DAY EIGHT MEN’S NOTES

Sunday 3 June 2007

Round of 16 Top Half

Show court matches

PHILIPPE CHATRIER:          No. 1 Roger Federer (SUI) v No. 13 Mikhail Youzhny (RUS)

                                                No. 4 Nikolay Davydenko (RUS) v No. 15 David Nalbandian (ARG)

SUZANNE LENGLEN:           No. 9 Tommy Robredo (ESP) v No. 29 Filippo Volandri (ITA)

                                                No. 19 Guillermo Canas (ARG) v Juan Monaco (ARG)

On court today…

·         Roger Federer will match the longest streak of straight-sets wins in Grand Slam matches if he defeats Mikhail Youzhny in straight sets today. Youzhny, making his round of 16 debut here, is 0-2 against the top seed in a Grand Slam event, and has a 0-9 record in previous meetings with Federer.

·         No. 9 seed Tommy Robredo and Filippo Volandri meet for the seventh time, having only ever played each other on clay. Although their overall series is tied, Volandri has won their last three match-ups. Robredo is bidding to advance to the Roland Garros quarterfinals for the third time; victory for Volandri would hand him his first Grand Slam quarterfinal, and a potential rematch with Federer, having beaten the world No. 1 at AMS Rome last month.

·         Former semifinalists No. 4 seed Nikolay Davydenko and No. 15 David Nalbandian have a rematch of their quarterfinal meeting at last year’s Roland Garros. The Argentine won on that occasion, and leads their overall head-to-head 5-2; he does however have a 1-8 win-loss record against Top 5 players at Grand Slam events.

·         The first all-Argentine match up of 2007 Roland Garros between No. 19 seed Guillermo Canas and Juan Monaco. Both have already won clay court titles this year, with Monaco claiming two. Canas has a significantly better win-loss record against his countrymen than Monaco.

COURT PHILIPPE CHATRIER

NO. 1 ROGER FEDERER (SUI) v NO. 13 MIKHAIL YOUZHNY (RUS)

Head-to-head: Federer leads 9-0

2000     Stockholm                     Hard (I)              R32      Federer             57 64 63

2002     Halle                             Grass (O)          QF        Federer             63 64

2003     Munich                          Clay (O)            QF        Federer             62 63

2003     Halle                             Grass (O)          SF        Federer             46 76 62

2004     Halle                             Grass (O)          R16      Federer             62 61

2005     Dubai                            Hard (O)            QF        Federer             63 75

2006     Dubai                            Hard (O)            SF        Federer             62 63

2007     Australian Open             Hard (O)            R32      Federer             63 63 76

2007     Dubai                            Hard (O)            FR        Federer             64 63

Federer has dominated his past meetings with Youzhny, not dropping a set in seven of their previous match-ups. Federer has won their last five encounters in straight sets; the last set that Youzhny won was at 2003 Halle, before Federer won in three sets. This is just their second meeting on clay.                   

                              FEDERER                                                        v                                                       YOUZHNY

                                      25                                                             Age                                                            24

                                       1                                                    ATP Ranking                                                  15

                                      48                                                           Titles                                                            3

                                  122-21                                Career Grand Slam Record                                41-24

                                    23-8                                       Roland Garros Record                                        8-6

                                514-132                                            Career Record                                           206-162

                                   99-35                                        Career Record - Clay                                       60-49

                                    27-4                                                  2007 Record                                                30-11

                                    13-2                                           2007 Record - Clay                                           11-4

                                    9-10                                      Career Five-Set Record                                       8-7

                                       3                                      Comebacks from 0-2 Down                                     2

                                191-108                                  Career Tiebreak Record                                    87-72

                                     7-3                                         2007 Tiebreak Record                                      11-11

·         Federer defeated Michael Russell 64 62 64 in the first round, French wild card Thierry Ascione 61 62 76 in the second round and Potito Starace 62 63 60 in the third round.

·         Through the completion of his third round victory against Starace here, Federer has won ten consecutive Grand Slam matches in straight sets, and 32 sets in a row since winning the last two sets of the 2006 US Open final against Andy Roddick.

·         Federer is one straight-sets victory away from equalling the longest streak of Grand Slam matches won in straight sets in the Open Era. John McEnroe won 11 Grand Slam matches in straight sets from the second round at 1984 Wimbledon through the 1984 US Open quarterfinals.

