Wimbledon 2007
DAY ONE MEN’S NOTES
Monday 25
June 2007
First Round
Top Half
Show
court matches
CENTRE COURT:
No. 1 Roger Federer (SUI) v Teimuraz Gabashvili (RUS)
No. 25 Carlos
Moya (ESP) v Tim Henman (GBR)
COURT 1:
No. 3 Andy Roddick (USA) v Justin Gimelstob (USA)
No. 8 Andy
Murray (GBR) v Nicolas Lapentti (ECU)
COURT 2:
No. 9 James Blake (USA) v Igor Andreev (RUS)
No. 15 Ivan
Ljubicic (CRO) v Vince Spadea (USA)
COURT 3:
No. 13
Tommy Haas (GER) v (Q) Zack Fleishman (USA)
(WC) Joshua
Goodall (GBR) v Feliciano Lopez (ESP)
COURT 18:
No. 24 Juan Ignacio Chela (ARG) v Benjamin Becker (GER)
No. 26 Marat
Safin (RUS) v (Q) Rik De Voest (RSA)
COURT
13:
No. 5 Fernando Gonzalez (CHI) v Robby Ginepri (USA)
Arnaud Clement (FRA) v (Q)
Nicolas Mahut (FRA)
Other
matches:
No. 12 Richard Gasquet (FRA) v (Q) Bohdan Ulihrach (CZE)
No. 21 Dmitry Tursunov (RUS) v
Nicolas Almagro (ESP)
On court today…
·
Roger
Federer begins his bid to become only the fourth man in history to win
five consecutive Wimbledon titles. His first round opponent is Russian
Teimuraz Gabashvili, who is making his Wimbledon debut and playing just
his third career tour-level grass court event.
·
Four-time semifinalist Tim Henman bids for his first Grand Slam match
win of 2007 when he plays Carlos Moya. Although this is the pair’s tenth
meeting in a series going back 11 years, it is their first match-up for
four years, and first meeting on grass. Moya is playing his first grass
court match since 2004 Wimbledon.
·
An
all-American match-up as two-time runner-up Andy Roddick plays Justin
Gimelstob. Queen’s champion Roddick will be looking to extend a
five-match winning streak, while Gimelstob is hoping for his first
tour-level victory since making his comeback from back surgery in March.
·
Home
hope Andy Murray tests his right wrist in a first-time meeting with
Nicolas Lapentti. Murray is playing his first match for six weeks after
injuring his wrist at AMS Hamburg; Lapentti, who is playing here for the
first time in four years, sat out nearly three months of this season
after a hernia operation.
·
Tommy
Haas makes his comeback from a month out with a right shoulder injury
when he plays American qualifier Zack Fleishman, who is making his
Wimbledon debut today.
·
’s-Hertogenbosch winner Ivan Ljubicic bids to extend a five-match
winning streak when he plays Vince Spadea. Neither man has a
particularly good record at Wimbledon, Ljubicic having suffered four
first round loses here, and Spadea having lost his opening match seven
times.
·
No. 9
seed James Blake, in his fifth Wimbledon, faces Roland Garros
quarterfinalist Igor Andreev who missed Wimbledon last year after left
knee surgery. Andreev trails Blake 0-4 in their series, but this is
their first meeting on grass.
·
Marat
Safin, who at Wimbledon has won less than half the number of matches
that he has at the other three Grand Slam events, has a first-time
meeting with Rik De Voest. The South African qualifier is making his
Grand Slam debut today.
·
An
all-French match-up between Queen’s runner-up Nicolas Mahut, who
qualified here, and Nottingham runner-up Arnaud Clement.
·
Feliciano Lopez, who reached the only Grand Slam quarterfinal of his
career to date here in 2005, takes on British wild card Joshua Goodall,
bidding for his first victory in just his sixth tour-level match.
·
Australian Open runner up and No. 5 seed Fernando Gonzalez comes up
against Robby Ginepri for the second time in three weeks, the Chilean
having won their round of 16 at Queen's.
·
Juan Ignacia Chela meets Benjamin Becker in the Wimbledon
first round for the second successive year. The Argentinean is looking
to avenge last year’s first round defeat.
CENTRE
COURT
NO. 1
ROGER FEDERER (SUI) v TEIMURAZ GABASHVILI (RUS)
Head-to-head: first
meeting
FEDERER
v
GABASHVILI
25
Age
22
47
Titles
0
125-22
Career Grand Slam Record
1-3
32-4
Wimbledon Record
0-0
517-133
Career Record
16-33
64-11
Career Record - Grass
1-2
30-5
2007 Record
8-15
0-0
2007 Record - Grass
1-2
9-10
Career Five-Set Record
1-1
3
Comebacks from 0-2 Down
0
194-108
Career Tiebreak Record
11-8
10-3
2007 Tiebreak Record
5-4
·
Federer
is making his ninth appearance at Wimbledon, having played here every
year since making his debut as a wild card in 1999.
·
Federer is bidding to become the fourth
player in Wimbledon history to win the men’s singles title for five
successive years. He won the 2003 title as No. 4 seed, defeating Mark
Philippoussis 76 62 76 in the final. As No. 1 seed, he defended his
title for the last three years: in 2004 defeating Andy Roddick 46 75 76
64 in the final; in 2005 again defeating Roddick 62 76 64; and in 2006
defeating Rafael Nadal 60 76 67 63.
·
Only
seven men in history have won five or more consecutive titles at one
Grand Slam event, and Bjorn Borg is the only player to have achieved
this feat in the Open Era. Borg was also the last man to win five or
more Wimbledon titles, the Swede collecting all five of his trophies at
the All England Club in 1976-80. [For more details see page 1 of the
Preview.]
·
Federer
is one of eight men in history to win at least four Wimbledon titles in
his career, whether consecutive or otherwise. He is now bidding to
become just the fifth man in history to win five career Wimbledon
titles. Borg and Sampras are the only men to win five here in the Open
Era, Sampras going on to win seven titles. [For more details see page 2
of the Preview.]
·
Federer
is hoping to extend his 48-match grass court winning streak today. He
established his new Open Era record streak on the surface in the first
round at last year’s Wimbledon, breaking Bjorn Borg’s previous mark of
41 straight grass court match wins. Federer’s last grass court defeat
was in the first round of 2002 Wimbledon, when he lost to qualifier
Mario Ancic 63 76 63.
·
Federer
compiled his record-breaking 48-match grass court winning streak having
won both Halle and Wimbledon for the last four seasons. He has defeated
38 different players from 19 different countries during the streak.
