2007 ROLAND GARROS

DAY NINE MEN’S NOTES

Monday 4 June 2007

Round of 16 Bottom Half

Show court matches

PHILIPPE CHATRIER:  
      No. 6 Novak Djokovic (SRB) v Fernando Verdasco (ESP)

      No. 2 Rafael Nadal (ESP) v No. 14 Lleyton Hewitt (AUS)

SUZANNE LENGLEN:           No. 23 Carlos Moya (ESP) v Jonas Bjorkman (SWE)

                                                No. 16 Marcos Baghdatis (CYP) v Igor Andreev (RUS)

On court today…

·         A meeting between two Grand Slam champions when Rafael Nadal faces Lleyton Hewitt in a rematch of their round of 16 match here last year. Although Hewitt leads their head-to-head 4-2, Nadal has won both previous clay court encounters, including their most recent match-up at 2007 AMS Hamburg. Both Nadal and Hewitt are bidding to reach the Roland Garros quarterfinals for the third time in their careers.

·         Novak Djokovic, the youngest man remaining in the tournament, bids to overturn a 0-2 head-to-head against unseeded Fernando Verdasco, and so reach the quarterfinals here for the second successive year. The Spanish lefthander is attempting to advance to his first Grand Slam quarterfinal.

·         The two oldest men remaining in the draw, Jonas Bjorkman and Carlos Moya, meet for the ninth time, with the Swede bidding to complete a full set of Grand Slam quarterfinal appearances by reaching the last eight here for the first time. Moya, the 1998 champion, is aiming for his fourth quarterfinal appearance and his first for three years.

·         Marcos Baghdatis has a first meeting with Igor Andreev. The Cypriot is making his Roland Garros round of 16 debut while the Russian, who is the lowest-ranked player left in the men’s singles, is attempting to reach his first Grand Slam quarterfinal.

COURT PHILIPPE CHATRIER

NO. 6 NOVAK DJOKOVIC (SRB) v FERNANDO VERDASCO (ESP)

Head-to-head: Verdasco leads 2-0

2005     US Open                       Hard (O)            R32      Verdasco          61 46 67 64 64

2006     AMS Hamburg               Clay (O)            R32      Verdasco          64 63

Verdasco has won both their previous match-ups, including their only previous meeting on clay.

                      DJOKOVIC                                          v                                      VERDASCO

                            20                                              Age                                           23

                             6                                        ATP Ranking                                    51

                             5                                              Titles                                           1

                           20-9                          Career Grand Slam Record                       21-15

                            8-2                               Roland Garros Record                            5-3

                          92-42                                    Career Record                               115-106

                          33-15                               Career Record - Clay                            58-42

                           38-8                                      2007 Record                                   9-13

                           14-3                                 2007 Record - Clay                               3-4

                            5-3                              Career Five-Set Record                           3-4

                             1                             Comebacks from 0-2 Down                          1

                          38-15                            Career Tiebreak Record                         50-49

                           10-5                               2007 Tiebreak Record                             3-9

·         Djokovic defeated Colombian lucky loser Santiago Giraldo 63 76 64, French qualifier Laurent Recouderc 63 36 63 61 in the second round and French wild card Olivier Patience 76 26 36 76 63, having trailed by two-sets-to-one and 4-5 in the fourth set, and been two points from defeat at that point.

·         Djokovic’s third round win over Patience improved his five-set record to 5-3, and 2-0 at Roland Garros.

·         In Verdasco, Djokovic is facing his first player this tournament ranked inside the Top 120.

·         Having turned 20 the week before the start of 2007 Roland Garros, Djokovic is the youngest man remaining in the draw.

·         Djokovic is competing at Roland Garros for the third year in a row, and has advanced to the round of 16 for the second straight year. He is now bidding to equal his best Grand Slam performance, achieved here last year when he advanced to the quarterfinals unseeded before retiring with a lower back injury when trailing eventual champion Rafael Nadal 64 64.

·         Djokovic has retired at Roland Garros both previous times he has played here. He advanced to the second round on his debut here as a qualifier in 2005, retiring there with breathing difficulties and cramping when trailing Guillermo Coria 46 62 32.

·         Last year here, Djokovic became the first Serbian to reach the round of 16 at Roland Garros in the Open Era, and went on to become the second Serbian to reach the quarterfinals of any Grand Slam event. Slobodan Zivojinovic had previously reached the last eight of a Grand Slam three times: at the 1985 Australian Open, and 1986 and 1987 Wimbledon. On the first two occasions, Zivojinovic went on to reach the semifinals. (Note: Serbian men played under the Yugoslav flag until the start of 2004.)

·         Djokovic has a 13-5 career record against left-handed opponents. Verdasco has accounted for two of those losses (see head-to-head above), and his countryman Rafael Nadal the other three.

·         Against Spaniards, Djokovic has a 12-11 win-loss record, 3-2 in Grand Slam events. His only previous meeting with a Spaniard at Roland Garros was when he retired against Nadal in last year’s quarterfinals.