Consecutive straight-sets victories in Grand Slams (Open Era)

                                                            *first two rounds were best-of-three sets

·         A straight-sets victory for Federer today would also equal the longest streak of consecutive sets won in Grand Slams in the Open Era, currently held by John McEnroe, who won 35 in a row [see table overleaf]:

Consecutive sets won in Grand Slams (Open Era)

·         Federer is making his ninth appearance at Roland Garros, having played every year since making his Grand Slam debut as a wild card in 1999.

·         On the four previous occasions that Federer has appeared in the Roland Garros round of 16, he has only once failed to advance to the quarterfinals. In 2000, in his first round of 16 appearance here, he lost to Alex Corretja 75 76 62.

·         Federer will enter his 175^th week at No. 1 in the rankings on Monday, having been at the top every week since 2 February 2004. This is a record for consecutive weeks at No. 1 – he overtook Jimmy Connors’ mark of 160 straight weeks on 26^th February. Federer is in fourth place for the most total weeks at No. 1, behind Pete Sampras (286 weeks), Ivan Lendl (270 weeks) and Connors (268).

·         Federer has a 31-6 win-loss record against Russians, four of those losses (all to Yevgeny Kafelnikov) coming in his first six meetings with players from the nation. Since his last defeat by Kafelnikov (2001 Marseille), he stands at 29-2; his two losses since have both been to Marat Safin, at 2002 Moscow and the 2005 Australian Open.

·         Federer reached the Roland Garros final for the first time last year, becoming the seventh man in the Open Era to reach the final at all four Grand Slam events (the others are Andre Agassi, Rod Laver, Ken Rosewall, Ivan Lendl, Stefan Edberg and Jim Courier). Federer’s loss in the final to defending champion Rafael Nadal 16 61 64 76 was one of just five losses for Federer in 2006, four of which were to Nadal (the fifth was to Andy Murray).

·         For the third successive year, Federer is bidding at Roland Garros to become only the sixth man in history to win all four Grand Slam titles. The five men to have achieved the ‘career Grand Slam’ are Andre Agassi, Don Budge, Roy Emerson, Rod Laver and Fred Perry. Budge and Laver, of course, won the much-coveted Grand Slam, Budge winning all four major tournaments in a single calendar year in 1938, before Laver did so in 1962 and 1969.

·         With his chances of achieving both a career Grand Slam and a true (calendar year) Grand Slam still alive, Federer is also bidding, for the second successive year, to become just the third man in history to win four majors in a row. Of the five men to win all four majors in their careers, only Budge and Laver held all four titles at the same time. Perry, Emerson and Agassi were never able to win four consecutive Grand Slams.

·         In the 38 years since Laver completed his second Grand Slam in 1969, Agassi is the only man to have been able to capture the elusive fourth different major. In that time, 11 other men have collected three of the four major titles. In every case, the players failed to win either Roland Garros or Wimbledon to complete their set. [For more detail see Preview page 3.]

·         Federer has collected his ten Grand Slam titles in his last 15 Grand Slam tournaments. En route to the 2007 Australian Open crown, he advanced to his 11^th successive Grand Slam semifinal, setting a new Open Era record for consecutive Grand Slam semifinal appearances. He became the first man to win a Grand Slam title without dropping a set since Bjorn Borg at 1980 Roland Garros.

·         Although Federer has won three titles so far in 2007, by his standards this season has been disappointing. Before the start of Roland Garros, his win-loss record for the season was only seventh-best, at 24-4. Federer’s victory at AMS Hamburg broke a run of four straight tournament losses, his longest streak without winning a title since taking over the No. 1 ranking in February 2004. After winning the Australian Open and Dubai, Federer lost in the second round at AMS Indian Wells to Guillermo Canas 75 62 (after a first round bye), and again to Canas, 76 26 76, in the round of 16 at AMS Miami. Federer reached the final at AMS Monte Carlo before losing to Rafael Nadal, and was then upset by wild card Filippo Volandri 62 64 in the round of 16 at AMS Rome.

·         Federer’s recent victory at Hamburg was his fourth win at the tournament and marked his first defeat of Rafael Nadal in six clay court meetings. He defeated the Spaniard 26 62 60 in the final to improve his career head-to-head against Nadal to 4-7.

·         Gustavo Kuerten was the last No. 1 seed to win Roland Garros, in 2001. The top seed has failed to reach the quarterfinals here on ten occasions in the Open Era. [For more details, see Preview page 11.]