·
Federer
arrives at 2007 Wimbledon having not played a grass court tournament
ahead of The Championships for the first time in his career (having made
his debut here in 1999). He has not played an official match on grass in
2007 after withdrawing from his usual warm-up event, Halle, citing
fatigue. The last man to win Wimbledon without playing a grass court
tournament ahead of The Championships was Andre Agassi in 1992.
·
Pete Sampras
played a grass court warm-up event ahead of all seven of his Wimbledon
triumphs. The only year in his entire career that he did not play a
warm-up event, in 1996, Sampras failed to win the Wimbledon title,
losing in the quarterfinals to eventual champion Richard Krajicek.
·
Although Federer has won three titles so far in 2007, at the Australian
Open – where he became the first man to win a Grand Slam title without
dropping a set since Bjorn Borg at 1980 Roland Garros –Dubai, and AMS
Hamburg. However by his standards this season has been disappointing. In
the spring he had a run of four straight tournament losses, his longest
streak without winning a title since taking over the No. 1 ranking in
February 2004. Federer fell 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. He reached the final at AMS
Monte Carlo before losing to Rafael Nadal, and was upset by wild card
Filippo Volandri 62 64 in the round of 16 at AMS Rome before returning
to winning form at AMS Hamburg.
·
Two
weeks ago, Federer reached the Roland Garros final for the second year
running, again falling to Rafael Nadal and so narrowly failing in his
bid to hold all four Grand Slam titles at the same time, and complete a
career Grand Slam.
·
The
only defending champion to lose in the Wimbledon first round in the Open
Era is Lleyton Hewitt, who in 2003 fell to Ivo Karlovic 16 76 63 64.
Hewitt is also the only No. 1 seed at Wimbledon in the Open Era to
suffer a first round exit.
·
Gabashvili
is making his Wimbledon debut today.
·
This is
Gabashvili’s fourth Grand Slam event. He made his debut as a direct
entrant at the 2006 US Open, defeating Marcos Daniel 63 62 36 36 63 in
the first round before losing in the second round to James Blake 63 64
76. He qualified at this year’s Australian Open, losing in the first
round to Lukas Dlouhy 63 61 67 67 1614, and as a direct entrant retired
in the first round at Roland Garros, to Flavio Cipolla 76 63 52 ret.
(right wrist pain).
·
Gabashvili
is a direct entrant at 2007 Wimbledon and never previously tried to
qualify for this tournament, although he has played the qualifying
events for the other three majors. (Successfully reaching the main draw
at the 2007 Australian Open, as detailed above.)
·
Gabashvili played two grass court events before coming here. He lost in
the first round at Halle (to Benjamin Becker 64 76) and in the second
round at Nottingham (to Arnaud Clement 76 36 63). Those were the first
two tour-level grass court events of his career; in fact, his only
previous professional appearance on the surface before 2007 was at the
Manchester Challenger in 2004 (losing in the first round to Andrew Banks
36 61 64).
·
Gabashvili is having the best year of his career, reaching a career-high
ranking of No. 71 in March. He had his best results on U.S. hard court
in spring, reaching the quarterfinals as a qualifier at Memphis
(retiring at that stage due to illness) and the third round as a
qualifier again AMS Indian Wells.
·
This
season however Gabashvili has also had ten first round losses in
tour-level events, including six throughout the entire clay court
season. He has played only tour-level tournaments all year.
NO. 25
CARLOS MOYA v TIM HENMAN (GBR)
Head-to-head: Moya leads 5-4
1996 Rotterdam Carpet (I) R16
Henman 76 64
1996 Paris Indoor Carpet (I) R64
Moya 46 63 64
1997 Sydney Hard (O) FR
Henman 63 61
1998 Key Biscayne Hard (O) R32
Henman 61 64
1998 ATP Finals, Hanover Hard (I) SF
Moya 64 36 75
1999 World Team Cup Clay (O) R2
Moya 75 36 76
2001 Basle Carpet (I) SF
Henman 61 64
2002 AMS Monte Carlo Clay (O) SF
Moya 64 57 63
2003
Vienna Hard (I) SF
Moya 76 75
This is
the pair’s first meeting for four years, and their first ever match-up
on grass court.
MOYA
v
HENMAN
30
Age
32
19
Titles
11
73-39
Career Grand Slam Record
96-47
7-7
Wimbledon Record
42-13
527-281
Career Record
493-270
13-14
Career Record - Grass
82-33
25-13
2007 Record
4-8
0-0
2007 Record - Grass
1-2
15-17
Career Five-Set Record
19-14
5
Comebacks from 0-2 Down
4
203-147
Career Tiebreak Record
176-149
11-3
2007 Tiebreak Record
4-2
·
Moya
is
making his eighth appearance at Wimbledon. He was forced to miss four of
the previous five championships through injury. In both 2005 and 2006,
he withdrew with a shoulder injury.
·
On
Moya’s last appearance at Wimbledon in 2004, he enjoyed a career-best
performance to reach the last 16, losing to Lleyton Hewitt 64 62 46 76.
He failed to pass the second round on his first six appearances.
·
Moya
did not play a Wimbledon warm-up event. In fact he has not played on
grass since losing to Lleyton Hewitt in the round of 16 at 2004
Wimbledon. That remains his best grass court performance, although he
also reached the semifinals at 1999 Halle.
·
Moya’s
last event was 2007 Roland Garros, where he reached the quarterfinals as
No. 23 seed, before losing to eventual champion Rafael Nadal 64 63 60.
His other 2007 highlights include runner-up appearances at Sydney (l.
James Blake 63 57 61) and Acapulco (l. Juan Ignacio Chela 63 76), and
semifinal showings at Chennai and AMS Hamburg. He has improved his
ranking from No. 43 to No. 22 (as at 18 June) since the start of the
year.
·
Moya
won his lone Grand Slam title at 1998 Roland Garros (d. Alex Corretja 63
75 63) and became the first Spaniard to rank No. 1 in the history of the
ATP rankings in 1999.
·
Henman
is making his 14th consecutive appearance at Wimbledon, having played
every year since his Grand Slam debut as a wild card here in 1994.
·
Henman
has reached the semifinals here four times (1998-99, 2001-02), and the
quarterfinals another four times (1996-97, 2003-04). He fell in the
second round for the second successive year in 2006, to eventual
champion Roger Federer 64 60 62.
