2007 WIMBLEDON
DAY THREE MEN’S NOTES
Wednesday 27
June 2007
Second Round
Top Half
Featured matches
No. 1 Roger
Federer (SUI) v Juan-Martin Del Potro (ARG)
No. 3 Andy
Roddick (USA) v Danai Udomchoke (THA)
No. 5 Fernando
Gonzalez (CHI) v (Q) Alejandro Falla (COL)
No. 9 James
Blake (USA) v Andrei Pavel (ROU)
No. 12 Richard
Gasquet (FRA) v (Q) Nicolas Mahut (FRA)
No. 13 Tommy
Haas (GER) v (Q) Tomas Zib (CZE)
No. 15 Ivan
Ljubicic (CRO) v Jan Hernych (CZE)
No. 17 David
Ferrer (ESP) v Paul-Henri Mathieu (FRA)
No. 26 Marat
Safin (RUS) v (Q) Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK)
Tim Henman (GBR)
v Feliciano Lopez (ESP)
On court today…
·
Roger Federer bids for his 50th straight win
on grass when he plays Juan-Martin Del Potro. The four-time defending
champion has never played the 18-year-old Argentine, one of the tallest
players on the circuit at 6’ 5”.
·
Twice runner-up Andy Roddick, who has never failed to
reach the third round at Wimbledon, attempts to maintain that record
when he plays Danai Udomchoke, the Asian Games champion, who is bidding
to win back-to-back tour-level matches on grass for the first time in
his career.
·
Tim Henman bids to reach the third round of a Grand Slam
event for the first time since the 2005 Australian Open, when he plays
Feliciano Lopez in his second successive meeting with a Spaniard. Lopez
has advanced to the third round here four times in his previous five
appearances.
·
Qualifier Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi, the lowest-ranked man
through to the second round, faces two-time Grand Slam champion Marat
Safin in his bid to become just the second Pakistani man after Haroon
Rahim to reach the third round of a Grand Slam tournament in the Open
Era.
·
Two-time grass court titelist Richard Gasquet comes up
against qualifier Nicolas Mahut. Queen’s runner-up Mahut has already
defeated a higher ranked countryman, Arnaud Clement, in the first round.
·
’s-Hertogenbosch winner Ivan Ljubicic bids to win his
seventh successive match when he plays Jan Hernych, having beaten the
Czech in their lone previous meeting three years ago. Hernych is hoping
to reach the third round of a major for the first time.
·
No. 9 seed James Blake and Andrei Pavel face each other
for the third time, with their current head-to-head all square. Both men
are bidding to match their best results at Wimbledon by reaching the
third round.
·
Tommy Haas bids to extend a 3-0 record against qualifier
Tomas Zib. The Czech, playing just his second tour-level event of the
season, is hoping to advance to the third round of a Grand Slam event
for the first time.
·
2005 quarterfinalist Fernando Gonzalez has a first-time
meeting with Colombian qualifier Alejandro Falla.
NO. 1 ROGER
FEDERER (SUI) v JUAN-MARTIN DEL POTRO (ARG)
Head-to-head: first meeting
FEDERER
v
DEL POTRO
25
Age
18
1
ATP Ranking
56
48
Titles
0
126-22
Career Grand Slam Record
2-4
33-4
Wimbledon Record
1-0
518-133
Career Record
28-24
65-11
Career Record - Grass
4-2
31-5
2007 Record
18-12
1-0
2007 Record - Grass
4-2
9-10
Career Five-Set Record
1-1
3
Comebacks from 0-2 Down
0
194-108
Career Tiebreak Record
6-9
10-3
2007 Tiebreak Record
6-6
·
Federer
began the fourth defence of his Wimbledon title with a 63 62 64 victory
over Russian Teimuraz Gabashvili in the first round.
·
This is Federer’s 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 record 49-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.
·
During
his 49-match winning streak, Federer has defeated 39 different players
from 19 different countries through his first round defeat of Gabashvili
here. His pre-Wimbledon total of 48 matches was compiled through winning
both Halle and Wimbledon 2003-06.
·
Federer
has now won 29 matches in a row at Wimbledon. During that run, he has
dropped just five sets and has never been extended past four sets.
·
Federer
arrives at 2007 Wimbledon having not played a grass court tournament
ahead of The Championships for the first time in his career. (He 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.
·
Federer’s eight career grass court titles put him in
joint-third place on the list of grass court titles won in the Open Era.
Open Era grass court title
leaders
No. of
titles
|
Player |
|
10 |
Jimmy Connors, Pete Sampras |
|
8 |
Roger Federer,
John McEnroe |
|
7 |
Boris Becker |
|
6 |
Mark Edmondson, Lleyton Hewitt |
·
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.