·         Roland Garros was the only junior Grand Slam event at which Federer did not reach the semifinals or better. On his only appearance in the boys’ singles here in 1998, he lost to Jaroslay Levinsky 64 57 97.

·         Youzhny advanced to the round of 16 with a 67 76 62 62 victory against 2003 Roland Garros champion Juan Carlos Ferrero in the third round, having defeated Nicolas Lapentti 63 60 64 in the second round. He advanced to the second round without completing a game when his first round opponent, Jan Hernych, retired with lower back pain eight minutes in the first game of their match.

·         Youzhny has reached the round of 16 here for the first time. His previous best result at Roland Garros was reaching the third round in 2004, losing to Nicolas Escude 62 75 67 62. 

·         Youzhny is playing at Roland Garros for the seventh consecutive year. Last year, Youzhny lost in the second round here to 1998 champion Carlos Moya 63 64 62.

·         Youzhny has now reached the round of 16 or better at all four majors. His best career Grand Slam result came at the 2006 US Open, where he reached the semifinals, defeating Rafael Nadal 63 57 76 61 in the quarterfinals before losing to Andy Roddick 67 60 76 63.

·         Youzhny is one of three Russian men to reach the round of 16 here, along with No. 4 seed Nikolay Davydenko, who plays Roger Federer today, and Igor Andreev, who plays Marcos Baghdatis tomorrow (Monday). Three Russian men through to the last 16 here is a new Open Era record, surpassing the nation’s previous best mark of two, and equals the Grand Slam Open Era record, three Russians having advanced the last 16 at the 2006 US Open.

·         There have never been three Russian quarterfinalists at a Grand Slam tournament in the Open Era. The highest number of Russians to advance to the Roland Garros quarterfinals is two, achieved in 2000 when Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Marat Safin reached the last eight.

·        To date, six different Russian men have reached the Roland Garros quarterfinals in the Open Era: Aleksandr Metreveli, Andrei Chesnokov, Andrei Cherkasov, Kafelnikov, Safin and Davydenko. (Note: Metreveli was actually Georgian, but played for the USSR.)

·         Youzhny is facing the top seed at a Grand Slam event for the third time but has yet to record a victory:

Youzhny v No. 1 seeds at Grand Slams

·         Youzhny has never beaten the No. 1-ranked player in seven meetings, two against Lleyton Hewitt and five against Federer (see head-to-head) The highest-ranked player that he has defeated is No. 2-ranked Rafael Nadal at the 2006 US Open (see above) and 2007 Dubai, where he defeated the Spaniard 76 63. Youzhny has a 4-19 win-loss record against Top 5 players.

·         In the lead-up to Roland Garros, Youzhny reached the seventh final of his career, his second on clay, at Munich, losing to Philipp Kohlschreiber 26 63 64.

·         Munich (see above) was Youzhny’s third final of the year. He won his third career title at Rotterdam on indoor hard court in February, defeating Ivan Ljubicic 62 64 in the final, and a week later reached the final at Dubai, also on hard court, losing to Roger Federer 64 63. This is the first time in his career that Youzhny has reached more than two finals in the same year and it is reflected in the fact that he equalled his career-high ranking of No. 15 on 21 May and plays here at the same ranking.

·         Youzhny never played the Roland Garros junior event.

NO. 4 NIKOLAY DAVYDENKO (RUS) v NO. 15 DAVID NALBANDIAN (ARG)

Head-to-head: Nalbandian leads 5-2

2002     Vienna                          Hard (I)              R32      Davydenko        63 62

2003     Davis Cup WG QF         Clay (O)            R1        Nalbandian        62 62 75

2003     Barcelona                      Clay (O)            R32      Davydenko        63 76

2005     Tennis Masters Cup       Carpet (I)           SF        Nalbandian        60 75

2006     Estoril                           Clay (O)            FR        Nalbandian        63 64

2006     Roland Garros               Clay (O)            QF        Nalbandian        63 63 26 64

2006     Davis Cup WG FR          Carpet (I)           R4        Nalbandian        62 62 46 64

This is the pair’s eighth meeting, and fifth on clay; they met at Roland Garros last year in the quarterfinals. Nalbandian leads 3-1 on clay, and has won his last four matches against Davydenko. Their most recent meeting was in the 2006 Davis Cup final between Russia and Argentina in Moscow last December, and Nalbandian’s victory in the fourth rubber took the final to a live fifth rubber. Russia eventually won the title 3-2.