·         As No. 6 seed here, Djokovic has received the highest Grand Slam seeding of his career. He entered the Top 10 for the first time on 19 March this year and rose to a career-high ranking of No. 5 on 30 April. (He is also ranked No. 6 here.)

·         Djokovic is having the best season of his short career, having won three titles so far – he and Roger Federer, who has also won three, share second place behind Rafael Nadal (four) for most tournament wins in 2007. Djokovic won the title on hard court at Adelaide, defeating Chris Guccione 63 67 64 in the final, and collected his first Masters Series title at Miami, defeating Guillermo Canas 63 62 64, having a week earlier reached the AMS Indian Wells final (l. Rafael Nadal 62 75). He also won the clay court event at Estoril, defeating Richard Gasquet 76 06 61 in the final

·         Djokovic’s 38-8 win-loss record for the year through the third round of Roland Garros is second only to Nadal (39-6) on the tour.

·         Djokovic’s clay court form dropped off slightly after winning Estoril. He was a quarterfinalist at both Masters Series events in Rome and Hamburg, Hamburg being his last tournament before coming here.

·         Djokovic played the junior event at 2003 Roland Garros, losing in the round of 16 to Daniel Gimeno-Traver 62 26 63.

·         Verdasco defeated French qualifier Jerome Haehnel 46 62 62 60 in the first round and upset No. 21 seed Dmitry Tursunov 64 64 64 in the second round. He upset another seed, No. 12 David Ferrer, 46 76 63 63 in the third round to end a six-match losing streak against his countrymen.

·         Verdasco is making his fourth straight appearance at Roland Garros and has reached the round of 16 for the first time. His best previous performances here were second round finishes, as No. 28 seed last year losing at that stage to Juan Monaco 46 64 64 61, and in 2004 losing to Juan Ignacio Chela 75 62 62.

·         Verdasco is appearing in his third Grand Slam round of 16, and is bidding to reach his first Grand Slam quarterfinal. Unusually for a Spaniard, Verdasco has had his best Grand Slam results until now on faster surfaces, reaching the round of 16 at the 2005 US Open (l. Jarkko Nieminen 62 76 63) and at 2006 Wimbledon (l. Radek Stepanek 67 63 46 64 62). He had two hard courts at home when growing up.

·         Verdasco was one of four Spaniards to reach the last 16 here, the highest representation for a single nation in the last 16. With Tommy Robredo already through to the quarterfinals, and countrymen Carlos Moya and Rafael Nadal in action alongside Verdasco today, Spain still has a chance to equal the record four quarterfinalists it achieved here in 2003. (Albert Costa, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Moya and Robredo reaching the last eight that year.)

·         Through the third round here, Verdasco has improved his record against seeds at Grand Slam events to 6-11. His wins over No. 21 Tursunov and No. 12 Ferrer in the second and third rounds here broke a three-match losing streak against seeds in majors, and were his first wins against seeds at Roland Garros.

·         Against Top 10 players, Verdasco has a 5-18 career record, and has lost his last three such meetings. His last victory against a Top 10 player was at 2006 Wimbledon, when he upset No. 3-ranked David Nalbandian 76 76 62 in the third round. That marks his only previous meeting with a Top 10 player at a Grand Slam tournament.

·         Verdasco’s defeat of Ferrer in the third round ended a nine-match losing streak against Top 20 players, going back to his win over Nalbandian at last year’s Wimbledon (see above).

·         Verdasco is one of two left-handers still alive, from the 13 that started, in this year’s men’s draw. The other is his compatriot Nadal, who is also due to play his round of 16 match today. The last time that two lefthanders reached the Roland Garros quarterfinals was in 2005, when both Nadal and Mariano Puerta went on to the final.

·         Verdasco is one of three unseeded men still alive at 2007 Roland Garros, all of whom are in this half of the draw. The other two are Igor Andreev and Jonas Bjorkman.

·         If Verdasco upsets Djokovic here, he will have won four consecutive matches in one tournament for the first time since July 2005, when he won five in a row on clay in Kitzbuhel to reach the final (l. Gaston Gaudio 26 62 64 64).

·         Verdasco’s victory over Haehnel in the first round here broke a seven-match losing streak. His last victory before 2007 Roland Garros came at AMS Indian Wells in March, where after a first round bye he defeated Andreas Seppi 76 63 in the second round. Verdasco then fell in the third round to eventual champion Rafael Nadal 64 64, before losing his first match at six subsequent events before arriving here: AMS Miami (after a first round bye), the Davis Cup quarterfinals versus USA (he played just one rubber), Valencia, AMS Monte Carlo, AMS Rome and AMS Hamburg.

·         Verdasco’s victory over Haehnel was his first on clay this year. He had not won a match on clay since September last year, when he reached the quarterfinals at Palermo, defeating Jan Hajek 62 62 in the second round before losing in the quarterfinals to Ruben Ramirez-Hidalgo 63 64.

·         Verdasco’s best result on any surface in a disappointing year ahead of Roland Garros was reaching the quarterfinals at Las Vegas, before losing to Marat Safin 61 64.