·
Only
two defending champions, Boris Becker in 1987 and Lleyton Hewitt in
2003, have failed to reach the third round at Wimbledon in the Open Era.
(Note: The champion did not return to defend the title on three
occasions.)
·
Boris
Becker and Lleyton Hewitt in 1987 and 2003 respectively are also the
only two No. 1 seeds not to reach the third round at Wimbledon in the
Open Era.
·
Del
Potro
made a
successful Wimbledon debut by defeating Davide Sanguinetti 36 63 64 64
in the first round.
·
Overall, this is Del Potro’s fifth major. Having already equalled his
best Grand Slam result by reaching the second round here, he is now
bidding to reach the third round of a major for the first time.
·
Del
Potro scored his only previous Grand Slam victory at this year’s
Australian Open, when he defeated Alessio Di Mauro 63 63 61 before
retiring with cramping while trailing eventual runner-up Fernando
Gonzalez 76 46 67 64 40.
·
Del
Potro has never attempted to qualify for Wimbledon.
·
Del
Potro made his professional grass court debut at Queen’s two weeks ago,
defeating Thomas Johansson 62 64 in the first round before losing to top
seed Rafael Nadal 64 64. Last week at Nottingham, he improved on that to
reach the quarterfinals, losing to eventual champion Ivo Karlovic 76 75.
·
Del
Potro’s best result of the year came at Adelaide where he advanced to
the semifinals, falling to Chris Guccione 63 62.
·
At 18
years, 9 months, 3 days, Del Potro was the second-youngest man to start
in the men’s singles draw, and is just five days older than Marin Cilic,
the youngest player in the men’s draw.
·
Del
Potro did compete in the junior event at Wimbledon. In 2004, he lost in
the second round of the boys’ singles to Scoville Jenkins 63 64.
NO. 3 ANDY
RODDICK (USA) v DANAI UDOMCHOKE (THA)
Head-to-head: first meeting
RODDICK
v UDOMCHOKE
24 Age
25
3
ATP Ranking 114
22 Titles
0
76-25 Career Grand
Slam Record 4-6
24-6
Wimbledon Record 2-2
387-122
Career Record 41-46
54-10 Career
Record - Grass 5-9
31-8
2007 Record 7-12
6-0 2007
Record - Grass 2-2
9-9 Career
Five-Set Record 6-2
2 Comebacks
from 0-2 Down 0
183-109 Career
Tiebreak Record 14-14
21-3 2007
Tiebreak Record 3-0
·
Roddick
advanced to the second round by defeating fellow American Justin
Gimelstob 61 75 76.
·
Roddick
is making his seventh successive appearance at Wimbledon and is today
bidding to maintain his record of always reaching at least the third
round here.
·
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.
·
Roddick
was one of eight Grand Slam champions to start in the men’s singles draw
and one of four men playing here to possess a lone Grand Slam title.
Roddick won the 2003 US Open, defeating Juan Carlos Ferrero 63 76 63.
·
For the
fourth time in five years, Roddick started 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 reach
the Davis Cup semifinals (they play Sweden in Gothenburg in September).
·
Roddick
is coached by 1974 and 1982 Wimbledon champion Jimmy Connors.
·
Udomchoke
defeated Carlos Berlocq 64 75 63 in the first round.
·
Udomchoke is today bidding to reach the third round at Wimbledon for the
first time. He also reached the second round on his debut here as a
qualifier in 2005 before losing to Mario Ancic 76 36 63 63.
·
Udomchoke has reached the third round of a Grand Slam once previously.
At this year’s Australian Open, he defeated Martin Vassallo Arguello and
Juan Carlos Ferrero in the first two rounds before falling to Novak
Djokovic 63 64 57 61.
·
This is
Udomchoke’s third Wimbledon appearance. Last year, Udomchoke lost to No.
27 seed Dmitry Tursunov 61 64 62 in the first round.
·
Udomchoke warmed up for Wimbledon at Queen’s and Nottingham. At Queen’s,
he defeated Oscar Hernandez 62 63 in the first round, ending a
seven-match losing streak at tour-level, before losing to No. 5 seed
Ivan Ljubicic 63 64 in the second round. Udomchoke lost to Lukas Dlouhy
46 63 64 in the first round at ’s-Hertogenbosch last week.
·
Udomchoke is bidding to win consecutive matches on grass at the same
tournament for the first time in his career.
·
Other
than in reaching the third round at the Australian Open, Udomchoke has
only won back-to-back matches on one other occasion in 2007, winning
both singles rubbers to help Thailand defeat Chinese Taipei 3-2 in its
Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Group I first round tie.
·
Udomchoke won the men’s singles gold medal at the 2006 Asian Games at
Doha, defeating Hyung-Taik Lee 75 63 in the final.