                           DAVYDENKO                                                     v                                                   NALBANDIAN

                                     26*                                                            Age                                                            25

                                       4                                                    ATP Ranking                                                  18

                                      10                                                           Titles                                                            5

                                   40-24                                 Career Grand Slam Record                                68-21

                                    15-6                                       Roland Garros Record                                       19-5

                                235-175                                            Career Record                                           229-116

                                  112-70                                      Career Record - Clay                                       91-44

                                   26-14                                                 2007 Record                                                 12-9

                                    11-6                                           2007 Record - Clay                                            6-4

                                     7-5                                       Career Five-Set Record                                      14-8

                                       3                                      Comebacks from 0-2 Down                                     6

                                   61-64                                    Career Tiebreak Record                                    76-61

                                     9-8                                         2007 Tiebreak Record                                        6-6

* Turned 26 on 2 June

·         Davydenko defeated Stefano Galvani 63 61 61 in the first round (being the only man to complete a match on Monday), Werner Eschauer 75 63 61 in the second round and Michael Llodra 64 62 64 in the third round. He is one of three men in this half of the draw who have not lost a set through the first three rounds, the others being No. 1 seed Roger Federer and No. 9 Tommy Robredo.

·         Davydenko celebrated his 26^th birthday yesterday, on Saturday 2 June.

·         Davydenko is playing his seventh Roland Garros and is bidding to reach his third successive quarterfinal here. He lost in the quarterfinals last year to today’s opponent Nalbandian 63 63 26 64.

·         Davydenko has reached the quarterfinals in four of his last five Grand Slam appearances.

·         Davydenko reached his first Grand Slam semifinal at 2005 Roland Garros before losing to eventual runner-up Mariano Puerta 63 57 26 64 64. Prior to 2005, he had never advanced beyond the Roland Garros second round, losing at that stage on his first three appearances.

·         Reaching the semifinals is Davydenko’s best result at any Grand Slam tournament. He also advanced to the last four at the 2006 US Open, losing to eventual champion Roger Federer 61 75 64.

·         Davydenko is one of three Russian men to reach the round of 16 here, along with No. 13 seed Mikhail Youzhny, who plays Roger Federer today, and Igor Andreev, who plays Marcos Baghdatis tomorrow. Three Russian men through to the last 16 here is a new Open Era record, surpassing the nation’s previous best mark of two, and equals the Grand Slam Open Era record, three Russians having advanced the last 16 at the 2006 US Open.

·         There have never been three Russian quarterfinalists at a Grand Slam tournament in the Open Era. The highest number of Russians to advance to the Roland Garros quarterfinals is two, achieved in 2000 when Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Marat Safin reached the last eight.

·         To date, six different Russian men have reached the Roland Garros quarterfinals in the Open Era: Aleksandr Metreveli, Andrei Chesnokov, Andrei Cherkasov, Kafelnikov, Safin and Davydenko. (Note: Metreveli was actually Georgian, but played for the USSR.)

·         Davydenko has a 4-3 win-loss record against Argentines in Grand Slam events, and is 2-3 against the nation at Roland Garros through his defeat by Nalbandian in the quarters here last year. If he wins today, Davydenko will play another Argentine in the next round – the winner of the Guillermo Canas v Juan Monaco round of 16 match.

·         Immediately before 2007 Roland Garros, Davydenko played at Portschach, having won the title in Austria for the past two years. This time however, as No. 1 seed, he lost in the quarterfinals to eventual champion Juan Monaco 62 67 64.

·         Before coming here, Davydenko’s best result on clay this year was reaching the semifinals at AMS Rome, where he defeated Tommy Robredo 16 63 63 in the quarterfinals before losing to eventual champion Rafael Nadal 76 67 64 in a match lasting three hours, 38 minutes. Two weeks earlier, he had reached the quarterfinals at Barcelona, but gave a walkover in that round due to a wrist injury.

·         Davydenko’s best results on all surfaces this season have been semifinal finishes, reaching the last four at Doha and indoors at Rotterdam, both on hard court, before doing so at AMS Rome. He was also a quarterfinalist for the third successive year at the Australian Open (l. Tommy Haas 63 26 16 61 75).

·         Nalbandian defeated Hyung-Taik Lee 62 61 36 63 in the opening round, Spanish qualifier Ivan Navarro Pastor 75 64 64 in the second round and Gael Monfils 76 57 64 76 in the third round.

·         Nalbandian is appearing at Roland Garros for the sixth time in his career, and has reached the round of 16 for the fourth straight year.

