DAY TEN MEN’S NOTES

Tuesday 5 June 2007

Quarterfinals Top Half

Show court matches

PHILIPPE CHATRIER:          No. 1 Roger Federer (SUI) v No. 9 Tommy Robredo (ESP)

SUZANNE LENGLEN:           No. 4 Nikolay Davydenko (RUS) v No. 19 Guillermo Canas (ARG)

On court today…

·         Ten-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer bids to reach a 12^th consecutive Grand Slam semifinal when he plays Tommy Robredo, who is hoping to reach the first Grand Slam semifinal of his career. Federer already owns the all-time record for successive appearances in major semifinals, and has the chance at 2007 Roland Garros to set a new all-time record for successive appearances in major finals. Federer has won his last seven matches with Robredo, who has won just one set against his Swiss opponent in that time.

·         No. 4 seed Nikolay Davydenko aims to defeat a second successive opponent from Argentina and reach his second Roland Garros semifinal in three years, when he takes on No. 19 seed Guillermo Canas. The Argentine is bidding to reach the last four of a major for the first time, having fallen in the Roland Garros quarterfinals on two previous occasions.

COURT PHILIPPE CHATRIER

NO. 1 ROGER FEDERER (SUI) v NO. 9 TOMMY ROBREDO (ESP)

Head-to-head: Federer leads 7-1

2002     Hopman Cup                 Hard (I)              R1        Robredo            76 62

2002     Sydney                         Hard (O)            R32      Federer             76 76

2002     Vienna                          Hard (I)              R16      Federer             62 67 64

2003     AMS Rome                   Clay (O)            R16      Federer             61 61

2003     AMS Montreal               Hard (O)            R16      Federer             64 63

2004     Dubai                            Hard (O)            R16      Federer             63 64

2005     AMS Hamburg               Clay (O)            R16      Federer             62 63

2007     Australian Open             Hard (O)            QF        Federer             63 76 75

Federer has won his last seven meetings with Robredo, and has not lost a set against his Spanish opponent for four and a half years, since Vienna in 2002. The pair also met in the quarterfinals at this year’s Australian Open in January.

Federer is the older of the two by nearly nine months. They did not play each other on the junior circuit.

Neither man has dropped a set yet at 2007 Roland Garros; they are two of three men to advance to the last eight in straight sets alongside defending champion Rafael Nadal, who plays his quarterfinal match tomorrow. Although Federer has been on court for ten minutes fewer than Robredo, Robredo has conceded one less game than his opponent: 37 to Federer’s 38.

                       FEDERER                                           v                                       ROBREDO

                            25                                              Age                                           25

                             1                                        ATP Ranking                                     9

                            48                                             Titles                                           4

                         123-21                         Career Grand Slam Record                       52-25

                       Champion                        Best Grand Slam Result                     Quarterfinalist

                     2003-06 Wimbledon                                                              2003, 2005, 2007 Roland Garros

        2004, 2006-07 Australian Open                                                                                   2007 Australian Open

                 2004-06 US Open                                    

                           24-8                              Roland Garros Record                            23-6

                        515-132                                  Career Record                               277-169

                         100-35                              Career Record - Clay                           129-57

                           28-4                                      2007 Record                                  27-14

                           14-2                                 2007 Record - Clay                              11-5

                           9-10                             Career Five-Set Record                           6-3

                             3                             Comebacks from 0-2 Down                          1

                        192-108                          Career Tiebreak Record                         89-73

                            8-3                               2007 Tiebreak Record                              4-6                       

                           7:31                              Total Time on Court^                              7:41

^ according to umpire’s scorecard

·         Federer defeated Michael Russell 64 62 64 in the first round, French wild card Thierry Ascione 61 62 76 in the second round, Potito Starace 62 63 60 in the third round and No. 13 seed Mikhail Youzhny 76 64 64 in the round of 16, extending his record against the Russian to 10-0.

·         Through the completion of his round of 16 victory against Youzhny here, Federer has won 11 consecutive Grand Slam matches in straight sets, and 35 sets in a row since winning the last two sets of the 2006 US Open final against Andy Roddick.