·
Henman
is looking for his first Grand Slam match win of 2007. He missed the
Australian Open with a right knee injury, and lost in the first round at
Roland Garros to qualifier Ernests Gulbis 64 63 62. His last Grand Slam
match victory was over Greg Rusedski in the first round at the 2006 US
Open, before losing in the second round to Federer.
·
In the
Wimbledon warm-up events, Henman lost to Marin Cilic 76 26 64 in the
first round at Queen’s, before reaching the second round at Nottingham,
defeating Michael Russell 61 76, then losing to Dmitry Tursunov 76 36
62. His victory over Russell was only his second tour-level match win of
the year.
·
Henman’s ATP Ranking dropped to No. 78 on 18 June, his lowest ranking
since 4 March 1996.
·
Henman
missed the start of the season with a right-knee injury, returning at
the end of February at Las Vegas.
COURT 1
NO. 3
ANDY RODDICK (USA) v JUSTIN GIMELSTOB (USA)
Head-to-head: first meeting
2002 Washington Hard (O) R32
Roddick 62 62
RODDICK
v
GIMELSTOB
24
Age
30
22
Titles
0
75-25
Career Grand Slam Record
19-29
23-6
Wimbledon Record
9-7
386-122
Career Record
107-168
53-10
Career Record - Grass
24-33
30-8
2007 Record
0-5
5-0
2007 Record - Grass
0-2
9-9
Career Five-Set Record
7-3
2
Comebacks from 0-2 Down
0
182-109
Career Tiebreak Record
53-70
20-3
2007 Tiebreak Record
0-0
·
Roddick
is
making his seventh successive appearance at Wimbledon. Last year, when
he was also seeded No. 3, he was upset in the third round by Andy Murray
76 64 64.
·
Roddick
has twice been Wimbledon runner-up, both times losing to Roger Federer.
He fell 46 75 76 64 in the 2004 final and 62 76 64 in the 2005 final. He
has been defeated by the eventual champion on four of his six previous
Wimbledon appearances, losing to Federer 76 63 63 in the 2003 semifinals,
and to Goran Ivanisevic 76 75 36 63 in the 2001 third round on his
Wimbledon debut.
·
For the
fourth time in five years, Roddick starts Wimbledon having won at
Queen’s. He collected the trophy there three straight years 2003-05, and
after a semifinal loss to countryman James Blake in 2006, bounced back
to win the title this year, saving a match point to defeat Nicolas Mahut
46 76 76 in the final.
·
Queen’s
was Roddick’s first tournament victory of 2007. He also reached the
final at Memphis (l. Tommy Haas 63 62) and the semifinals at the
Australian Open (l. Roger Federer 64 60 62), San Jose (l. Andy Murray 76
64) and AMS Indian Wells (l. Rafael Nadal 64 63). Another highlight of
Roddick’s season is compiling a 3-0 singles record to help the USA to
reach the Davis Cup semifinals (they play Sweden in Gothenburg in
September).
·
Roddick
has never lost in the first round at Wimbledon. By contrast, at Roland
Garros this year, he suffered his fourth first round exit in seven
appearances.
·
Roddick
is coached by 1974 and 1982 Wimbledon champion Jimmy Connors.
·
Gimelstob
is
making his eighth appearance at Wimbledon. He lost in the second round
here last year to Ivan Ljubicic 63 76 75.
·
Gimelstob has lost in the Wimbledon first round just once previously, in
1999 falling to Jens Knippschild 63 26 57 62 97. His best results at
this tournament are three third round finishes, achieved in 1999, 2003
and 2005. He has never advanced further than the third round at any
Grand Slam event.
·
Gimelstob plays here with a protected ranking of No. 73, having missed
the remainder of the 2006 season after the US Open, and the first two
months of this year, recovering from major back surgery carried out on
13 September to remove disc fragments.
·
Gimelstob made his return from injury at 2007 AMS Indian Wells, and is
still looking for his first win since his comeback, having had first
round losses in all six tour-level events he played before coming here.
His only wins all year to date are three victories in qualifying for
Nottingham, before losing in the first round of the main draw to Amer
Delic 64 64. Gimelstob’s last match win (including qualifying and
challenger events) was in the first round of the 2006 US Open, when he
defeated Olivier Marach 62 63 75 (before losing in the second round to
David Ferrer).
·
As well
as qualifying at Nottingham as detailed above, Gimelstob also played on
grass at Queen’s as a direct entrant, losing in the first round to Jonas
Bjorkman 63 36 61.
NO. 8
ANDY MURRAY (GBR) v NICOLAS LAPENTTI (ECU)
Head-to-head: first
meeting
MURRAY
v
LAPENTTI
20
Age
30
2
Titles
5
12-7
Career Grand Slam Record
38-36
5-2
Wimbledon Record
7-7
78-42
Career Record
287-250
14-7
Career Record - Grass
10-15
24-7
2007 Record
4-5
0-0
2007 Record - Grass
0-1
3-4
Career Five-Set Record
25-12
1
Comebacks from 0-2 Down
4
27-19
Career Tiebreak Record
104-102
9-3
2007 Tiebreak Record
1-1
·
Murray
is
making his third consecutive appearance at Wimbledon. Last year he
reached the round of 16, defeating No. 3 seed Andy Roddick 76 64 64 in
the third round before losing to eventual semifinalist Marcos Baghdatis
63 64 76.
·
Murray
has not competed on the tour since May, after suffering a right wrist
injury during his first round match against Filippo Volandri at AMS
Hamburg.
·
Prior
to withdrawing at AMS Hamburg, Murray had an good start to 2007. He
successfully defended his title at San Jose, defeating Andy Roddick 76
64 in the semifinals and Ivo Karlovic 67 64 76 in the final, and was
also a finalist at Doha (l. to Ivan Ljubicic 64 64). He reached the
semifinals at Memphis, AMS Indian Wells and AMS Miami. Murray entered
the Top 10 rankings for the first time on 16 April this year, and was at
a career-high No. 8 the week of 18 June.
·
At this
year’s Australian Open, Murray reached the round of 16, losing to No. 2
seed Rafael Nadal 67 64 46 63 61. He withdrew from Roland Garros with
his wrist injury.
·
Apart
from Roland Garros, Murray has reached at least the round of 16 at the
other three Grand Slams.
·
At 2006
AMS Cincinatti, Murray became only the second player in 2006 to defeat
Roger Federer (the other being Rafael Nadal). Unseeded, Murray defeated
the world No. 1 and top seed 75 64 in the second round.
·
Lapentti
is making his eighth appearance at Wimbledon and his first since 2003.
He withdrew from the 2004 tournament with a back injury and was not
ranked high enough to play 2005 and 2006 Wimbledon (he did not attempt
to qualify either).