·         After two of his three previous round of 16 appearances at Roland Garros, Nalbandian has gone on to a semifinal finish. He is one of only two active players – the other being Federer – to have reached the semifinals or better at all four Grand Slam events.

·         Nalbandian reached the semifinals for the second time last year, as No. 3 seed defeating Nikolay Davydenko 63 63 26 64 in the quarterfinals before retiring with a left abdominal strain against Roger Federer, losing 36 64 52 ret. to hand the world No. 1 his first Roland Garros final. Nalbandian first reached the semis here in 2004, falling to eventual champion and compatriot Gaston Gaudio 63 76 60.

·         Nalbandian’s best Grand Slam result remains his runner-up finish at 2002 Wimbledon, where, in just his fourth major and playing his first senior grass court event, he became the first man to reach the Wimbledon final on his debut. He defeated Xavier Malisse 76 64 16 26 62 in the semifinals before losing to Lleyton Hewitt 61 63 62.

·         Nalbandian is bidding to win four successive matches for the first time since reaching the semifinals here last year.

·         Nalbandian has played an abbreviated season so far, Roland Garros being just his ninth event (including the Davis Cup quarterfinals). Having led Argentina to the Davis Cup final at the end of 2006 (they lost to Russia), he sat out the first round of this year’s competition in February to rest. He retired with a back injury in the second round at AMS Monte Carlo (l. Philipp Kohlschreiber 75 41 ret.), then reached the quarterfinals at Barcelona in his last tournament appearance before coming here. Nalbandian withdrew from the Masters Series events in Rome and Hamburg with the back injury.

·         Before this event, Nalbandian’s best result in 2007 was reaching the round of 16 at the Australian Open, where he lost to Tommy Haas 46 63 62 63. He also won two matches in a row to advance to the last 16 at AMS Indian Wells, and the quarterfinals at Barcelona.

·         Nalbandian has a 1-8 win-loss record against Top 5 players in Grand Slams, his sole victory being against Roger Federer, then the world No. 2, in the 2003 US Open round of 16. In all matches, Nalbandian is 10-19 versus Top 5.

·         Although Nalbandian’s career record against Russians is 9-12, he has won seven of his last eight matches against Russian players, ending with his two singles victories in the 2006 Davis Cup final in Moscow, where his defeats of Marat Safin 64 64 64 in the second rubber and today’s opponent Davydenko 62 62 46 64 in the fourth rubber were not enough to stop Argentina losing to Russia 3-2.

·         Nalbandian’s mark of six career comebacks from two-sets-to-love down is the best among active players.

·         Nalbandian is one of two men remaining in the draw who have been Grand Slam runners-up without claiming a major title. The other is 2006 Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis, who reached the round of 16 on Saturday.

·         Nalbandian was runner-up in the 1999 Roland Garros boys’ tournament, losing in the final to compatriot Guillermo Coria 64 63.

COURT SUZANNE LENGLEN

NO. 9 TOMMY ROBREDO (ESP) v NO. 29 FILIPPO VOLANDRI (ITA)

Head-to-head: tied 3-3

2002     AMS Rome                   Clay (O)            R64      Robredo            75 64

2003     Bastad                          Clay (O)            QF        Robredo            64 64

2003     Stuttgart                        Clay (O)            QF        Robredo            64 62

2005     Umag                            Clay (O)            QF        Volandri            36 63 63

2005     Palermo                        Clay (O)            QF        Volandri            64 62

2006     Davis Cup WG PO         Clay (O)            R1        Volandri            63 75 63

This is Robredo and Volandri’s seventh career meeting, and they have always played each other on clay. Although their overall series is tied, Volandri has won their last three match-ups, through his victory in the first rubber of the Italy v Spain Davis Cup World Group Play-off tie in Santander last September. (Spain went on to defeat Italy 4-1 and retain its place in the World Group for 2007.)

Both players are 25, but Volandri is the older player by nearly eight months. Although they were contemporaries on the ITF Junior Circuit, they never played each other in junior competition.