·         Verdasco’s lone singles title was won on clay, at 2004 Valencia, where he defeated Albert Montanes 46 62 62 to take the title. He was runner-up at two further clay court events: 2004 Acapulco (l. Carlos Moya) and 2005 Kitzbuhel (l. Gaston Gaudio).

·         Verdasco competed in the Roland Garros boys’ tournament in 2001, losing in the round of 16 to Brian Dabul 61 76.

NO. 2 RAFAEL NADAL (ESP) v NO. 14 LLEYTON HEWITT (AUS)

Head-to-head: Hewitt leads 4-2

2004     Australian Open             Hard (O)            R32      Hewitt               76 76 62

2004     AMS Toronto                 Hard (O)            R64      Hewitt               16 64 62

2005     Australian Open             Hard (O)            R16      Hewitt               75 36 16 76 62

2006     Roland Garros               Clay (O)            R16      Nadal                62 57 64 62

2006     Queen’s                        Grass (O)          QF        Hewitt               36 63 ret. (left shoulder injury)

2007     AMS Hamburg               Clay (O)            SF        Nadal                26 63 75

This is the pair’s third meeting on clay; it is also a rematch of their round of 16 meeting here last year. Hewitt leads their series overall, but Nadal leads 2-0 on clay. In their most recent meeting in the semifinals at 2007 AMS Hamburg, the Spaniard had to recover from a set down to defeat Hewitt 26 63 75. It was just the second set that Nadal had lost on clay in 2007 (the other being in his three-set defeat of Nikolay Davydenko in the AMS Rome semis). Nadal’s defeat of Hewitt was to mark the last victory in his 81-match clay court winning streak, which ended the following day when he lost to Roger Federer in the AMS Hamburg final.

Among active players who have had more than one career meeting with Nadal, Hewitt is one of four men to have a winning record against him.

Winning records v Nadal*

*where more than one match played

This is the second meeting between Grand Slam champions at 2007 Roland Garros, following Hewitt’s second round match-up with Gaston Gaudio. Today’s winner could be involved in a fourth in the quarterfinals, if Carlos Moya defeats Jonas Bjorkman in their round of 16 match today. Both Nadal and Hewitt have won two majors, Nadal here for the last two years, and Hewitt at the 2001 US Open and 2002 Wimbledon.

Both players achieved significant milestones at a young age. While Hewitt made his Grand Slam debut and won his first career title at a younger age than Nadal, the Spaniard captured his first Grand Slam title and was part of a Davis Cup winning team for the first time earlier in his career than Hewitt. Nadal won 16 titles as a teenager and shares the Open Era record with Bjorn Borg; Hewitt won seven before the age of 20.

Hewitt and Nadal’s Milestones

Hewitt is the youngest player to be ranked No. 1 since the ATP rankings began (23 August 1973), ascending to the top spot on 19 November 2001, aged 20 years, 8 months. It is not possible for Nadal to better this.

                         NADAL                                             v                                         HEWITT

                            21*                                              Age                                           26

                             2                                        ATP Ranking                                    16

                            21                                             Titles                                          26

                          43-10                          Career Grand Slam Record                      106-32

                           17-0                              Roland Garros Record                            22-7

                         222-57                                   Career Record                               458-144

                         124-13                              Career Record - Clay                            76-35

                           39-6                                      2007 Record                                   20-8

                           22-1                                 2007 Record - Clay                              11-4

                            7-2                              Career Five-Set Record                          24-10

                             2                             Comebacks from 0-2 Down                          4

                          50-40                            Career Tiebreak Record                        120-96

                            5-4                                2007 Tiebreak Record                             2-4

* turned 21 on 3 June

·         Today marks Nadal’s first meeting at 2007 Roland Garros with a player ranked inside the Top 45. He defeated 18-year-old Juan-Martin Del Potro 75 63 62 in the first round and Flavio Cipolla 62 61 64 in the second round. He defeated Albert Montanes 61 63 62 in the third round, recording the joint-easiest third round victory (not counting retirements). Roger Federer also lost just five games to defeat Potito Starace in the top half.

·         Nadal turned 21 yesterday, Sunday 3 June.

·         Nadal reached the round of 16 here without dropping a set in 2005, but has never reached the Roland Garros quarterfinals without losing a set. He defeated Sebastien Grosjean in four sets, 64 36 60 63, in the round of 16 here two years ago. Nadal has never reached the round of 16 in straight sets at any other Grand Slam event.

·         Nadal is just entering his 98^th straight week as world No. 2, having held the ranking since 25 July 2005. (Roger Federer is beginning his 175^th week at No. 1, since 2 February 2004).

·         Nadal was one of four Spaniards to reach the last 16 here, the highest representation for a single nation in the last 16. With Tommy Robredo already through to the quarterfinals, and countrymen Carlos Moya and Fernando Verdasco in action alongside Nadal today, Spain still has a chance to equal the record four quarterfinalists it achieved here in 2003. (Albert Costa, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Moya and Robredo reaching the last eight that year.)