NO. 5
FERNANDO GONZALEZ (CHI) v (Q) ALEJANDRO FALLA (COL)
Head-to-head: first meeting
GONZALEZ
v FALLA
26 Age
23
6
ATP Ranking 119
7 Titles
0
43-25 Career Grand
Slam Record 6-6
10-5
Wimbledon Record 3-2
257-141
Career Record 30-27
15-9 Career
Record - Grass 4-3
23-12
2007 Record 8-10
3-1 2007
Record - Grass 2-1
11-9 Career
Five-Set Record 0-0
3 Comebacks
from 0-2 Down 0
107-69 Career
Tiebreak Record 11-8
10-5 2007
Tiebreak Record 5-3
·
Gonzalez
defeated Robby Ginepri 36 76 62 62 in the opening round.
·
Gonzalez is making his sixth successive appearance at Wimbledon. Last
year as No. 10 seed he reached the third round, coming back from
two-sets-to-love to defeat Marat Safin 46 67 64 64 64 in the second
round before losing to David Ferrer 46 26 62 63 64.
·
Gonzalez achieved his best Wimbledon result in 2005, reaching the
quarterfinals before being defeated by eventual champion Roger Federer
75 62 76. He has made appearances in the quarterfinals of all four Grand
Slam events.
·
Gonzalez started 2007 by recording the best Grand Slam result of his
career, reaching the final of the Australian Open having never
previously advanced beyond the quarterfinals at any major. 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,
before losing in the final to Roger Federer 76 64 64.
·
Gonzalez’s runner-up finish at the Australian Open is the highlight of
his season so far. He also won through to the final at AMS Rome (l.
Rafael Nadal 62 62), and the quarterfinals at both AMS Hamburg and
Queen’s. In contrast to his Grand Slam performance in Melbourne,
Gonzalez lost in the first round at Roland Garros as No. 5 seed, falling
to Radek Stepanek 62 62 64.
·
Queen’s
was Gonzalez’s only grass court tournament this season before Wimbledon.
After a first round bye, he defeated Janko Tipsarevic 76 46 76 and Robby
Ginepri 62 75, before losing in the quarterfinals to Dmitry Tursunov 63
67 64.
·
Gonzalez achieved a career-high ranking of No. 5 on 29 January 2007, and
plays here at No. 6.
·
Falla
defeated Sam Querrey 76 61 64 in the first round. He has advanced to the
second round for the third time in three Wimbledon appearances.
·
At last
year’s Wimbledon, also playing as a qualifier, Falla upset No. 9 seed
Nikolay Davydenko 26 76 76 63 in the first round, losing in the second
round to Philipp Kohlschreiber 64 64 36 76. He also lost in the second
round on his debut as a qualifier here in 2004, losing to eventual
champion Roger Federer 61 62 60.
·
Falla
has made all three of his Wimbledon appearances as a qualifier. In last
week’s qualifying event, seeded No. 10, he defeated Andis Juska (LAT) 61
63 in the first round, Scott Oudsema (USA) 62 75 in the second round,
and Marc Lopez (ESP) 75 75 63 in the final round. Falla also tried to
qualify for 2005 Wimbledon, but lost in the final qualifying round.
·
This is
the seventh Grand Slam tournament of Falla’s career. He has reached the
main draw of a major via qualifying on six occasions, his sole
appearance as a direct acceptance being at this year’s Roland Garros,
when he suffered his only first round loss (to. Martin Vassallo Arguello
63 63 67 76). He has lost in the second round on all five of his other
Grand Slam appearances (ahead of this one).
·
Falla
played two grass court events before 2007 Wimbledon qualifying. He was a
quarterfinalist at the Surbiton Challenger (l. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 63 76)
and the second round at Queen’s (l. Marin Cilic 63 64).
·
2007
Wimbledon is just the fourth tour-level grass court event of Falla’s
career. Apart from 2007 Queen’s, his only grass court appearances have
been at Wimbledon, with his two second round finishes at this tournament
(see above) being his best performances on the surface so far.
·
Falla’s
best result this season ahead of Wimbledon was reaching the third round
at AMS Miami as a lucky loser. He defeated Sergio Roitman 46 63 61 in
the first round and Tommy Haas 64 64 in the second round before losing
to Radek Stepanek 63 62. His only challenger event was Surbiton (see
above).