                      ROBREDO                                          v                                         VOLANDRI

                            25                                              Age                                             25

                             9                                       ATP Ranking                                      34

                             4                                             Titles                                             2

                          51-25                         Career Grand Slam Record                         9-16

                           22-6                              Roland Garros Record                              6-4

                        276-169                                 Career Record                                 127-112

                         128-57                             Career Record - Clay                             117-68

                          26-14                                     2007 Record                                    13-11

                           10-5                                 2007 Record - Clay                                12-6

                            6-3                              Career Five-Set Record                             2-2

                             1                            Comebacks from 0-2 Down                            0

                          89-73                           Career Tiebreak Record                           25-35

                            4-6                               2007 Tiebreak Record                              2-6

·         Robredo advanced to the round of 16 by defeating Argentine Sergio Roitman 63 64 62 in the first round, Greek qualifier Konstantinos Economidis 64 75 64 in the second round and Janko Tipsarevic 63 64 60 in the third round. He is one of three men in this half of the draw who have not lost a set through the first three rounds, the others being No. 1 seed Roger Federer and No. 4 Nikolay Davydenko.

·         Robredo is playing his seventh successive Roland Garros. He has reached the round of 16 for the fifth consecutive year, and sixth year overall. Last year, as No. 7 seed, Robredo lost in the round of 16 to Mario Ancic 64 46 26 64 75.

·         This is the second time that Robredo has advanced to the last 16 without dropping a set, doing so the first time he got to this stage, in 2001.

·         Robredo is bidding to advance to the Roland Garros quarterfinals for the third time, having done so in 2003 and 2005. In 2003, he let slip a two-set lead to lose to countryman and defending champion Albert Costa in the quarterfinals 26 36 64 75 62, and Robredo also lost in five sets in the last eight in 2005, falling to Nikolay Davydenko 36 61 62 46 64.

·         Robredo advanced to his first Grand Slam quarterfinal outside Roland Garros at this year’s Australian Open, as No. 7 seed losing to eventual champion Roger Federer 63 76 75. He has yet to advance beyond the round of 16 at the US Open or the third round at Wimbledon.

·         Against Italians, Robredo has a 11-6 career record, 2-0 in Grand Slam tournaments. Having defeated Potito Starace 64 64 64 in the first round at 2004 Wimbledon, and Daniele Bracciali 36 63 64 62 in the first round at the 2005 US Open, today marks his first meeting with an Italian at Roland Garros.

·         Robredo played five clay court events this year in the lead-up to Roland Garros. His best result was at Estoril, where he advanced to the semifinals, losing to Novak Djokovic 75 61. He also reached the quarterfinals at AMS Rome, falling to Nikolay Davydenko 16 63 63.

·         Robredo has also had good results on hard court in 2007. He reached the final at Auckland at the start of the season (l. David Ferrer 64 62), advanced to the Australian Open quarterfinals (see above), and reached the quarterfinals at AMS Miami.

·         Robredo has won four titles in his career, all on clay. Last year was the first time that Robredo won more than one title in a year, collecting trophies at AMS Hamburg and Bastad.

·         Robredo has a very good junior record at Roland Garros, reaching the semifinals in 1999 (l. David Nalbandian 63 62) and finishing as runner-up in 2000 (l. Paul-Henri Mathieu 36 76 62).

·         Volandri defeated qualifier Paul Capdeville 63 75 63 in the first round, Martin Vassallo Arguello 76 75 62 in the second round and upset No. 7 seed Ivan Ljubicic 64 67 46 63 64 in the third round. His match against Ljubicic was the first five-set match he had played at Roland Garros.

·         This is Volandri’s fifth successive Roland Garros appearance. He reached the second round here last year, defeating Kristian Pless 64 76 64 in the first round before losing to Tomas Berdych 63 61 61.

·         Volandri is today bidding to reach his first Grand Slam quarterfinal, having never previously advanced beyond the third round of a major.

·         Before 2007 Roland Garros, Volandri’s best Grand Slam result was reaching the third round here in 2005, when due to right hand tendonitis he was forced to retire after losing the first three games to Jose Acasuso. In 15 other Grand Slam appearances, Volandri had 11 first round and four second round losses.

·         Roland Garros is the only Grand Slam event at which Volandri has won a match in the last two years. Volandri’s last win in another major came at the 2004 US Open.

·         Volandri is the first Italian to reach the Roland Garros round of 16 since Renzo Furlan in 1995, Furlan going on to the reach the quarterfinals that year before losing to Sergi Bruguera 62 75 62. Volandri is bidding to become the fifth different Italian to reach the last eight here in the Open Era, after Adriano Panatta, Paolo Bertolucci, Corrado Barazzutti and Furlan. The last Italian to reach the quarterfinals of any major was Davide Sanguinetti at 1998 Wimbledon (l. Richard Krajicek 62 63 64).