·         Nadal has a 3-5 record playing Australians. This is mainly accounted for by his 2-4 head-to-head against Hewitt, but he is 1-1 against other Aussies, having defeated Mark Philippoussis in the first round at the 2006 US Open, and lost by retirement to Chris Guccione in the first round at 2007 Sydney, due to a groin injury. (Note: one of his defeats to Hewitt was also by retirement – see head-to-head above.)

·         Nadal has improved his Roland Garros record to 17-0 through the first three rounds. In 2005 he became the first man to win the event on his debut since Mats Wilander in 1982, defeating Mariano Puerta 67 63 61 75 in the final. He defeated Roger Federer 16 61 64 76 in the 2006 final.

·         Nadal is bidding to become the first man since Bjorn Borg in 1980 to collect a third successive Roland Garros title, and just the second man for 93 years to do so. Borg, who won a total of six Roland Garros titles in the periods 1974-75 and 1978-81, is the only man to have won three in a row here in the Open Era, and the only player to have done so since the event went international in 1925. Three more men achieved the feat pre-1925: Andre Vacherot (won titles 1894-96), Paul Ayme (1897-1900) and Max Decugis (1907-09; 1912-14).

·         Roger Federer was, of course, the last man to win a hat trick of titles at any Grand Slam event, winning his third successive Wimbledon title in 2005, and his third successive US Open title in 2006. [See Preview page 2 for more details.]

·         The last man to win three or more Roland Garros titles, consecutive or non-consecutive, was Gustavo Kuerten in 2001. (Kuerten also won in 1997 and 2000.) Kuerten is one of six men to have won three or more Roland Garros titles, consecutive or non-consecutive, since the event went international in 1925. [For more details see page 3 of the Preview.]

·         Nadal is one of two left-handers still alive, from the 13 that started, in this year’s men’s draw. The other is his compatriot Fernando Verdasco, who is also due to play his round of 16 match today. The last time that two lefthanders reached the Roland Garros quarterfinals was in 2005, when both Nadal and Mariano Puerta went on to the final.

·         Having just turned 21, Nadal is the second-youngest player remaining in the men’s draw after Novak Djokovic, who turned 20 the week before the tournament started. Djokovic plays Fernando Verdasco in the round of 16 today.

·         Nadal arrived at Roland Garros having just suffered his first clay court loss for more than two years. He had his record-breaking 81-match clay court winning streak broken by Roger Federer at AMS Hamburg, falling 26 62 60 in the final. Nadal accumulated his streak after losing to Igor Andreev in the Valencia quarterfinals on 7 April 2005, surpassing Guillermo Vilas’s previous mark of 53 straight clay court match wins with his first round victory at Roland Garros last year. Federer’s defeat of Nadal in Hamburg was his first clay court victory against the Spaniard in six clay meetings on the surface, but Nadal still leads their overall head-to-head 7-4.

·         Nadal is one of just two men, along with Buenos Aires and Portschach winner Juan Monaco, to collect multiple clay court titles so far in 2007. For the second year running, Nadal claimed all three of his clay court titles on European clay, winning at AMS Monte Carlo (d. Roger Federer 64 64 in the final), Barcelona (d. Guillermo Canas 63 64), and AMS Rome (d. Fernando Gonzalez 62 62).

·         By winning his 16^th career clay court title in Rome, Nadal moved ahead of Carlos Moya as the active player with the most clay court titles. He now stands in tenth place on the list for most career clay court titles won in the Open Era. [See Preview page 2 for more details, and the table in today’s notes for Moya.] Nadal would face Moya in the next round, if both win their matches today.

·         Eight of the last 12 Roland Garros champions entered the event having won at least one clay court title in the months leading up to Roland Garros.

·         Nadal’s 22-1 clay court win-loss through the third round here is the best for any player this season.

2007 clay court leaders*

* through completion of Roland Garros third round

Players in bold still active at Roland Garros

·         Nadal leads the tour for total titles collected in 2007, having won four altogether including his hard court victory at Indian Wells in March. He also leads the tour for total match wins this season, being 39-6 through the third round here.

·         The defending champion has failed to reach the quarterfinals at Roland Garros on nine occasions in the Open Era. (The defending champion has not returned on three occasions in the Open Era, and this figure does not include them.) The defending champion has lost in the round of 16 of Roland Garros four times: Thomas Muster in 1996, Carlos Moya in 1999, Gustavo Kuerten in 2002, and Gaston Gaudio in 2005.

·         Hewitt defeated former doubles partner Max Mirnyi 63 61 63 in the first round, 2004 Roland Garros champion Gaston Gaudio 46 36 62 64 62 in the second round, and had his fourth career victory over No. 20 seed Jarkko Nieminen 16 63 75 62 in the third round.

·         Hewitt is making his eighth Roland Garros appearance, and has reached the round of 16 for the sixth time. Last year, Hewitt lost at this stage to today’s opponent Nadal 62 57 64 62.

·         Hewitt is bidding to reach the Roland Garros quarterfinals for the third time, the quarters being his best result at this event. He first reached the last eight here in 2001, losing to Juan Carlos Ferrero 64 62 61. Hewitt reached the quarterfinals again in 2004, losing to Gaston Gaudio 63 62 62 during of a run of seven straight majors where he lost to the eventual champion.

