings]

Courtesy of ITF Grand Slam Media:

2009 AUSTRALIAN OPEN
DAY 1 MEN’S NOTES
Monday 19 January 2009
First Round Bottom Half

Featured matches
No. 2 Roger Federer (SUI) v Andreas Seppi (ITA)
No. 3 Novak Djokovic (SRB) v (Q) Andrea Stoppini (ITA)
No. 7 Andy Roddick (USA) v (Q) Bjorn Rehnquist (SWE)
No. 8 Juan Martin del Potro (ARG) v Mischa Zverev (GER)
No. 10 David Nalbandian (ARG) v Marc Gicquel (FRA)
No. 11 David Ferrer (ESP) v Denis Gremelmayr (GER)
No. 20 Tomas Berdych (CZE) v Robby Ginepri (USA)
No. 23 Mardy Fish (USA) v (WC) Sam Groth (AUS)
No. 26 Marat Safin (RUS) v Ivan Navarro (ESP)
Potito Starace (ITA) v (WC) Bernard Tomic (AUS)
Julien Benneteau (FRA) v Marcos Baghdatis (CYP)
(Q) Evgeny Korolev (RUS) v Carlos Moya (ESP)

On court today…

• Three Australian Open champions. Novak Djokovic begins the defence of his title while 2005 champ Marat Safin and three-time champion Roger Federer are also in 1st round action.

• Federer and Safin are two of the five players that have been ranked No. 1 on court today. Juan Carlos Ferrero, Carlos Moya and Andy Roddick are the other three.

• Two Australian Open finalists. 2006 runner-up Marcos Baghdatis and 1997 runner-up Moya also get their Australian Open campaigns under way today.

• David Nalbandian and Juan Martin del Potro look to extend their unbeaten streak after capturing titles on Saturday at Sydney and Auckland respectively.

• Baghdatis is one of six Australian Open junior champions in action today, along with Bjorn Rehnquist (1996), and Andy Roddick (2000), who meet today, Janko Tipsarevic (2001), Brydan Klein (2007) and Bernard Tomic (2008).

• Tomic is the youngest player in this year’s men’s singles and becomes the 2nd youngest man to play at the Australian Open in the Open Era. The oldest player Fabrice Santoro also plays his 1st round match today. The 36-year-old is the oldest man to appear in the men’s singles since 1980.

NO. 2 ROGER FEDERER (SUI) v ANDREAS SEPPI (ITA)

Head-to-head: Federer leads 3-0
2007 AMS Monte Carlo Clay (O) R32 Federer 76(4) 76(6)
2008 AMS Hamburg Clay (O) SF Federer 63 61
2009 Doha Hard (O) R16 Federer 63 63

FEDERERvSEPPI
27Age24
2 ATP Ranking 35
57Titles0
162-25Career Grand Slam Record9-15
41-6Australian Open Record2-3
621-152Career Record98-113
364-80Career Record - Hard35-48
0-02009 Record0-0
0-02009 Record - Hard0-0
12-11Career Five-Set Record6-6
3Comebacks from 0-2 Down2
239-128Career Tiebreak Record37-53
0-02009 Tiebreak Record0-0

• FEDERER, champion here in 2004 and 2006-07has always reached at least the third round on his nine previous Australian Open appearances. This is his 37th consecutive appearance in a Grand Slam event.

• Last year, Federer reached the 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.

• 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).

• 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.

• Federer is seeded No. 2 at the Australian for the first time since 2004, having been top seed for the last 4 years. The No. 2 seed last fell in the opening round in 2002 when Gustavo Kuerten lost to Julien Boutter.

• 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 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.

• SEPPI

• is playing his 4th Australian Open and has reached the 2nd round on his last 2 appearances here.

• Last year

• , Seppi defeated Harel Levy in the 1st round before falling to Mikhail Youzhny.

• Seppi has lost in the opening round 8 times in 15 Grand Slam appearances before this one, including on his debut here in 2006.

• This is Seppi’s 3rd tournament of the year. He lost in the 2nd round (to today’s opponent Federer) at Doha and in the 1st round (to Paul-Henri Mathieu) at Sydney last week.