·         Federer has now equalled the longest streak of Grand Slam matches won in straight sets in the Open Era, and another straight-sets win over Robredo today will see him establish a new record outright – he has won his last five matches against Robredo in straight sets. John McEnroe also won 11 Grand Slam matches in straight sets from the second round at 1984 Wimbledon through the 1984 US Open quarterfinals. [See table overleaf.]

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

                                                            *first two rounds were best-of-three sets

·         Federer has also equalled the longest streak of consecutive sets won in Grand Slams in the Open Era, sharing the record with John McEnroe, who also won 35 in a row as detailed below.

Consecutive sets won in Grand Slams (Open Era)

·         At the 2007 Australian Open, Federer became the first man to win a Grand Slam title without dropping a set since Bjorn Borg at 1980 Roland Garros.

·         This is the fourth straight Grand Slam event at which Federer has advanced to the quarterfinals without dropping a set. It also marks the second time Federer has achieved the feat at Roland Garros: he reached the semifinals without losing a set here in 2005, losing at that stage to Rafael Nadal 63 46 64 63.

·         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.

·         Federer has reached the Roland Garros quarterfinals for the fourth time, and is bidding to reach the semifinals here for the third time, having advanced to the last four for the last two years. His only loss at the quarterfinal stage of Roland Garros was in 2001, when he fell to eventual runner-up Alex Corretja 75 64 75.

·         Federer is on a streak of 11 straight Grand Slam semifinal appearances, setting a new all-time record for this at the 2007 Australian Open by surpassing Rod Laver’s run of 10 straight Grand Slam semifinal appearances from 1960 Wimbledon through 1962 Roland Garros, and Ivan Lendl’s streak of ten major semifinals from the 1985 US Open through the 1988 Australian Open.

·         The last time Federer lost before the semifinals at a major was at 2004 Roland Garros, where he fell in the third round to three-time champion Gustavo Kuerten 64 64 64.

·         Through the 2007 Australian Open, Federer’s streak of consecutive Grand Slam final appearances stands at seven. If the world No. 1 reaches the 2007 Roland Garros final, he will set a new all-time record for successive appearances in major finals, breaking his tie with Jack Crawford. [See table overleaf.]

Appearances in consecutive Grand Slam finals (all time)

·         Federer has entered his 175^th week at No. 1 in the rankings, 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).

·         The only Spaniard that Federer has lost two in the last three years is Rafael Nadal. Since 2004 AMS Hamburg he has compiled a 30-6 record against Spaniards, those six losses being the majority he has suffered in the series with Nadal in which he trails 4-7. Federer defeated four Spaniards in a row – Juan Carlos Ferrero, David Ferrer, Carlos Moya and Nadal – to win the title at AMS Hamburg two weeks ago (see below).

·         Federer has a 9-5 win-loss record against Spanish opponents at Grand Slams, but is 3-4 at Roland Garros.

·         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. If he is able to go on and win his 11^th major title at 2007 Roland Garros, he would move into even more exclusive company on the Grand Slam title leaderboard. Four men have 11 or more Grand Slam titles to their names.

All-time Grand Slam title leaders

·         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.

·         Bearing in mind that Federer has lost twice this season to Guillermo Canas (see above), the pair will meet in the semifinals here, if both win their matches today (Canas plays No. 4 seed Nikolay Davydenko).

·         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 semifinals here 22 times 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.

·         Robredo defeated Argentine Sergio Roitman 63 64 62 in the first round, Greek qualifier Konstantinos Economidis 64 75 64 in the second round, Janko Tipsarevic 63 64 60 in the third round and No. 29 seed Filippo Volandri 62 75 61 in the round of 16.

·         Robredo is playing his seventh successive Roland Garros and has reached the quarterfinals here for the third time. He is bidding to reach his first semifinal at Roland Garros, or any Grand Slam event.

·         Robredo reached the Roland Garros quarterfinals twice previously. 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; he 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 in that round 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.

·         Last year, as No. 7 seed, Robredo lost in the Roland Garros round of 16 to Mario Ancic 64 46 26 64 75.

·         This is the first time that Robredo has advanced to the Roland Garros quarterfinals without losing a set.

·         Robredo has a 1-4 career win-loss record versus the No. 1 player.