·         Volandri has a 0-3 record against Spanish opponents at majors. He lost to Carlos Moya in the first round at 2003 Roland Garros, Juan Carlos Ferrero in the second round at the 2004 Australian Open, and Feliciano Lopez in the first round at the 2005 US Open.

·         Volandri had a poor start to 2007, losing his first five matches before advancing to the second round at AMS Miami, defeating Nicolas Mahut 63 ret. (ankle injury) before falling to Ivan Ljubicic 63 62.

·         Volandri’s form picked up considerably during the European clay-court season. He won two consecutive matches at Valencia, retiring in his quarterfinal against Nicolas Almagro with stomach illness after losing the first set, and also at Barcelona, losing to Nikolay Davydenko 76 76 in the round of 16. The following week as a wild card at AMS Rome, he produced his best result of the season, advancing to the semifinals, losing to Fernando Gonzalez 61 62.

·         On the way to his semifinal finish at AMS Rome, Volandri became just the third man to defeat world No. 1 Roger Federer in 2007 (the others being Rafael Nadal and Guillermo Canas), doing so in the round of 16 in straight sets, 62 64. Volandri was only the 12th player to record a victory over the Swiss since he rose to the No. 1 spot in February 2004. Volandri will meet Federer in the quarterfinals here if both win their round of 16 matches today.

·         His defeat of No. 7-ranked Ljubicic in the third round here was Volandri’s first win against a Top 10 player at a Grand Slam tournament. Through that win, he has improved his record against Top 10 players to 8-18, and has won three of his last four match-ups with players in the Top 10, from his win against Federer at AMS Rome onwards.

·         As a result of his improved form during the spring, Volandri has climbed back up the rankings, having dropped as low as No. 55 earlier this year, and plays here at No. 34, just six places below his career high.

·         Volandri played Roland Garros twice as a junior, in 1998 and 1999, with his best result being a round of 16 finish in 1999 (l. Todor Enev 16 64 60).

NO. 19 GUILLERMO CANAS (ARG) v JUAN MONACO (ARG)

Head-to-head: Canas leads 1-0

2005     AMS Rome       Clay (O)            R32                  Canas               60 60

Canas and Monaco are two of the remaining three Argentines in this year’s men’s singles from a record 15 that started. The other Argentine is No. 15 seed David Nalbandian, who plays No. 4 Nikolay Davydenko in the round of 16 today. Argentine representation in the last eight here is assured for the sixth straight year, though even if Nalbandian is also successful, it will not match the nation’s best performance here in 2004, when four Argentine players reached the quarterfinals.

This is the first match-up between players from Argentina at this year’s Roland Garros and the 23^rd in the Open Era here; there has been at least one all-Argentine clash here for the last six years.

Canas has a significantly better record against his countrymen. He has a 16-15 win-loss record against fellow Argentines, while Monaco has a 6-16 record.

Canas, champion at Costa do Sauipe, and Monaco, who has won titles at Buenos Aires and Portschach are two of three 2007 clay-court title winners in action today, along with Roger Federer.

                                 CANAS                                                          v                                                       MONACO

                                      29                                                             Age                                                            23

                                      22                                                   ATP Ranking                                                  35

                                       7                                                            Titles                                                            2

                                   35-23                                 Career Grand Slam Record                                  7-10

                                    14-6                                       Roland Garros Record                                        6-3

                                212-146                                            Career Record                                              74-70

                                  105-67                                      Career Record - Clay                                       63-42

                                    25-8                                                  2007 Record                                                 23-9

                                    15-5                                           2007 Record - Clay                                           20-5

                                   11-11                                     Career Five-Set Record                                       1-2

                                       1                                      Comebacks from 0-2 Down                                     1

                                   68-60                                    Career Tiebreak Record                                    17-27

                                    11-3                                        2007 Tiebreak Record                                        3-6

·         Canas defeated Victor Hanescu 63 61 64 in the first round, Simone Bolelli 64 63 63 in the second and Kristof Vliegen 62 62 26 63 in the third round.

·         Canas’s first round win against Hanescu came in his first Grand Slam match for two years, having returned from a 15-month anti-doping suspension in September 2006.

·         Canas is bidding to advance to the quarterfinals today and match his best Grand Slam performance. He has twice reached the quarterfinals here: first in 2002, defeating Lleyton Hewitt 67 76 64 63 in the round of 16 before losing to eventual champion Albert Costa 75 36 67 64 60, and then in 2005 in his last Grand Slam appearance before suspension, again losing in five sets, this time to eventual runner-up Mariano Puerta 62 36 16 63 64.