• Seppi finished 2008 with his highest year-end ranking to date of No. 35. His best result was reaching the semifinals at AMS Hamburg. He also was a quarterfinalist four times during the year

• Seppi has a 5-20 career record against Top 10 players. The highest-ranked player that he has defeated is No. 2 Rafael Nadal at 2008 Rotterdam.

• Seppi has been coached by Massimo Sartori since 1995. His coach’s wife Lisa is his fitness trainer.

NO. 3 NOVAK DJOKOVIC (SRB) v (Q) ANDREA STOPPINI (ITA)

Head-to-head: First meeting

DJOKOVICvSTOPPINI
21Age28
3 ATP Ranking 220
11Titles0
51-15Career Grand Slam Record0-0
10-3Australian Open Record0-0
190-70Career Record3-6
110-39Career Record - Hard3-4
0-02009 Record0-0
0-02009 Record - Hard0-0
8-3Career Five-Set Record0-0
1Comebacks from 0-2 Down0
78-37Career Tiebreak Record1-2
0-02009 Tiebreak Record0-0

• Defending champion DJOKOVIC is making his 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 Australian Open defending champion has lost in the first round just twice in Open Era history, and not since 1996 when Boris Becker lost to Carlos Moya.

• En route to the title last year, Djokovic ended Federer’s run of 10 straight Grand Slam finals by defeating the three-time Australian Open champion in the semifinals. In winning the title, he interrupted Federer and Rafael Nadal’s dominance of 14 of the last 15 majors.

• Djokovic has had the chance to take over the world No. 2 ranking three times in the last eight months, most recently at Sydney where he needed to reach the final to overtake Federer in the rankings; he fell in the semifinals. He also had the opportunity at 2008 AMS Hamburg and 2008 Roland Garros, losing to the then No. 2 Nadal both times.

• Djokovic lost to Jarkko Nieminen 64 76 in the semifinals of Sydney last week. He also warmed up for the Australian Open at Brisbane, his first tournament of the year, but as top seed lost in the first round to Ernests Gulbis 64 64.

• 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.

• Qualifier STOPPINI is making his Grand Slam debut today in his first tournament of the year.

• Stoppini defeated 16th seed Stephane Bohli in the first round of qualifying, then Croatian Antonio Veic and No. 23 seed Simon Stadler 76 16 63 in the final round to qualify for the 2009 Australian Open. It was his second attempt to qualify here, after losing in the first round of qualifying in 2007.

• This was Stoppini’s 11th attempt at Grand Slam qualifying. As well as twice here, he has previously tried to qualify for the US Open in 2004-06 and 2008, Roland Garros in 2005 and 2008 and Wimbledon 2005-07. Prior to this event, his best performance in Grand Slam qualifying was reaching the final round at 2005 Roland Garros.

• This is 28-year-old Stoppini’s 7th tour-level event and first since August 2008 (Los Angeles); he had qualified for all 7 events. His best result in his previous 6 tournaments was reaching the round of 16 at 2006 Washington.

• Stoppini’s best career result is reaching the last 16 at 2006 Washington. He has reached three Challenger finals: 2004 Recanati (ITA), 2006 Winnetka (USA) and 2008 Aptos (USA).

• Stoppini finished 2008 ranked No. 230, his highest year-end ranking to date. He reached a career-high ranking of No. 213 on 11 August 2008.

• Stoppini is coached by Giuseppe Menga.

NO. 7 ANDY RODDICK (USA) v (Q) BJORN REHNQUIST(SWE)

Head-to-head: First meeting
A clash between two former boys’ singles champions at the Australian Open – Roddick won that title in 2000, four years after Rehnquist.

RODDICKvREHNQUIST
26Age31
3 ATP Ranking 191
26Titles0
90-30Career Grand Slam Record0-2
25-7Australian Open Record0-1
459-148Career Record4-10
307-91Career Record - Hard1-6
0-02009 Record0-0
0-02009 Record - Hard0-0
10-12Career Five-Set Record0-0
2Comebacks from 0-2 Down0
223-137Career Tiebreak Record0-2
0-02009 Tiebreak Record0-0

• RODDICK is playing his 8th Australian Open and has never lost in the 1st round here.