Robredo v No. 1

·         Against Top 10 players, Robredo has a 14-45 career record, and has lost his last four matches against Top 10 opponents starting with his loss to Federer at this year’s Australian Open.

·         Playing all Swiss players, Robredo has a 6-8 career record. This is his first meeting with a Swiss at Roland Garros, but he is 1-1 against the nation in previous Grand Slam meetings: he defeated Stanislas Wawrinka 63 64 62 in the third round at the 2006 US Open, and lost to Federer in the quarterfinals of this year’s Australian Open as detailed above.

·         Robredo is one of three Spaniards to reach the quarterfinals here, alongside No. 2 seed Rafael Nadal and No. 23 Carlos Moya, who play each other in the quarterfinals tomorrow. This is not a record for the nation in the last eight at Roland Garros – three Spaniards also reached the quarterfinals here in 2005 (Nadal, Robredo and David Ferrer). The Open Era record for Spaniards in the Roland Garros quarterfinals is four, achieved in 2003.

·         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; he previously won titles at 2001 Sopot and 2004 Barcelona.

·         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). He also won the 2000 boys’ doubles title here with Marc Lopez.

COURT SUZANNE LENGLEN

NO. 4 NIKOLAY DAVYDENKO (RUS) v NO. 19 GUILLERMO CANAS (ARG)

Head-to-head: Canas leads 3-1

2001     Vienna                          Hard (I)              R32      Canas               76 75

2004     ’s-Hertogenbosch           Grass (O)          R32      Canas               64 64

2003     Stuttgart Outdoor           Clay (O)            SF        Canas               36 61 62

2005     Australian Open             Hard (O)            R16      Davydenko        63 64 63

This is the pair’s fifth meeting, and second on clay. The two were also scheduled to meet in the quarterfinals at Barcelona in April but Davydenko gave Canas a walkover, after suffering a wrist injury.

                           DAVYDENKO                                        v                                          CANAS

                            26*                                              Age                                           29

                             4                                        ATP Ranking                                    22

                            10                                             Titles                                           7

                          41-24                          Career Grand Slam Record                       36-23

                      Semifinalist                       Best Grand Slam Result                     Quarterfinalist

                2005 Roland Garros                                                                   2002, 2005 Roland Garros

                    2006 US Open

                           16-6                              Roland Garros Record                            15-6

                        236-175                                  Career Record                               213-146

                         113-70                              Career Record - Clay                           106-67

                          27-14                                      2007 Record                                   26-8

                           12-6                                 2007 Record - Clay                              16-5

                            7-5                              Career Five-Set Record                          11-11

                             3                             Comebacks from 0-2 Down                          1

                          63-64                            Career Tiebreak Record                         68-60

                           11-8                               2007 Tiebreak Record                            11-3

                           8:53                              Total Time On Court^                              8:41

                                                                    * turned 26 on 2 June

^ according to umpire’s scorecard

·         Davydenko defeated Stefano Galvani 63 61 61 in the first round, Werner Eschauer 75 63 61 in the second round, Michael Llodra 64 62 64 in the third round and then broke a four-match losing streak against David Nalbandian 63 76 36 76 in the round of 16, dropping his first set of the tournament in doing so.

·         Davydenko is playing his seventh Roland Garros and is today appearing in his third successive quarterfinal here. He lost in the quarterfinals last year to David Nalbandian 63 63 26 64.

·         Davydenko has made five quarterfinal appearances in his last six Grand Slams through this one.

·         Davydenko is bidding to match his best Roland Garros result and reach the semifinals here for the second time. He 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 contesting the sixth Grand Slam quarterfinal of his career overall. He first broke through to this stage at the 2005 Australian Open, losing to No. 2 seed Andy Roddick 63 75 41 ret. (breathing difficulties). Prior to that breakthrough, Davydenko had lost in the first or second round in 14 of his 15 Grand Slam appearances.

·         Davydenko is one of two Russian men to reach the quarterfinals here, along with Igor Andreev, who plays Novak Djokovic tomorrow. This equals the nation’s best Roland Garros performance, set in 2000 when Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Marat Safin lost in the quarterfinals, and their best showing at any Grand Slam. (Two Russian men also reached the quarterfinals at the 2001 US Open, 2005 Australian Open and the 2006 US Open.)