·         This is Canas’s fourth round of 16 appearance at Roland Garros. His only loss at this stage was to Lleyton Hewitt 36 67 62 63 63 in 2001.

·         Canas is making his seventh appearance at Roland Garros.

·         At 29 years, 6 months, Canas is the third-oldest man to advance to the round of 16 behind Jonas Bjorkman and Carlos Moya, who are scheduled to meet in the round of 16 tomorrow.

·         The round of 16 is the furthest that Canas has advanced at any of the other three majors. He reached the round of 16 at 2001 Wimbledon (l. Thomas Enqvist 63 63 61) and at the 2004 and 2005 Australian Open

      (l. David Nalbandian 64 62 61, and Nikolay Davydenko 63 64 63 respectively).

·         Canas tested positive for hydrochlorothiazide steroid at 2005 Acapulco and began his 15-month suspension after 2005 Halle the week of 13 June. He returned at the Belem Challenger (BRA) the week of 11 September 2006 and won the title, and has performed strongly since, working his way back up the rankings from a low of No. 514 in September 2006 to No. 20 on 14 May 2007, his highest mark since 8 August 2005. He plays here at No. 22.

·         This is the second time that Canas has had to climb back up the rankings. He dropped to No. 275 in November 2003 after missing eight months of that year following right wrist surgery in March of that year, but bounced back to end 2004 at No. 11 after winning three titles. “At that time [before surgery], I thought too much about tennis, about life, about everything, and I thought that if I had another chance to be on the court again, I will change things.”

·         Canas compiled a 28-3 record on the challenger circuit from September onwards through the remainder of the 2006 season, winning a total of four tournaments (Belem, Montevideo, Buenos Aires and Asuncion). After collecting another challenger title at Sao Paulo this January, he stepped up to the ATP tour, and quickly won the title at Costa do Sauipe, his first tour title for two and a half years, and the seventh of his career, defeating Juan Carlos Ferrero 76 62 in the final.

·         In addition to winning the Costa do Sauipe title, Canas has other good results this year on both clay and hard court. He qualified at AMS Miami and advanced to the final, losing to Novak Djokovic 63 62 64, and was runner-up at Barcelona, to Rafael Nadal 63 64.

·         His performance at Barcelona was Canas’s standout result on European clay – he did not advance beyond the second round at his three other events in the run-up to here. He withdrew from AMS Monte Carlo with leg pains, and retired in the first round at Munich with a stomach injury.

·         Canas played the boys’ singles here in 1995. He advanced to the third round, losing to Razvan Sabau 75 75.

·         Monaco defeated French wild card Edouard Roger-Vasselin 64 62 64 in the third round, having upset No. 27 seed Jurgen Melzer 62 63 62 in the second, and defeated Italian qualifier Fabio Fognini 36 26 61 62 64 in the first round, the first five-set victory of his career.

·         Monaco has reached the round of 16 at a major for the first time here this year. His previous best result was reaching the third round here last year, losing to eventual semifinalist Ivan Ljubicic 46 57 63 64 62.

·         This is Monaco’s fourth straight year playing Roland Garros.

·         Monaco has never advanced beyond the second round at any of the other Grand Slam events, having played ten majors ahead of this one.

·         Monaco competes here at a career-best ranking of No. 35 and is currently on an eight-match winning streak, having won the Portschach title in the week before Roland Garros, defeating Gael Monfils 76 63 in the final.

·         As well as winning at Portschach, Monaco won the title in his hometown of Buenos Aires in February, defeating Alessio Di Mauro 61 62 in the final. He is the only man other than Rafael Nadal to have won multiple clay court titles this season ahead of Roland Garros. (Nadal has won three, at AMS Monte Carlo, Barcelona and AMS Rome).

·         Monaco had reached one final before this year, losing to Mariano Puerta at 2005 Casablanca.

·         Seven of Monaco’s 11 tournaments this season ahead of Roland Garros were clay court events, and he has had his best results on the surface, reaching the quarterfinals at Costa do Sauipe, Houston and Estoril. (He also reached the quarterfinals on hard court at Auckland.) He is in joint-second place for most clay court wins in 2007.

2007 clay court leaders*

* through completion of Roland Garros third round

Players in bold still active at Roland Garros

·         Monaco competed once at Roland Garros as a junior, but lost in the first round in 2002 (to Philipp Petzschner).

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