·
Lapentti’s best performance at Wimbledon was in 2002, when he reached
the quarterfinals before losing to eventual runner-up David Nalbandian
64 64 46 46 64.
·
Lapentti played the grass warm-up event at Nottingham, losing in the
first round to Jan Vacek 76 63.
·
Lapentti has only played seven tournaments this year at all levels.
Following Buenos Aires at the end of February, he underwent surgery for
a hernia and returned to action at Portschach in May.
·
Lapentti has a 4-5 win-loss record this year. He played at the
Australian Open and Roland Garros, but lost in the second round at both
tournaments, to David Nalbandian and Mikhail Youzhny respectively.
·
Lapentti’s career Grand Slam highlight was reaching the semifinals at
1999 Australian Open. He won four five-set matches, defeating three
Swedes before falling to another, Thomas Enqvist, 63 75 61. The
following year he reached a career-high ranking of No. 6 in April 2000.
·
Lapentti was instrumental in Ecuador’s Davis Cup World Group Play-off
win over Great Britain in 2000 - held here at Wimbledon - winning a
five-set marathon over Greg Rusedski in the first rubber and defeating
Tim Henman and Arvind Parmar in the doubles rubber with his brother
Giovanni. Ecuador went on to win the tie 3-2.
COURT 2
NO. 9
JAMES BLAKE (CHI) v IGOR ANDREEV (RUS)
Head-to-head: Blake leads 4-0
2004 Scottsdale Hard (O) R16
Blake 63 62
2005 US Open Hard (O) R64
Blake 62 62 64
2006 Sydney Hard (O) FR
Blake 62 36 76
2006 AMS Indian Wells Hard (O) QF
Blake 61 64
Andreev
has yet to win a match against Blake, although today is their first
meeting on grass.
BLAKE
v
ANDREEV
27
Age
23
9
Titles
3
35-21
Career
Grand Slam Record
16-11
4-4
Wimbledon Record
3-2
224-146
Career
Record
101-90
21-17
Career
Record - Grass
8-7
24-14
2007
Record
17-15
2-1
2007
Record - Grass
0-1
0-9
Career
Five-Set Record
1-5
0
Comebacks from 0-2 Down
0
80-69
Career
Tiebreak Record
40-41
10-6
2007
Tiebreak Record
3-8
·
Blake
is making his fifth appearance at Wimbledon. Last year he lost in the
third round to Max Mirnyi 64 36 46 61 60.
·
Blake
has never advanced further than the third round at Wimbledon. He lost in
the second round in 2002 and 2003, missed the 2004 tournament after
fracturing vertebra and was knocked out in the first round in 2005.
·
Blake
warmed up for this year’s Wimbledon at Halle, reaching the
quarterfinals. He defeated Sam Querrey 46 64 63, Evgeny Korolev 75 61,
then lost to Phillipp Kohlschreiber 64 63.
·
Blake’s
2007 season started with a win in Sydney (d. Carlos Moya 63 57 61 in the
final), and he was also a runner up at Delray Beach (l. Xavier Malisse
57 64 64).
·
In 2007
Grand Slam play, Blake reached the round of 16 at the Australian Open,
losing to Fernando Gonzalez 75 64 76, and was defeated in the first
round at Roland Garros by Ivo Karlovic 64 46 75 75.
·
Andreev
is making his third appearance at Wimbledon. He missed last year’s
Championship having missed six months of the 2006 season, from the end
of April to November, after left knee surgery.
·
Andreev’s best performance at Wimbledon was in 2005 when he reached the
third round losing to Andy Roddick 62 62 76. In 2004, he was defeated in
the second round by Fernando Gonzalez 75 63 57 67 63.
·
Andreev played at Queen’s for his Wimbledon warm up, but lost in the
first round to Gael Monfils 64 63.
·
Andreev
had his career-best Grand Slam result at 2007 Roland Garros where he was
the only unseeded player to reach the quarterfinals, losing to Novak
Djokovic 63 63 63. En route in Paris, he defeated No. 3 seed Andy
Roddick, Nicolas Massu, Paul-Henri Mathieu and No. 16 seed Marcos
Baghdatis. At the Australian Open, he was knocked out in the first round
by Vince Spadea 62 76 61.
·
In
2007, Andreev’s other best performances have been reaching the round of
16 at AMS Monte Carlo (l. Juan Carlos Ferrero 63 63) and AMS Hamburg (l.
Rafael Nadal 64 61). With these results, he continues to climb the
rankings after his surgery in 2006 and as of 18 June 2007, was ranked
No. 56.
NO. 15
IVAN LJUBICIC (CRO) v VINCE SPADEA (USA)
Head-to-head: Spadea
leads 3-1
2003 AMS Monte Carlo Clay (O) R16 Spadea
16 64 76
2004 Lyon Carpet (I) R16
Spadea 64 76
2005 AMS Miami Hard (O) R32
Ljubicic 63 46 76
2005 Lyon Carpet (I) R32
Spadea 76 75
LJUBICIC
v
SPADEA
28
Age
32
8
Titles
1
28-31
Career Grand Slam Record
39-46
4-7
Wimbledon Record
6-11
312-201
Career Record
290-316
15-16
Career Record - Grass
19-31
32-13
2007 Record
16-15
6-1
2007 Record - Grass
0-1
7-14
Career Five-Set Record
10-5
3
Comebacks from 0-2 Down
1
153-154
Career Tiebreak Record
90-119
20-13
2007 Tiebreak Record
5-2
·
Ljubicic
is making his eighth straight appearance at Wimbledon. He had his best
result at this event last year, reaching the third round as No. 5 seed
before losing to Dmitry Tursunov 57 46 61 76 62.
·
Ljubicic has had four first round losses in seven previous Wimbledon
appearances: in 2000-01, and in 2004-05.
·
Ljubicic arrives here on a five-match winning streak, having just won
the first grass court title of his career at ’s-Hertogenbosch, defeating
Peter Wessels 76 46 76 in Saturday’s final. It was his eighth career
title.
·
’s-Hertogenbosch was Ljubicic’s second title of the season, and he has
maintained his record of having won at least two titles for the last
three years. He won at Doha at the start of 2007 (d. Andy Murray 64 64
in the final), and reached two further finals, at Zagreb (l. Marcos
Baghdatis 76 46 64) and Rotterdam (l. Mikhail Youzhny 62 64). Ljubicic
was also a semifinalist at AMS Miami and a quarterfinalist at AMS Indian
Wells.