·         There have been two Russian semifinalists at a Grand Slam tournament in the Open Era on two previous occasions, both at the US Open: in 2001 (Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Marat Safin) and 2006 (Davydenko and Mikhail Youzhny).

·         To date, three different Russian men have reached the Roland Garros semifinals in the Open Era, on four occasions: Yevgeny Kafelnikov (1995 and 1996), Marat Safin (2002) and Davydenko himself (2005).

·         Following his defeat of David Nalbandian in the last 16, Davydenko has a 5-3 win-loss record against Argentines in Grand Slam events, and is 3-3 against the nation at Roland Garros.

·         Davydenko is facing a second successive Argentine opponent in Canas. This is the fifth time that he has faced Argentine opponents in consecutive rounds in a tournament, and the second time here. In 2006, he defeated Gaston Gaudio 63 64 36 63 in the last 16 before losing to David Nalbandian 63 63 46 62.

·         Davydenko has also faced consecutive Argentine opponents in two Russia vs Argentina Davis Cup ties. In the 2003 World Group quarterfinal held in Buenos Aires on clay, he lost to both David Nalbandian and Gaston Gaudio, while in the 2006 Final held in Moscow on carpet, he defeated Juan Ignacio Chela and then lost to David Nalbandian.

·         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 to today’s opponent Canas 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).

·         Five of Davydenko’s ten career titles have been won on clay. He has won a title on clay every year 2003-06, starting at 2003 Estoril. Last year he won two titles on clay – Portschach and Sopot – for the first time, and won five titles overall, tying him for second place with James Blake and Rafael Nadal for most titles won in 2006 behind Roger Federer.

·         Canas defeated Victor Hanescu 63 61 64 in the first round, Simone Bolelli 64 63 63 in the second, Kristof Vliegen 62 62 26 63 in the third and countryman Juan Monaco 60 64 62 in the round of 16.

·         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 reach the first Grand Slam semifinal of his career, having matched his best Grand Slam result performance to date by reaching the quarterfinals.

·         Canas is playing his third Roland Garros quarterfinal today. He first reached the quarterfinals here in 2002, 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.

·         Canas is making his seventh appearance at Roland Garros.

·         Canas has never been beyond the round of 16 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). He has never advanced beyond the third round at the US Open.

·         At 29 years, 6 months, Canas is the second-oldest quarterfinalist after 30-year-old Carlos Moya, who plays Rafael Nadal tomorrow.

·         Canas is the only Argentine to reach the last eight from a record 15 that started. This is the sixth straight year that there has been at least one Argentine in the last eight here, though it falls someway short of the nation’s Grand Slam record four quarterfinalists here in 2004.

·         Canas is bidding to ensure Argentine representation in the Roland Garros semifinals for the fifth successive year, and thus become the eighth different Argentine to reach the semifinals here in the Open Era after Guillermo Vilas, Jose-Luis Clerc, Franco Squillari, Guillermo Coria, Gaston Gaudio, David Nalbandian and Mariano Puerta.

·         Canas has a 10-7 win-loss record against Russian players, 1-1 in Grand Slams, defeating Yevgeny Kafelnikov at 2001 Wimbledon and losing to today’s opponent Davydenko at the 2005 Australian Open (see head-to-head above).

·         Canas has a 10-12 career win-loss record again Top 5 players, and is 2-1 since his return to the tour following his suspension. He is one of only three men - along with Rafael Nadal and Filippo Volandri - to defeat No. 1 Roger Federer in 2007, doing so twice, in successive tournaments, in the second round at AMS Indian Wells and in the last 16 at AMS Miami, both on hard court. He lost to No. 2-ranked Rafael Nadal in the final at Barcelona (see below).

·         Canas tested positive for the diuretic hydrochlorothiazide 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 and is projected to climb back into the Top 20 when the new rankings are published on Monday.

·         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.

·         Four of Canas’s seven titles have been won on clay court. He has won titles at 2001 Casablanca, 2004 Stuttgart and 2004 Umag as well as 2007 Costa do Sauipe.

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

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