• Last year

• , Roddick lost in the 3rd round here to Philipp Kohlschreiber in five sets, his earliest exit since falling in the 2nd round on his Australian Open debut in 2002.

• Roddick’s best result here is reaching the semifinals in both 2003, 2005 and 2007

• Roddick is undefeated in 9 previous meetings with qualifiers in Slams.

• 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 six years but his 7th consecutive year in the Top 10 (the most among active players with Roger Federer). He won three titles – all on hard court – at San Jose, Dubai and Beijing.

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

• REHNQUIST

• is making his 3rd Grand Slam appearance overall and second at the Australian Open, having come through the qualifying draw here.

• Rehnquist is yet to win a Grand Slam match, having lost in the 1st round, also as a qualifier, at both the 2002 US Open and 2006 Australian Open.

• In qualifying

• , Rehnquist defeated Paolo Lorenzi (ITA), No. 32 seed Rik De Voest (RSA) and Marc Lopez (ESP) to reach the main draw.

• Rehnquist failed to qualify at all four majors in 2008. In fact his success here marks just the 3rd time in 22 attempts that he has qualified for a Grand Slam.

• This is Rehnquist’s first-ever meeting with a Top 10 player. The highest-ranked player that he has defeated is No. 75 Jan Vacek at the 2002 Prague Challenger.

• This is Rehnquist’s 1st tournament of 2009, he finished 2008 ranked No. 193, his highest year-end ranking for 5 years. He won the Guangzhou and Manchester Challengers during the year as well as qualifying for two tour events in his native Sweden, advancing to his first career quarterfinal at Bastad (l. Fernando Verdasco) on clay and losing in the 1st round at Stockholm.This is just the 11th tournament at tour level since making his debut at 1996 Bastad.

• Rehnquist won the 1996 Australian Open boys’ singles, (d. countryman Matthias Hellstrom in the final).

• Rehnquist is coached by Christophe Cazuc.

NO. 8 JUAN MARTIN DEL POTRO (ARG) v MISCHA ZVEREV (GER)

Head-to-head: First meeting

DEL POTROvZVEREV
20Age21
6 ATP Ranking 81
4Titles0
11-10Career Grand Slam Record3-6
2-2Australian Open Record1-2
84-53Career Record27-33
51-34Career Record - Hard17-16
0-02009 Record0-0
0-02009 Record - Hard0-0
2-1Career Five-Set Record0-1
0Comebacks from 0-2 Down0
19-23Career Tiebreak Record12-14
0-02009 Tiebreak Record0-0

• DEL POTRO is playing his 3rd Australian Open and has reached the 2nd round on both of his previous appearances, retiring on both occasions.

• Last year,

• del Potro retired with a back injury when trailing David Ferrer two sets to love in the 2nd round. In 2007, he retired in the 2nd round with cramping.

• Del Potro arrives here having won at Auckland last week in his 1st tournament of the year, defeating Sam Querrey in the final.

• Del Potro had a breakthrough year in 2008. Having not previously won a tournament, he won four straight events in July and August, and went on to reach his first Grand Slam quarterfinal at the US Open. His 23-match winning streak saw his ranking improve from No. 65 to No. 13, and he closed the year at No. 9.

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

• Del Potro has been coached by Franco Davin since March 2008.

• ZVEREV

• is playing his 3rd Australian Open. He lost in 5 sets to Tommy Robredo in the 1st round last year, having reached the 2nd round on his debut in 2007.

• Zverev has lost in the 1st round on 4 of his 6 Grand Slam appearances. He produced his best Grand Slam performance to date in 2008, advancing to the 3rd round at Wimbledon.

• This is Zverev’s 4th meeting with a Top 10 player. He is 1-2 in previous such matches with his sole victory coming against No. 5 David Ferrer at 2008 Rotterdam.

• This is Zverev’s 1st tournament of 2009. He finished 2008 ranked No. 80 for the 2nd straight year. He reached his first career semifinal at Moscow, giving a walkover to Marat Safin due to illness.

• 
  
  • Zverev is coached by his father Alexander, who was a Soviet Union Davis Cup player from 1979 to 1987 and formerly ranked in the Top 200.

• 
  
  • Zverev was born in Moscow, moving to Germany aged 4.