·         Roland Garros is the only major at which Hewitt has not advanced to the semifinals. He has in fact reached the final at the other three Grand Slam events. He has made two final appearances at the US Open, winning the title there in 2001 (d. Pete Sampras 76 61 61), and finishing runner-up in 2004 (l. Roger Federer 61 67 60 64). He won the 2002 Wimbledon title (d. David Nalbandian 61 63 62), and lost in the final at the 2005 Australian Open to Marat Safin 16 63 64 64.

·         Hewitt has a 42-23 career record against Spaniards. He is 10-8 against the nation in Grand Slam events, but at Roland Garros has not won a match against a Spaniard in four previous meetings with one here.

Hewitt v Spanish at Roland Garros

·         Having just defeated Nieminen, this is Hewitt’s second successive match against a left-hander. He has played left-handers in consecutive rounds seven times previously in his career, and has won both matches on six of those occasions. Hewitt defeated left-handers in three successive rounds at 2004 Wimbledon (having wins over Jurgen Melzer, Irakli Labadze and Goran Ivanisevic through the first three rounds).

·         This is Hewitt’s 81^st match against a left-handed player and he has a 68-12 win-loss record in previous encounters through his defeat of Niemienen. With the exception of two defeats to Nadal, Hewitt has not lost to a left-hander since March 2003 (l. Francisco Clavet in the second round at AMS Miami). Hewitt has a 15-1 win-loss record against left-handers in majors, his lone loss being to Nadal here last year.

·         Hewitt is one of four Grand Slam champions, from the nine that started, still alive in this year’s men’s draw, along with Roger Federer, who is already through to the quarterfinals, today’s opponent Nadal, and Carlos Moya, who is also in round of 16 action today.

·         Hewitt made a belated start to the 2007 European clay court season, following an eight-week lay off after AMS Indian Wells with a back injury, returning at AMS Rome.

·         Following a first round defeat at AMS Rome (l. Oscar Hernandez 36 76 61), Hewitt displayed some of his best clay court form, reaching successive semifinals at AMS Hamburg (l. Nadal 26 63 75) and at Portschach (l. Gael Monfils 64 75).

·         Hewitt collected the 26^th title of his career at 2007 Las Vegas, defeating Jurgen Melzer 64 76. Hewitt has won at least one title every year since winning his first title, aged 16 years 10 months, at 1998 Adelaide. He is second only to Roger Federer for the most titles among active players.

·         Just one of Hewitt’s 26 titles has been on clay. He won the title at Delray Beach in 1999, defeating Xavier Malisse in the final 64 67 61.

COURT SUZANNE LENGLEN

NO. 23 CARLOS MOYA (ESP) v JONAS BJORKMAN (SWE)

Head-to-head: tied 4-4

1996     Marseille                       Hard (I)              R32      Moya               63 76

1997     Australian Open             Hard (O)            R16      Moya                63 16 36 62 64

1997     Indianapolis                   Hard (O)            FR        Bjorkman          63 76

1998     Dubai                            Hard (O)            QF        Bjorkman          76 61

1998     Davis Cup WG SF          Carpet (I)           R4        Bjorkman          63 75

2000     AMS Cincinnati              Hard (O)            R32      Bjorkman          46 62 61

2002     Hong Kong                    Hard (O)            SF        Moya                64 76

2003     Bastad                         Clay (O)            QF        Moya                64 63

Moya and Bjorkman head into their ninth career meeting with their series tied at four wins apiece. This is the pair’s first meeting since 2003 Bastad, also their only previous meeting on clay, which Moya won.

These two players are the oldest men through to the round of 16 this year, and the only two ‘thirtysomethings’ remaining. Aged 35 years, 79 days (on the last day of the tournament), Bjorkman was the oldest man to start in this year’s men’s singles, and is the seventh-oldest man to reach the round of 16 here in the Open Era. If he wins today, Bjorkman will become just the third man aged 35 or over to advance to the Roland Garros quarterfinals in the Open Era.

Oldest men in Roland Garros round of 16

If Moya advances to the last eight, at 30 years, 287 days (on the last day of the tournament), he will be the oldest man to reach that stage here since Andre Agassi in 2003, and the 29^th ‘thirtysomething’ to reach a Roland Garros quarterfinal in the Open Era.

Between them, Moya and Bjorkman have made 26 appearances at Roland Garros. Bjorkman’s 14 appearances here are the most for any man starting in the draw, with Moya second with 12.

                                  MOYA                                              v                                      BJORKMAN

                            30                                              Age                                           35

                            26                                       ATP Ranking                                    39

                            19                                             Titles                                           6

                          72-38                          Career Grand Slam Record                       83-53

                          31-10                              Roland Garros Record                           11-13

                        526-280                                  Career Record                               402-339

                        311-124                             Career Record - Clay                            34-60

                          24-12                                      2007 Record                                   9-11

                           14-7                                 2007 Record - Clay                               3-5

                          15-17                             Career Five-Set Record                          29-12

                             5                             Comebacks from 0-2 Down                          5

                        202-147                          Career Tiebreak Record                       120-124

                           10-3                               2007 Tiebreak Record                             4-6

·         1998 champion Moya defeated Andreas Seppi 61 36 63 26 60 in the first round, Florent Serra 64 62 64 in the second and then eliminated the last remaining qualifier Juan Pablo Brzezicki 61 63 75 in the third.