·
As well
as playing at ’s-Hertogenbosch, Ljubicic had more grass court
preparation at Queen’s the week before, losing in the round of 16 to
eventual runner-up Nicolas Mahut 76 63.
·
Spadea
is making his 12th Wimbledon appearance. Except for 2001,
when he was not ranked high enough to play, he has competed here every
year since his debut in 1995.
·
Only
two men in this year’s draw have made more Wimbledon appearances than
Spadea: Jonas Bjorkman and Tim Henman, who are both playing here for the
14th time this year. Like Spadea, Fabrice Santoro is also
competing for the 12th time.
·
At 32
years, 11 months, Spadea is the seventh-oldest man starting in the draw.
·
Spadea
has lost in the first round here seven times in 11 previous appearances,
including for the last two years. He was defeated last year by Fernando
Verdasco 36 64 76 63.
·
Spadea’s best result at Wimbledon was reaching the round of 16 in 2004,
losing to Sjeng Schalken 62 75 36 62.
·
Spadea
played one grass court event ahead of 2007 Wimbledon, losing in the
first round at Nottingham to Richard Gasquet 63 64.
·
Spadea’s highlight so far this year was reaching the semifinals at
Delray Beach, losing to Xavier Malisse 62 62. He was also a
quarterfinalist at Adelaide, San Jose, Houston and Estoril.
COURT 3
NO. 13
TOMMY HAAS (GER) v (Q) ZACK FLEISHMAN (USA)
Head-to-head: first meeting
HAAS
v
FLEISHMAN
29
Age
27
11
Titles
0
66-34
Career Grand Slam Record
1-2
10-8
Wimbledon Record
0-0
396-215
Career Record
4-11
26-17
Career Record - Grass
1-1
23-8
2007 Record
1-1
0-0
2007 Record - Grass
0-0
14-14
Career Five-Set Record
0-1
3
Comebacks from 0-2 Down
0
138-112
Career Tiebreak Record
1-3
7-3
2007 Tiebreak Record
1-0
·
Haas
is returning to competition for the first time since retiring in the
first round at AMS Rome in May with a right shoulder injury. He
underwent surgery on the same shoulder in 2002-03.
·
Haas is
making his ninth appearance at Wimbledon. Last year he reached third
round, as No. 19 seed, losing to Tomas Berdych 26 75 76 46 86.
·
The
third round represents Haas’s best showing at Wimbledon, having also
reached this stage in 1998-2000. He has enjoyed greater success at the
other Grand Slam events, reaching the semifinals at the Australian Open
(1999, 2002, 2007), quarterfinals at the US Open (2004, 2006), and round
of 16 at Roland Garros (2002).
·
Haas’s
career-best grass court performances have been semifinal appearances at
’s-Hertogenbosch in 1999, and Halle in 2005 and 2006.
·
Prior
to his shoulder injury, Haas had enjoyed a successful start to 2007. He
reached his third career semifinal at the Australian Open, as No. 12
seed, losing to Fernando Gonzalez 61 63 61. He won his 11th
career title indoors at Memphis (d. Andy Roddick 63 62), and won all
three singles rubbers in Germany’s Davis Cup victories over Croatia and
Belgium.
·
Haas
improved his ATP Ranking from No. 44 to No. 11 in 2006, winning three
titles.
·
Fleishman
is
making his Wimbledon debut. In qualifying, he defeated David Brewer
(GBR) 63 62 in the first round, No. 28 seed Pablo Andujar (ESP) by
default in the second round, and No. 8 seed Federico Luzzi (ITA) 61 63
76 in the final round.
·
Fleishman had previously tried to qualify for Wimbledon in 2003 and
2006, falling in the final round to Alejandro Falla 57 46 63 63 64 last
year.
·
Fleishman has made two previous Grand Slam appearances as a qualifier,
both at the Australian Open. He lost in the first round in 2006, but
reached the second round this year, defeating Agustin Calleri 64 76 57
06 63, before losing to Wayne Arthurs 67 61 64 64.
·
This is
only Fleishman’s second tour-level event of the year. He has played
mainly on the challenger circuit, reaching the final at Valencia (USA)
and the semifinals at Dallas.
·
Fleishman reached a career-high ATP Ranking of No. 145 on 19 February
2007.
·
Fleishman played one season of collegiate tennis at UCLA before turning
pro. He was formally a leading American junior, reaching the 1998 US
Open junior quarterfinals.
(WC)
JOSHUA GOODALL (GBR) v FELICIANO LOPEZ (ESP)
Head-to-head: first
meeting
GOODALL
v
LOPEZ
21
Age
25
0
Titles
1
0-3
Career Grand Slam Record
28-22
0-2
Wimbledon Record
12-5
0-5
Career Record
147-149
0-4
Career Record - Grass
16-12
0-1
2007 Record
10-12
0-1
2007 Record - Grass
0-1
0-0
Career Five-Set Record
7-4
0
Comebacks from 0-2 Down
1
0-1
Career Tiebreak Record
85-77
0-0
2007 Tiebreak Record
9-6
·
Goodall
is
playing at Wimbledon for the third successive year, and the second time
as a wild card.
·
Goodall
is attempting to win his first match at Wimbledon. Last year, as a
qualifier, Goodall lost in the first round to Melle Van Gemerden 64 75
75. On his debut here in 2005, he fell in the first round to Alessio Di
Mauro 63 76 63.
·
In his
only other Grand Slam match, Goodall also lost in the first round,
falling to Paul-Henri Mathieu 63 62 36 63 as a qualifier at the 2006 US
Open.
·
Goodall
is also bidding to win his first-ever match at tour level at his sixth
attempt. His last tour level match was at Nottingham last week, where he
lost in the first round as a qualifier to Teimuraz Gabashvili 75 63.
·
In
qualifying at Nottingham, Goodall won consecutive matches for just the
second time this year. He has played mainly Futures and Challengers in
2007 and the only other time he has won consecutive matches was in
advancing to the semifinals at Great Britain F5 Futures in March at
Jersey.
·
Lopez
is
playing at Wimbledon for the sixth successive time.
·
Last
year Lopez lost in the first round here for the first time, falling to
No. 5 seed Ivan Ljubicic 63 64 57 36 119.
·
Lopez
achieved his best Grand Slam result to date at 2005 Wimbledon, advancing
to the quarterfinals before losing to Lleyton Hewitt 75 64 76.
·
Lopez
has played just one match on grass this year before today. He fell in
the first round at Queen’s to Paul-Henri Mathieu 63 67 63.