NO. 10 DAVID NALBANDIAN (ARG) v MARC GICQUEL (FRA)

Head-to-head: Gicquel leads 1-0
2007 Halle Grass (O) R32 Gicquel 57 62 64

NALBANDIANvGICQUEL
27Age31
11 ATP Ranking 50
9Titles0
77-28Career Grand Slam Record10-11
23-7Australian Open Record3-2
292-141Career Record64-66
135-70Career Record - Hard24-33
0-02009 Record0-0
0-02009 Record - Hard0-0
15-10Career Five-Set Record4-2
6Comebacks from 0-2 Down2
101-73Career Tiebreak Record29-24
0-02009 Tiebreak Record0-0

• This is NALBANDIAN’S 8th straight Australian Open. Last year, he fell in the third round to Juan Carlos Ferrero 61 62 63.

• Nalbandian was a semifinalist here in 2006 and a quarterfinalist three times in 2003-05.

• Nalbandian has been a semifinalist at all four majors and posted his best performance at 2002 Wimbledon when finishing runner-up to Lleyton Hewitt. He has only lost in the first round of a Grand Slam twice, at the 2002 US Open to Armenian Sargis Sargsian and 2008 Wimbledon to Frank Dancevic.

• Nalbandian won his 10th career title at Sydney last week, defeating Jarkko Nieminen 63 67 62 in the final. It was his first title on Australian soil and fourth on hard court.

• Having finished the season as Argentina’s No. 1 player from 2005 to 2007, Nalbandian finished outside of the Top 10 (11) in 2008 for the first time in six years, and so relinquished his title as the No. 1 Argentine to Juan Martin del Potro. He had a consistent season however, winning two titles at Buenos Aires and Stockholm and also led his nation to the 2008 Davis Cup final against Spain in Mar del Plata.

• Nalbandian is without a coach, having recently split from Martin Jaite.

• Tunisian born GICQUEL is playing his third Australian Open. In 2007 he reached the 2nd round and last year went one better to reach the 3rd round (l. Nikolay Davydenko).

• Gicquel’s best Grand Slam result came on his US Open debut in 2006 when he reached the round of 16 (l. Roger Federer).

• Gicquel began the 2009 season at Brisbane, where he lost in the first round to countryman Richard Gasquet, and last week competed at Auckland where he reached the 2nd round (l. David Ferrer). He won his second career doubles title at Brisbane with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

• Gicquel finished 2008 ranked No. 54. His highlight of the season was reaching the final on grass at ‘s-Hertogenbosch (l. David Ferrer), his third career final.

• Gicquel is currently without a coach.

NO. 11 DAVID FERRER (ESP) v DENIS GREMELMAYR (GER)

Head-to-head: first meeting

FERRERvGREMELMAYR
26Age27
12 ATP Ranking 80
7Titles0
44-24Career Grand Slam Record3-5
11-6Australian Open Record3-2
248-165Career Record25-38
95-74Career Record - Hard13-23
0-02009 Record0-0
0-02009 Record - Hard0-0
9-2Career Five-Set Record1-1
2Comebacks from 0-2 Down1
56-54Career Tiebreak Record10-12
0-02009 Tiebreak Record0-0

• FERRER is making his 7th consecutive Australian Open appearance. He has only lost in the 1st round on two occasions.

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

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

• GREMELMAYR

• is playing his 3rd Australian Open but this is the first time that he is playing here as a direct entry.

• Last year

• , as a qualifier, Gremelmayr defeated Sergio Roitman in the 1st round before falling to Vince Spadea in the 2nd round.

• Gremelmayr’s best Australian Open – and Grand Slam - performance was here in 2006 when, also as a qualifier, he reached the 3rd round (l. Marcos Baghdatis).

• Gremelmayr lost in the 1st round of both his warm-up events, to Andreas Seppi at Doha, and to Michael Llodra at Sydney.

• Gremelmayr had his best year to date in 2008, finishing the year at No. 87, having reached a career-high of No. 59 in May. He reached his first career semifinal at Estoril and also reached the last four at Barcelona and Los Angeles.

• Gremelmayr is currently without a coach.