·         Moya is making his 12^th Roland Garros appearance, having played every year since making his debut in 1996, and is appearing in the round of 16 for the sixth time.

·         Moya has advanced to the quarterfinals here on three occasions, having first done so in 1998 en route to the title, then losing in the last eight in 2003 and 2004.

·         Last year Moya reached the third round here as No. 30 seed, losing to Nikolay Davydenko 61 75 63.

·         Moya won his lone Grand Slam title here in 1998 by defeating countryman Alex Corretja 63 75 63 in the final. He is one of two former Roland Garros champions still alive in the tournament, the other being two-time defending champion Rafael Nadal, who plays Lleyton Hewitt in the round of 16 today.

·         Moya was one of four Grand Slam champions, from the nine that started in the draw, to reach the last 16. Two of the others, Rafael Nadal and Lleyton Hewitt, play each other in the round of 16 today while Roger Federer advanced to the quarterfinals on Sunday and will play Tommy Robredo in the last eight on Tuesday. Of the four Grand Slam champions still alive, Moya is the only one to possess just one Grand Slam title.

·         Moya was one of four Spaniards to reach the last 16 here, the highest representation for a single nation in the last 16. With Tommy Robredo already through to the quarterfinals, and countrymen Rafael Nadal and Fernando Verdasco in action alongside Moya today, Spain still has a chance to equal the record four quarterfinalists it achieved here in 2003. (Albert Costa, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Moya and Robredo reaching the last eight that year.)

·         Away from Roland Garros, Moya’s best Grand Slam result was reaching the Australian Open final in 1997 (l. Pete Sampras 62 63 63). He advanced to the US Open semifinals in 1998 while Wimbledon is his least successful Grand Slam event, making the last 16 just once in seven appearances.

·         Moya has a 17-20 career win-loss record against Swedes. This improves to 3-1 in majors, his only defeat coming in his first Grand Slam meeting with a Swede, when he fell to Stefan Edberg in the second round here in 1996.

·         Moya has had good results on both clay and hard court so far in 2007. He was runner-up on hard at Sydney in January (l. James Blake 63 57 61 in the final), and on clay at Acapulco in March (l. Juan Ignacio Chela 63 76). Other hard court highlights were reaching the semifinals at Chennai and the last 16 at AMS Indian Wells, and on clay, Moya reached the semifinals at AMS Hamburg.

·         Moya’s run to the semis at AMS Hamburg included wins over No. 10 seed Tomas Berdych 36 75 76 in the second round, No. 8 James Blake 16 63 63 in the round of 16 and No. 4 Novak Djokovic 76 46 75 in the quarterfinals. Moya lost in the semifinals to No. 1 seed and eventual champion Roger Federer 46 64 62.

·         Moya has won 19 career titles, this total including at least one every year 2000-06. Until recently, Moya’s 15 career clay court titles were the most among active players, but Rafael Nadal now heads that list after winning his 15^th and 16^th career titles at Barcelona and AMS Rome.

Most clay court titles (active players)

Players in bold still active at Roland Garros

·         Bjorkman defeated Aussie wild card Peter Luczak 67 57 63 63 61 in the first round, Ivo Karlovic 36 36 64 76 63 in the second and Oscar Hernandez 67 63 60 61 in the third round.

·         In coming back from two-sets-to-love down in both of his first two matches here, Bjorkman became the first man since Jean-Rene Lisnard in the first and second rounds at the 2005 Australian Open to win consecutive matches at the same tournament from two-sets-to-love down.

·         Bjorkman is just the fourth man in the Open Era to win consecutive matches from two-sets-to-love down at Roland Garros, but unlike the previous three, he went on to win his next match. Eduardo Zuleta (1968), Gene Mayer (1979) and Ronald Agenor (1994) all lost their next match after winning two consecutive matches from two-sets-to-love down.

·         Bjorkman has equalled his best result at Roland Garros in reaching the round of 16 and is bidding to reach the Roland Garros quarterfinals for the first time. He last reached this stage 11 years ago, losing to Richard Krajicek 63 62 64.

·         Bjorkman is playing at Roland Garros for the 14^th successive year and is making just his second round of 16 appearance.  He lost in the first round here for the last two years and, in fact, before this year, had lost in the opening round in seven of the last nine years.

·         If Bjorkman defeats Moya and advances to the last eight here, he would complete a full set of quarterfinal appearances at all four majors. He has made two quarterfinal appearances at the Australian Open (1998, 2002), two at Wimbledon (2003, 2006) and three at the US Open (1994, 1997, 1998).

·         Bjorkman has twice been a Grand Slam semifinalist. He advanced to the last four at the 1997 US Open (l. Greg Rusedski 61 36 36 63 75) and at 2006 Wimbledon (l. Roger Federer 62 60 62). Of those players to reach two or more Grand Slam semifinals in the Open Era, only Wayne Ferreira has a longer gap between his first and second semifinal appearances.