·
Lopez’s
best result so far in 2007 was at AMS Miami, where he reached the round
of 16 before losing to Novak Djokovic 60 63. The only other time that he
has won back-to-back matches this year was at Las Vegas, where he
advanced to the quarterfinals, losing to Lleyton Hewitt 63 62.
COURT 18
NO. 24 JUAN IGNACIO CHELA (ARG) v BENJAMIN BECKER (GER)
Head-to-head: Becker
leads 1-0
2006 Wimbledon Grass (O) R128
Becker 63 36 63 64
CHELA
v
BECKER
27
Age
26
4
Titles
0
28-25
Career Grand Slam Record
4-4
2-5
Wimbledon Record
1-1
226-180
Career Record
24-29
2-7
Career Record - Grass
4-4
28-14
2007 Record
15-21
0-1
2007 Record - Grass
3-2
0-8
Career Five-Set Record
0-2
0
Comebacks from 0-2 Down
0
74-76
Career Tiebreak Record
17-16
4-8
2007 Tiebreak Record
11-11
·
Chela
is making his sixth appearance at Wimbledon. Last year, he lost in the
first round to today’s opponent Benjamin Becker 63 36 63 64. In 2005, he
missed the tournament with a groin injury.
·
Chela’s
best results at Wimbledon came in 2003 and 2004, when he reached the
second round, losing to Victor Hanescu 62 61 64 and Thomas Enqvist 63 67
61 36 63 respectively.
·
Chela
warmed up for Wimbledon at ’s-Hertogenbosch, losing in the first round
as No. 6 seed to Julien Benneteau 64 64.
·
Chela
reached the third round of the 2007 Australian Open, losing to No. 15
seed Andy Murray 63 62 64 and the second round at 2007 Roland Garros,
losing to Gael Monfils 36 63 63 61.
·
Chela
won the fourth tour title of his career this year at Acapulco, defeating
Carlos Moya in the final 63 76. Chela’s other 2007 tour highlights
include reaching the semifinals at Costa do Sauipe (l. G. Canas 76 61)
and five other quarterfinals appearances.
·
Becker
is making his second appearance at Wimbledon. Last year, he won his
first round match against today’s opponent (see above), and then lost to
No. 28 seed Fernando Verdasco 64 67 46 63 97
·
Becker
prepared for Wimbledon by reaching the quarterfinals at
’s-Hertogenbosch, losing to Antony Dupius 76 63. The previous week he
lost at Halle in the round of 16 to Marc Gicquel 62 76.
·
In 2007
Grand Slam play, Becker lost in the first round at both the Australian
Open (l. Marat Safin 57 76 36 63 64) and Roland Garros (l. Mathieu
Montcourt 63 61 63).
·
Becker’s best results this year were in San Jose, losing to Ivo Karlovic
in the semifinals 76 75 and Delray Beach, again falling in the
semifinals to James Blake 63 76.
·
Becker’s best ever Grand Slam performance was at the 2006 U.S. Open
where, as a qualifier, he lost to eventual winner Andy Roddick in the
round of 16, having earlier ended Andre Agassi’s career in the third
round.
NO. 26
MARAT SAFIN (RUS) v (Q) RIK DE VOEST (RSA)
Head-to-head: first
meeting
SAFIN
v
DE VOEST
27
Age
27
15
Titles
0
81-28
Career Grand Slam Record
0-0
9-7
Wimbledon Record
0-0
374-218
Career Record
16-17
18-15
Career Record - Grass
2-2
14-12
2007 Record
5-1
1-1
2007 Record - Grass
0-0
26-11
Career Five-Set Record
0-1
0
Comebacks from 0-2 Down
0
184-151
Career Tiebreak Record
5-3
6-9
2007 Tiebreak Record
1-0
·
Safin
is making his eighth appearance at Wimbledon. He fell in the second
round last year, after losing a two-set lead to Fernando Gonzalez 46 67
64 64 64.
·
Safin’s
best result at Wimbledon came on his third appearance in 2001, when he
reached the quarterfinals before losing to eventual champion Goran
Ivanisevic 76 75 36 76.
·
Safin
has reached at least the quarterfinals at all four Grand Slams. He won
the 2000 US Open and 2005 Australian Open titles and was a semifinalist
at 2002 Roland Garros.
·
Safin
warmed up for Wimbledon by reaching the third round at Queen’s. As No. 8
seed, he defeated Sebastien Grosjean 36 64 64 in the second round before
losing to Ivo Karlovic 76 76.
·
Safin’s
best results this year have been on hard court. He reached the
semifinals at Las Vegas (l. Lleyton Hewitt 75 61) and the quarterfinals
at San Jose (l. Benjamin Becker 64 63).
·
In
Grand Slam play this year, Safin reached the third round at the
Australian Open, seeded No. 26 losing to Andy Roddick 76 26 64 76, and
the second round at Roland Garros, seeded No. 22, losing to Janko
Tipsarevic 64 64 75.
·
De
Voest
is making his Grand Slam debut here as a qualifier. At Wimbledon
qualifying as No. 12 seed, he defeated Stefano Ianni (ITA) 75 63 in the
first round, Leonardo Mayer (ARG) 64 46 64 in the second, and Pave
Snobel (CZE) 61 76 36 63 in the final round.
·
De
Voest has attempted to qualify for Wimbledon every year since 2002. He
previously lost in the first qualifying round on four occasions, but
reached the second round in 2005 before falling to Andreas Seppi.
·
De
Voest has played mainly on the challenger circuit this year. He reached
the final at Durban (l. Mathieu Montcourt 57 63 62) and Tallahassee (l.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 61 64). Two weeks ago he reached the semifinals at
Yuba City, losing to Kevin Kim 64 64.
·
De
Voest has also played four Davis Cup matches for South Africa this year
in the Europe/Africa Group 3 zonal event, and won all of them. He has
played Davis Cup regularly for the last six years.
·
De
Voest has played just two tour-level grass court events in his career.
He reached the second round at 2003 Queen’s as a qualifier and the
second round at 2006 Newport.
·
Since
turning pro in 1999, De Voest has slowly climbed up the rankings,
reaching a career-best of 110 in August 2006 after winning the Mexico
City and Vancouver challengers.
COURT
13
NO. 5
FERNANDO GONZALEZ (CHI) v ROBBY GINEPRI (USA)
Head-to-head: Gonzalez leads 2-0
2005 Auckland Hard (O) QF
Gonzalez 63 64
2007 Queen’s Grass (O) R16
Gonzalez 62 75
The two
players are meeting for the second time in three weeks, Gonzalez having
won in the round of 16 at Queens.