NO. 20 TOMAS BERDYCH (CZE) v ROBBY GINEPRI (USA)

Head-to-head: Berdych 2-0
2006 AMS Paris Carpet (I) R16 Berdych 63 63
2008 AMS Paris Hard (I) R64 Berdych 64 75

BERDYCHvGINEPRI
23Age26
21 ATP Ranking 47
21Titles2
36-21Career Grand Slam Record26-25
8-5Australian Open Record7-5
185-117Career Record158-151
94-64Career Record - Hard120-99
0-02009 Record0-0
0-02009 Record - Hard0-0
10-3Career Five-Set Record5-6
2Comebacks from 0-2 Down1
68-58Career Tiebreak Record57-68
0-02009 Tiebreak Record0-0

• BERDYCH is playing his 6th Australian Open. He has reached the round of 16 for the last two years, falling to Roger Federer in straight sets last year.

• Berdych’s best Grand Slam result is reaching the quarterfinals of 2007 Wimbledon (l. Rafael Nadal).

• Berdych finished 2008 in the Top 20 for the third straight year and won his fourth 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.

• This is GINEPRI’S 6th Australian Open and first since 2007, having not been ranked high enough for direct entry last year.

• Ginepri’s best performance here is a round of 16 finish in 2004. The only time he has advanced beyond the round of 16 at a major is at the 2005 US Open, when he made a surprise run to the semifinals. There he played four consecutive five-set matches which included his semifinal loss to Andre Agassi.

• Ginepri ended the 2008 season ranked No. 51, 81 places higher than his 2007 year-end ranking. His best results last year were three straight semifinal appearances at Delray Beach, San Jose and Las Vegas.

• Ginepri has played two tournaments ahead of the 2009 Australian Open. He lost in the first round at Brisbane and the 2nd round at Auckland.

• Ginepri is coached by Diego Moyano.

NO. 23 MARDY FISH (USA) v (WC) SAMUEL GROTH (AUS)

Head-to-head: first meeting

FISHvGROTH
27Age21
24 ATP Ranking 279
2Titles0
25-24Career Grand Slam Record0-0
10-6Australian Open Record0-0
175-145Career Record1-1
133-97Career Record - Hard0-0
0-02009 Record0-0
0-02009 Record - Hard0-0
2-5Career Five-Set Record0-0
0Comebacks from 0-2 Down0
64-84Career Tiebreak Record2-0
0-02009 Tiebreak Record0-0

• FISH is playing his 7th Australian Open and has only lost in the 1st round once on his 6 previous appearances.

• Last year

• , Fish fell in the 3rd round here to Jarkko Nieminen. His best Australian Open result is a quarterfinal finish in 2007 (l. Andy Roddick).

• Fish has lost both matches that he has played this year – 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.

• 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 being coached by Craig Boynton.

• Wildcard GROTH is making his Grand Slam singles debut today. He played doubles at last year’s Australian Open.

• Groth attempted to qualify at both the 2008 Australian and US Opens but fell in the 2nd round on both occasions.

• This is Groth’s 2nd tournament at tour level. He made his tour-level debut at 2008 Nottingham, where he reached the 2nd round (l. Gilles Simon)

• Groth improved his ranking more than 150 places in 2008 to finish at No. 265. His best result was reaching the semifinals at the Yokohama Challenger in November and he also reached quarterfinals at Challengers in New Delhi, Cordoba and Manchester.

• Groth reached the boys’ doubles final at 2005 Wimbledon (with Brit Andrew Kennaugh).

• Groth is coached at the Australian Institute of Sport and is engaged to fellow AIS player Jarmila Gajdosova, who is competing in the women’s singles here. They are due to marry in February 2009.

NO. 26 MARAT SAFIN (RUS) v IVAN NAVARRO (ESP)

Head-to-head: First meeting

SAFINvNAVARRO
28*Age27
27 ATP Ranking 74
15Titles0
92-34Career Grand Slam Record1-5
29-7Australian Open Record0-0
409-252Career Record22-35
204-131Career Record - Hard4-13
2-22009 Record0-0
2-22009 Record - Hard0-0
28-12Career Five-Set Record0-0
1Comebacks from 0-2 Down0
206-176Career Tiebreak Record9-18
3-22009 Tiebreak Record0-0
*turns 29 on 27 January

• 2005 champion SAFIN is contesting his 10th Australian Open in what he has mentioned is his final year on the tour.