·         Since his Grand Slam debut in the 1993 US Open, Bjorkman has missed just one major, the 2003 Australian Open (awaiting the birth of his son), and is competing in his 54^th major here, placing him joint eighth for most Grand Slam appearances in the Open Era. Among active players, only Fabrice Santoro, who contested his 59^th Grand Slam event at this year’s Roland Garros, has played more majors.

·         Bjorkman is bidding to become the first Swedish man to advance to quarterfinals here since Magnus Norman in 2000, and the tenth different Swedish man in the Open Era after Bjorn Borg, Mats Wilander, Henrik Sundstrom, Stefan Edberg, Joakim Nystrom, Mikael Pernfors, Jonas Svensson, Nicklas Kulti, and Magnus Larsson and Norman.

·         Bjorkman has a 23-13 career win-loss record against Spaniards. He is 2-2 against Spanish players in majors. Perhaps surprisingly, this is his first-ever meeting with a player from the nation at Roland Garros, and only his third career meeting with a Spaniard on clay (he is 1-2 in previous such meetings).

·         This is the first time that Bjorkman has won three consecutive matches in 2007. His next-best result this year was at Marseille on indoor hard court in February, where he won two consecutive matches before losing to Gilles Simon 76 62 in the quarterfinals.

·         Before arriving at Roland Garros, Bjorkman was on a seven-match losing streak, excluding a victory in a dead Davis Cup singles rubber, (d. Sebastian Preito 61 62 as Sweden d. Argentina 5-0 in the Davis Cup World Group quarterfinals). This losing streak included five straight losses on clay.

·         Bjorkman’s first round victory against Luczak was his first victory on clay since 2004 Roland Garros and ended a run of 13 straight losses on the surface.

·         Bjorkman is seeded No. 2 in the men’s doubles here with Max Mirnyi. The pair are twice defending Roland Garros champions and are through to the round of 16 in this year’s event. Bjorkman is the only man still alive in both singles and doubles in this year’s men’s tournament.

·         Bjorkman has won nine men’s doubles Grand Slam titles in his career: three at the Australian Open (one each with Jacco Eltingh, Pat Rafter and Todd Woodbridge), two at Roland Garros (both with Max Mirnyi), three at Wimbledon (all with Woodbridge), and one at the US Open (also with Woodbridge).

NO. 16 MARCOS BAGHDATIS (CYP) v IGOR ANDREEV (RUS)

Head-to-head: first meeting

The two players have never met at any level of competition.

                           BAGHDATIS                                         v                                        ANDREEV

                            21                                              Age                                           23

                            19                                       ATP Ranking                                   125

                             2                                              Titles                                           3

                          21-10                          Career Grand Slam Record                       15-10

                            4-2                               Roland Garros Record                            8-2

                          94-48                                    Career Record                                100-88

                          30-13                               Career Record - Clay                            50-38

                          24-11                                      2007 Record                                  16-13

                           10-4                                 2007 Record - Clay                              14-9

                            7-2                              Career Five-Set Record                           1-5

                             1                             Comebacks from 0-2 Down                          0

                          38-21                            Career Tiebreak Record                         40-41

                           10-6                               2007 Tiebreak Record                             3-8

·         Baghdatis handed Sebastien Grosjean an unwanted 29^th birthday present when he defeated the Frenchman 63 62 64 in the opening round. He defeated Kristian Pless 75 63 64 in the second and Jan Hajek 62 62 ret. (right shoulder injury) in the third.

·         Baghdatis is one of four men remaining in this year’s men’s draw yet to drop a set, although he has played one set fewer in advancing to the round of 16 here. No. 1 seed Roger Federer and No. 9 seed Tommy Robredo are already through to the quarterfinals without dropping a set, while No. 2 seed Rafael Nadal is also playing his round of 16 match today.

·         Baghdatis is making his third successive Roland Garros appearance and has reached the round of 16 here for the first time.

·         Last year, Baghdatis won his first match at Roland Garros, defeating Albert Portas 64 64 67 61 in the first round, before losing to Julien Benneteau 36 64 63 67 64 in the second. He lost to David Nalbandian 06 64 64 64 in the first round on his debut here in 2005.

·         Baghdatis is bidding to reach the quarterfinals at a third different Grand Slam tournament, having made quarterfinal appearances at both the Australian Open and at Wimbledon last year.

·         This is Baghdatis’s fourth round of 16 appearance at a major. He first appeared at this stage as a qualifier at the 2005 Australian Open, losing to Roger Federer 62 62 76, but won his two subsequent round of 16 matches at the 2006 Australian Open and 2006 Wimbledon.