GONZALEZ
v
GINEPRI
26
Age
24
7
Titles
2
42-25
Career Grand Slam Record
20-20
9-5
Wimbledon Record
3-4
256-141
Career Record
128-122
14-9
Career Record - Grass
20-16
22-12
2007 Record
6-11
2-1
2007 Record - Grass
2-2
11-9
Career Five-Set Record
5-5
3
Comebacks from 0-2 Down
1
106-69
Career Tiebreak Record
42-56
9-5
2007 Tiebreak Record
2-3
·
Gonzalez
is making his sixth successive appearance at Wimbledon. Last year he
reached the third round, losing to David Ferrer 46 26 62 63 64. He
achieved his best result in 2005 reaching the quarterfinals, where he
was defeated by eventual champion Roger Federer 75 62 76.
·
Gonzalez warmed up for Wimbledon by reaching the quarterfinals at
Queen’s. After a first round bye, he defeated Janko Tipsarevic and
today’s opponent Robby Ginepri, before losing to Dmitry Tursunov 63 67
64.
·
Gonzalez started the season with a Grand Slam best performance, reaching
the final of the Australian Open, losing to Roger Federer 76 64 64. En
route to the final, Gonzalez defeated four top 20 players, No. 19 seed
Lleyton Hewitt in the third round, No. 5 seed James Blake in the round
of 16, No. 2 seed Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals and No. 12 seed
Tommy Haas in the semifinals.
·
In
2007, Gonzalez also won through to the final at AMS Rome and the
quarterfinals at both AMS Hamburg and Queen’s. As the No. 5 seed at
Roland Garros, he lost in the first round to Radek Stepanek 62 62 64.
·
Gonzalez achieved a career-high ranking of No. 5 on 29 January 2007.
·
Ginepri
is playing his fifth successive Wimbledon. He fell in the first round
last year, being defeated by Radek Stepanek 67 63 64 62.
·
Ginepri’s best performance at Wimbledon came in 2004, when he reached
the round of 16, losing to Sebastien Grosjean 62 62 76. He was defeated
in the first round on his other three appearances.
·
Before losing to today’s opponent Fernando
Gonzalez in the third round at
Queen’s (see above), Ginepri defeated Richard Bloomfield 64 62 and
Florent Serra 64 76. Ginepri also warmed up at Nottingham, but was a
first round loser to Paul Henri Mathieu 63 64.
·
Ginepri’s career-best Grand Slam performance was reaching the semifinals
at the 2005 US Open, losing to Andre Agassi 64 57 63 46 63. In the
process, he became the first man to play four consecutive five-set
matches at the US Open in the Open Era.
·
The
2007 season hasn’t seen much success for Ginepri, who has lost in the
first round in seven of his 11 tournaments. His best result was in the
Australian Open where he reached the third round, losing to James Blake
76 75 62.
ARNAUD
CLEMENT (FRA) v (Q) NICOLAS MAHUT (FRA)
Head-to-head: Mahut
leads 2-0
2006 Casablanca Clay (O) R16
Mahut 63 76
2007 Queen’s Grass (O) SF Mahut
63 76
This is
the third meeting for these fellow Frenchmen, and the second in two
weeks, Mahut having defeated Clement in the semifinals at Queen’s on his
way to his first ATP final.
In the
18 June rankings, Clement was the French No. 2, while Mahut was the
French No. 12.
CLEMENT
v
MAHUT
29
Age
25
4
Titles
0
49-38
Career Grand Slam Record
4-13
12-10
Wimbledon Record
2-1
262-244
Career Record
30-59
38-28
Career Record - Grass
12-7
18-15
2007 Record
11-12
8-2
2007 Record - Grass
5-1
8-14
Career Five-Set Record
0-1
3
Comebacks from 0-2 Down
0
108-87
Career Tiebreak Record
11-30
7-10
2007 Tiebreak Record
4-8
·
Clement
is
playing his 11th Wimbledon, having competed here every year
since making his debut as a qualifier in 1997. He lost in the second
round here last year to David Nalbandian 64 64 63.
·
Clement’s best results at Wimbledon are two round of 16 finishes, in
2001 as No. 13 seed (l. Marat Safin 60 63 62) and unseeded in 2002 (l.
Nicolas Lapentti 36 75 26 75 63).
·
Clement
has won eight of ten matches played on grass so far in 2007. He was a
semifinalist at Queen’s, losing to today’s opponent Mahut (see
head-to-head above), and reached the final at Nottingham last Saturday,
falling to Ivo Karlovic 36 64 64.
·
Clement’s results on grass have been his best all season. Before
arriving at Queen’s, he had only won back-to-back matches once all year,
winning two in a row to record a quarterfinal finish on hard court at
Zagreb (l. Marcos Baghdatis 62 67 76).
·
Mahut
is making his second appearance at Wimbledon. He made his debut last
year as a direct entrant, and recorded the best Grand Slam result of his
career by reaching the third round. He defeated Jurgen Melzer and
Kristof Vliegen in the first and second rounds respectively before
losing to eventual champion Roger Federer 63 76 64.
·
Although this is just his second Wimbledon, it is the 14th
Grand Slam event of Mahut’s career. Apart from here last year (see
above), he has never advanced beyond the second round of a major, and
has lost in the first round ten times, including in his first nine Grand
Slam appearances.
·
In last
week’s qualifying competition, as No. 2 seed, Mahut defeated Noam Okun
75 63 in the first round, Joseph Sirianni 64 64 in the second round, and
Simon Stadler 63 76 61 in the final qualifying round. It was his fourth
attempt to qualify for Wimbledon, having been unsuccessful 2003-05.
·
Mahut
had the best result of his career at Queen’s just over a week ago,
advancing to his first career singles final. In an impressive run as an
unseeded player, he upset four seeded opponents, No 11 Jonas Bjorkman 63
67 63 in the second round, No. 5 Ivan Ljubicic 76 63 in the round of 16,
No. 1 Rafael Nadal 75 76 in the quarterfinals and No. 14 Clement in the
semis as detailed above. He lost in the final to No. 2 Andy Roddick 46
76 76, after having a match point in the second set tiebreak.
·
From
Queen’s through three wins in qualifying for here, Mahut has now won
eight of his last nine matches on grass. (Note: only main-draw
tour-level matches are counted in a players’ win-loss record.)
·
Until
Queen’s, the only time Mahut won back-to-back matches this season,
including matches played at challenger level, was in winning two to
reach the third round at AMS Indian Wells (l. Andy Murray 61 63).