• Safin won the title over Lleyton Hewitt 16 63 64 64 back in 2005, adding to his 2000 US Open title. He is one of four players in the main draw to own two or more Grand Slam titles, along with Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Hewitt. He was also a runner-up here in 2002 and 2004, losing to Thomas Johansson and Roger Federer respectively.

• 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.

• 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 is coached by Hernan Gurny.

• 27-year-old NAVARRO is making his Australian Open debut today. He had previously tried to qualify for the event three times (2002, 2006, 2008) but lost in the first round on all three occasions.

• This is Navarro’s 6th major overall and he has only advanced beyond the first round once, at 2007 Roland Garros (losing in the 2nd round to David Nalbandian).

• Navarro finished 2008 inside the Top 100 for the first time. He won three challenger titles (Meknes (MAR) - clay, Cordoba (ESP) – hard, and Medjugorje (BIH) - clay) and reached two other challenger finals at Bogota (COL) and Alphen (NED). He also made the quarterfinals at Newport and Bucharest to earn a career-high ranking of No. 69, and ended the year at No. 72.

• Navarro played one tournament ahead of the 2009 Australian Open, at Doha losing in the first round to Andy Roddick.

• Navarro has been coached by Israel Sevilla since 2001.

POTITO STARACE (ITA) v (WC) BERNARD TOMIC (AUS)

Head-to-head: First meeting

STARACEvTOMIC
27Age16
73 ATP Ranking 768
0Titles0
5-17Career Grand Slam Record0-0
0-3Australian Open Record0-0
86-97Career Record0-0
10-28Career Record - Hard0-0
0-02009 Record0-0
0-02009 Record - Hard0-0
1-4Career Five-Set Record0-0
0Comebacks from 0-2 Down0
38-25Career Tiebreak Record0-0

0-02009 Tiebreak Record0-0

• STARACE is making his 4th Australian Open appearance and is looking to win his first match here.

• On his last appearance here in 2007, Starace lost in the 1st round to Juan Ignacio Chela, his 3rd straight opening-round exit at the Australian Open.

• Starace has lost in the 1st round 14 times in 17 Grand Slam appearances before this one. His best performances are two 3rd round finishes at 2004 and 2007 Roland Garros.

• Starace lost in the 1st round of both of his warm-up events, to Roger Federer at Doha and countryman Simone Bolelli at Sydney last week.

• Starace finished 2008 ranked No. 70. His best result was advancing to the semifinals at Kitzbuhel and he reached quarterfinals at 4 other events.

• Starace is coached by Umberto Rianna.

• 2008 boys’ singles champion TOMIC is making his Grand Slam debut today.

• Tomic made his tour level debut as a wildcard two weeks ago at Brisbane, losing in the opening round to Fernando Verdasco.

• Tomic’s previous Grand Slam experience was limited to last year’s Australian Open qualifying event, where he fell in the 2nd round.

• Tomic’s best result on the professional circuit to date was reaching the final at Indonesia F2 Futures in August 2008.

• At 16 years, 103 days, Tomic is the 2nd youngest man to play in the Australian Open. The youngest is Lleyton Hewitt, who lost in the first round as a qualifier in 1997, aged 15 years, 337 days.

• Tomic won the 2008 Australian Open boys’ singles, defeating Tsung-Hua Yang (TPE) in the final.

• Tomic is coached by his father John.

JULIEN BENNETEAU (FRA) v MARCOS BAGHDATIS (CYP)

Head-to-head: Benneteau leads 2-0
2006 Roland Garros Clay (O) R64 Benneteau 36 64 63 67(1) 64
2006 AMS Canada Hard (O) R64 Benneteau 57 62 63

BENNETEAUvBAGHDATIS
27Age23
48 ATP Ranking 97
0Titles2
13-22Career Grand Slam Record30-16
2-5Australian Open Record12-4
91-113Career Record132-71
47-63Career Record - Hard63-45
0-02009 Record0-0
0-02009 Record - Hard0-0
3-4Career Five-Set Record8-5
0Comebacks from 0-2 Down1
35-32Career Tiebreak Record55-34
0-02009 Tiebreak Record0-0

• BENNETEAU is making his 6th Australian Open appearance. He has lost in the first round on 4 of his 5 previous appearances, including each of the last 2 years.