·         Baghdatis recorded his career-best Grand Slam result at the 2006 Australian Open where, ranked No. 54 at the time, he reached the final before losing to No. 1 Roger Federer 57 75 60 62. En route to the final he defeated three Top Ten players, beating No. 3 Andy Roddick 64 16 63 64 in the round of 16, No. 8 Ivan Ljubicic 64 62 46 36 63 in the quarterfinals and No. 4 David Nalbandian 36 57 63 64 64 in the semifinals. He had another standout Grand Slam result in 2006 when he reached the Wimbledon semifinals (l. Rafael Nadal 61 75 63).

·         Baghdatis recorded his first victory over a Russian at 2007 Marseille, defeating Mikhail Youzhny 26 76 75 in the quarterfinals there on the way to the final (l. Gilles Simon 64 76). He had lost his previous four encounters with players from the nation and thus stands at 1-4 against Russians, going into today’s match.

·         By reaching the last 16 here, Baghdatis has won three consecutive matches in a clay court tournament for the second time in his career. He won three clay court matches in a row in a tour event for the first time at 2007 Munich, where he reached his first semifinal on the surface, losing to eventual champion Philipp Kohlschreiber 62 63.

·         Baghdatis played four other clay court events in 2007 before coming here. He won back-to-back matches at AMS Rome, losing to Novak Djokovic 62 75 in the third round, and won two singles rubbers for Cyprus in its Davis Cup Europe/Africa Group II tie against Finland. He suffered first round losses at both AMS Monte Carlo and AMS Hamburg.

·         Baghdatis’s best performance in 2007 came on carpet at Zagreb where he collected the second title of his career, defeating Ivan Ljubicic 76 46 64 in the final. Assembling a nine-match winning streak, he also reached the final a week later on hard court at Marseille, losing to Gilles Simon 64 76.

·         Baghdatis is the only Cypriot to have played at a Grand Slam in the Open Era.

·         Baghdatis lived in Paris and trained at the Mauratoglou Tennis Academy until earlier this year, but has now moved back to Cyprus and is coached by Yiannos Hadjigeorghiou.

·         Baghdatis finished 2003 as the No. 1 junior after winning the boys’ title at the Australian Open and finishing runner-up in the US Open boys’ event. He was No. 1 seed in the Roland Garros boys’ tournament that year, but lost in the quarterfinals to Brian Baker 64 75. (He fell in the first round of the junior events here in 2001 and 2002.)

·         Andreev upset No. 3 seed Andy Roddick 36 64 63 64 in the first round, followed this with a 63 36 63 75 victory against Nicolas Massu in the second and then defeated Paul-Henri Mathieu 76 60 63 in the third round, for his 100^th career victory.

·         Andreev is bidding to reach the quarterfinals of a major for the first time, in his second round of 16 appearance.

·         Andreev has matched his career-best Grand Slam result, set on his first Roland Garros appearance in 2004. He upset defending champion Juan Carlos Ferrero 64 62 63 in the second round, causing the joint-earliest loss by a defending champion here in the Open Era, going on to fall to eventual winner Gaston Gaudio 64 75 63 in the round of 16.

·         Andreev is making his third appearance at Roland Garros, but his first for two years, having missed six months of the 2006 season, from the end of April to November, after left knee surgery.

·         Andreev’s best performances away from Roland Garros are third round finishes at the Australian Open (2006) and Wimbledon (2005), and a second round finish at the US Open (2005).

·         Andreev has a 14-19 career win-loss record against Top 20 players through his defeat of Andy Roddick in the first round here.

·         Andreev reached a career-high ranking of No. 24 on 3 April 2006, shortly before undergoing knee surgery on 28 April. He returned for the last event of the season, AMS Paris, and made a full comeback for 2007. Andreev dipped down to No. 235 in the rankings on 2 April this year, but plays here on a protected ranking of No. 27. His actual ranking has risen to No. 125 and he is already projected to climb back inside the Top 100 when the new rankings are published on 11 June.

·         At No. 125, Andreev is the lowest-ranked player remaining in the tournament. He is bidding to become the lowest-ranked quarterfinalist here since Marcelo Filippini in 1999, who was ranked No. 140.

·         Andreev has had his best results on clay in 2007. Having not got beyond the second round at any hard court event, his clay court highlights before coming here were winning two matches at AMS Monte Carlo to reach the round of 16, upsetting Fernando Gonzalez 62 26 63 in the second round then losing to Juan Carlos Ferrero 63 63, and reaching the round of 16 at AMS Hamburg before losing to eventual runner-up Rafael Nadal 64 61.

·         Andreev’s other clay court highlight of the season came in Russia’s Davis Cup World Group first round tie, a potentially tricky away encounter for the defending champions against Chile in La Serena (see also head-to-head above). Andreev won both his singles matches, defeating Fernando Gonzalez 46 64 63 62 in the second rubber and today’s opponent Massu 62 61 67 64 in the decisive fifth rubber, to end Chile’s ten-home-tie winning streak. (Russia will host Germany in September’s semifinals.)

·         Until AMS Hamburg, Andreev had the distinction of being the last man to defeat Rafael Nadal on clay, doing so in the 2005 Valencia quarterfinals en route to the title. Nadal then embarked on his 81-match winning streak on the surface, ended in the Hamburg final by Roger Federer.

·         Andreev never competed in any junior Grand Slam tournament.

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