OTHER
FEATURED MATCHES
NO. 12
RICHARD GASQUET (FRA) v (Q) BOHDAN ULIHRACH (CZE)
Head-to-head: first
meeting
GASQUET
v
ULIHRACH
21
Age
32
4
Titles
3
16-15
Career Grand Slam Record
28-35
3-3
Wimbledon Record
3-9
108-74
Career Record
230-245
19-9
Career Record - Grass
5-13
27-14
2007 Record
1-1
2-2
2007 Record - Grass
0-0
3-6
Career Five-Set Record
6-8
0
Comebacks from 0-2 Down
1
37-43
Career Tiebreak Record
63-79
5-10
2007 Tiebreak Record
0-2
·
Gasquet
is
making his fourth consecutive appearance at Wimbledon. Last year, he
lost in the first round to eventual champion Roger Federer 63 62 62.
·
After
losing in the first round on his debut in 2004, Gasquet went on to reach
the round of 16 in 2005 losing to David Nalbandian 64 76 60. This is his
best performance at Wimbledon.
·
Gasquet
played the grass court warm-up events at Halle and Nottingham. He lost
in the first round at Halle to Aisam Qureshi and reached the
quarterfinals last week at Nottingham as twice-defending champion and
No. 1 seed. Gasquet was bidding to create tournament history by winning
the singles title at Nottingham for three consecutive years, but
persistent rain forced his quarterfinal match against Arnaud Clement to
be moved to indoors on hard court which he eventually lost 64 63.
·
Gasquet’s best result on all surfaces this year is finishing runner-up
at Estoril on clay, falling to Novak Djokovic 76 06 61.
·
In
2007, Gasquet was also a semifinalist at Sydney and quarterfinalist at
Adelaide, Marseille and AMS Monte Carlo.
·
Gasquet
began the Grand Slam year with a round of 16 finish at the Australian
Open, defeating compatriot Gael Monfils 60 46 75 63 in the third round
before losing to Tommy Robredo 64 62 36 64.
·
Gasquet
reached a career-high ranking of No. 11 on 11 June this year.
·
Qualifier Ulihrach is making his tenth appearance at Wimbledon.
He is bidding to reach the second round for the first time since 1999,
having suffered six successive first round defeats.
·
Ulihrach’s best performance at Wimbledon came in 1996 when he reached
the third round.
·
This
year marked the first time Ulihrach has had to qualify for Wimbledon. In
last week’s qualifiying event, Ulihrach defeated Alun Jones (AUS) 62 26
97 in the first round, Lars Burgsmuller (GER) 63 64 in the second round
and Go Soeda (JPN) 57 64 16 62 62 in the final round.
·
Ulihrach reached the second round of this year’s Roland Garros as a
qualifier, losing to Jan Hajek 16 62 76 36 62. He was not ranked high
enough for the Australian Open and did not attempt to qualify.
·
Apart
from qualifying for 2007 Roland Garros, Ulihrach has played solely on
the challenger circuit this year. He won the Ostrava Challenger on clay
in May (d. Lukas Dlouhy 64 64 in the final), had a semifinal finish at
Prostejov (l. Florian Mayer 46 64 60) and was a quarterfinalist at his
first three events of the year in Heilbronn, Wroclaw and Casablanca.
·
Since
making his Grand Slam debut at 1995 Roland Garros, Ulihrach’s best Grand
Slam performances have been round of 16 finishes at the 1999 Australian
Open and 1999 Roland Garros.
NO. 21
DMITRY TURSUNOV (RUS) v NICOLAS ALMAGRO (ESP)
Head-to-head: Tursunov
leads 2-0
2005 Wimbledon Grass (O) R128 Tursunov
76 76 61
2006 AMS Paris Carpet (I) R32 Tursunov
63 54 ret. (torn quad muscle)
This is
a rematch of the pair’s meeting in the first round here two years ago,
which was won by Tursunov in straight sets.
TURSUNOV
v
ALMAGRO
24
Age
21
1
Titles
2
21-13
Career
Grand Slam Record
4-11
8-3
Wimbledon Record
0-2
92-80
Career
Record
65-63
18-10
Career
Record - Grass
0-3
13-13
2007
Record
22-13
6-2
2007
Record - Grass
0-0
8-4
Career
Five-Set Record
0-3
1
Comebacks from 0-2 Down
0
47-32
Career
Tiebreak Record
21-35
6-2
2007
Tiebreak Record
5-6
·
Tursunov
is
making his fourth consecutive appearance at Wimbledon. He has never lost
in the first round here.
·
At last
year’s Wimbledon, as No. 27 seed, Tursunov reached the round of 16 for
the second year in a row, upsetting No. 5 seed Ivan Ljubicic in five
sets in the third round before falling to Jarkko Nieminen again in five
sets 75 64 67 67 97. He reached his first Grand Slam round of 16 here in
2004, losing to Sebastien Grosjean 64 67 63 36 61.
·
Tursunov’s best Grand Slam performances have been at Wimbledon. He has
never reached the round of 16 at any of the other Grand Slams.
·
Tursunov warmed up for Wimbledon at Queen’s and Nottingham and posted
his best performances this year by reaching the semifinals at both
tournaments. On both occasions he fell to the eventual champion - Andy
Roddick 64 75 at Queen’s and Ivo Karlovic 75 64 at Nottingham.
·
Until
Queen’s, Tursunov had not won back-to-back matches since the Australian
Open, where he reached the third round. After the Australian Open he
took six weeks off to rest a left wrist injury, returning at AMS Indian
Wells in March.
·
Almagro
is making his third appearance at Wimbledon, but looking for his first
victory, having lost in the first round both previous times he has
played here.
·
On his
Wimbledon debut in 2005, Almagro lost in the first round to today’s
opponent Tursunov 76 76 61. Last year he fell in the opening round here
to Mario Ancic 76 75 76.
·
Almagro
has never advanced beyond the second round at any of his 11 previous
Grand Slam events.
·
This is
Almagro’s first match on grass since Wimbledon last year. He has only
played three grass court matches in his entire career and is winless so
far, having lost in the first round at 2006 Nottingham (to Daniele
Bracciali 16 63 76) as well as twice at Wimbledon (see above).
·
Almagro’s best results this season have been on clay. He defended his
title at Valencia, defeating Potito Starace 46 62 61 in the final, and
was a semifinalist at Buenos Aires and quarterfinalist at Costa do
Sauipe, Acapulco and AMS Hamburg.
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