• On the only occasion that Benneteau won a match at the Australian Open, in 2006, he went on to reach the third round, losing to Andy Roddick.

• Benneteau warmed up for the Australian Open at Brisbane, where he fell in the 2nd round to Robin Soderling and at Sydney, where he lost in the 1st round to Lleyton Hewitt.

• Benneteau finished 2008 ranked No. 43. He reached his first two career finals, finishing runner-up at Casablanca (l. Gilles Simon) and at Lyon (l. Robin Soderling).

• Benneteau is coached by Nicolas Copin and Thierry Champion and is part of Team Lagardere, along with several of France’s leading male players.

• 2006 runner-up BAGHDATIS is making his 5th Australian Open appearance and has never lost in the 1st round here.

• Last year, Baghdatis reached the 3rd round and lost a five-setter to Lleyton Hewitt in a match that finished at 4.34 am, 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.

• Before coming here

• , Baghdatis played at Brisbane as a wildcard, losing in the 1st round to Jarkko Nieminen. He then played at the Kooyong exhibition event, losing his 1st 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.

• Baghdatis has been coached by Olivier Soules since November 2008.

(Q) EVGENY KOROLEV (RUS) v CARLOS MOYA (ESP)

Head-to-head: Korolev leads 1-0
2006 Barcelona Clay (O) R64 Korolev 75 64

KOROLEVvMOYA
20Age32
118 ATP Ranking 41
0Titles20
3-8Career Grand Slam Record78-44
1-2Australian Open Record13-11
41-49Career Record572-314
23-25Career Record - Hard210-141
0-02009 Record0-0
0-02009 Record - Hard0-0
1-3Career Five-Set Record16-19
0Comebacks from 0-2 Down5
17-20Career Tiebreak Record225-165
0-02009 Tiebreak Record0-0

• Qualifier KOROLEV is playing his 3rd Australian Open. Last year he won his first match at Melbourne Park in defeating Marcel Granollers in the first round, before retiring with a right groin injury from his 2nd round match against Philipp Kohlschreiber.

• Korolev defeated Frederik Nielsen (DEN), Alexandre Sidorenko (FRA) and Danai Udomchoke (THA) through the three rounds of qualifying to earn his place in the main draw of the 2009 Australian Open.

• Korolev has only gone beyond the first round of a major three times in 8 previous Grand Slam appearances. As well as here in 2008, he reached the 2nd round at 2006 Roland Garros and the 2008 US Open.

• This is Korolev’s first tournament of the year. He attempted to qualify for Brisbane and Sydney but fell in the 2nd round of both qualifying events.

• Korolev finished 2008 outside the Top 100 for the first time in three years and posted a 41-49 season. He reached his second career ATP semifinal at Valencia (l. Nicolas Almagro), a further three quarterfinals, and won the Aachen Challenger in Germany.

• Korolev is coached by his father, also called Evgeny.

• 31-year-old MOYA is playing his 12th Australian Open and 46th Grand Slam overall.

• Moya finished runner-up here in 1997 to Pete Sampras, but since then has only advanced beyond the 2nd round once – in 2001 when he made the quarterfinals. For the last four years he has lost in the first round, last year to Stefan Koubek as No. 16 seed.

• Moya is one of 8 Grand Slam champions in the main draw. He won 1998 Roland Garros over countryman Alex Corretja.

• Moya finished 2008 in the Top 50 for the 13th straight year, the best streak among active players. Last year he ended his eight-year record of winning at least one title per season, falling short in the finals at Costa do Sauipe and Bucharest.

• Moya competed at Chennai in the first week of the 2009 season, falling in the 2nd round to Somdev Devvarman. He also played at the Kooyong exhibition last week, winning one match in three against Ivan Ljubicic.

• Moya held the No. 1 ranking for two weeks in March 1999, ironically in the only year between 1995 and 2007 that he did not win a title.

• Moya is coached by Luis Lobo.