NO. 9 JAMES
BLAKE (USA) v ANDREI PAVEL (ROU)
Head-to-head: tied 1-1
2002 AMS Cincinnati Hard (O) R64
Blake 64 76
2004 Houston Clay (O) QF
Pavel 64 64
BLAKE
v
PAVEL
27
Age
33
9
ATP Ranking
122
9
Titles
3
36-21
Career Grand Slam Record
33-34
5-4
Wimbledon Record
9-9
225-146
Career Record
271-248
22-17
Career Record - Grass
22-24
25-14
2007 Record
6-8
3-1
2007 Record - Grass
2-2
0-9
Career Five-Set Record
8-9
0
Comebacks from 0-2 Down
2
80-69
Career Tiebreak Record
117-111
10-6
2007 Tiebreak Record
2-1
·
Blake
defeated Igor Andreev in the first round 63 64 64.
·
Blake
is making his fifth appearance at Wimbledon. Last year he reached the
third round here for the first time before losing to Max Mirnyi 64 36 46
61 60.
·
Blake
lost on his other two second round appearances here, in 2002 and 2003.
He missed the 2004 tournament after fracturing vertebra, and was knocked
out in the first round in 2005.
·
Blake’s
best Grand Slam result to date is at the US Open, losing in the
quarterfinals in both 2005 (l. Andre Agassi 36 36 63 63 76) and 2006 (l.
Roger Federer 76 60 67 64)
·
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.
·
Pavel
defeated Juan-Pablo Guzman in the first round 64 64 61.
·
Pavel
is making his tenth appearance at Wimbledon. Last year, as a wildcard,
he defeated Marcel Granollers-Pujol in the first round 76 64 64, before
retiring with a back injury in the second round against Marcos Baghdatis
when trailing 0-3.
·
Pavel
is bidding to match his best performance at Wimbledon and reach the
third round for the third time. He first reached the third round in 2000
(l. Wayne Ferreira 36 76 75 63) and in 2002 (l. Nicholas Lapentti 36 36
76 64 62), when he was the No. 15 seed.
·
Pavel’s
best ever Grand Slam result was at 2002 Roland Garros. As No. 22 seed,
he reached the quarterfinals, losing to Alex Corretja 76 75 75.
·
Pavel
warmed up for Wimbledon by losing at Halle, where he lost in the second
round to Jarkko Nieminen 76 36 61 and at Nottingham losing to Gilles
Simon 62 46 64.
·
Pavel’s
2007 singles win-loss record is 5-8, with his current ranking at 122.
His career high position was No. 13 on 25 October 2004.
·
Pavel
has had more success this season on the doubles circuit with partner
Alexander Waske, winning the title at Barcelona and reaching the final
at Rotterdam.
NO. 12
RICHARD GASQUET (FRA) v (Q) NICOLAS MAHUT (FRA)
Head-to-head: Gasquet leads 1-0
2007 Roland Garros Clay (O)
R128 Gasquet 63 62 62
This is a rematch of the
pair’s encounter in the first round of this year’s Roland Garros. It is
the third all-French match-up so far at 2007 Wimbledon, after Mahut
defeated Arnaud Clement, and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga defeated Julien
Benneteau, in their first round matches. Fifteen Frenchmen started in
the draw here, the highest representation for any nation at the
tournament.
Gasquet
is the French No. 1, while Mahut is now the French No. 11.
GASQUET
v
MAHUT
21
Age
25
14
ATP Ranking
77
4
Titles
0
17-15
Career Grand Slam Record
5-13
4-3
Wimbledon Record
3-1
109-74
Career Record
31-59
20-9
Career Record - Grass
13-7
28-14
2007 Record
12-12
3-2
2007 Record - Grass
6-1
3-6
Career Five-Set Record
0-1
0
Comebacks from 0-2 Down
0
37-43
Career Tiebreak Record
12-30
5-10
2007 Tiebreak Record
5-8
·
Gasquet
defeated qualifier Bohdan Ulihrach 63 64 64 in the opening round.
·
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.
·
Gasquet’s best Wimbledon result is reaching the round of 16 in 2005,
losing to David Nalbandian 64 76 60. His best result at any Grand Slam
tournament is a round of 16 finish, having also reached that stage at
the 2005 and 2006 US Open, and the 2007 Australian Open.
·
Gasquet
played the grass court warm-up events this year at Halle and Nottingham.
He lost in the first round at Halle to Aisam Qureshi 76 64, and reached
the quarterfinals at Nottingham last week. At Nottingham, Gasquet was
bidding to create tournament history by winning the title for three
consecutive years, but persistent rain forced his quarterfinal match
against Arnaud Clement to be moved to indoor hard court - he lost 64 63.
·
Gasquet’s best result on any surface this year was finishing runner-up
at Estoril on clay, falling to Novak Djokovic 76 06 61. He was also a
semifinalist at Sydney and a 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.
·
Having
won twice at Nottingham, Gasquet is one of six players starting in the
draw to have won more than one grass court title. The others were Roger
Federer, Lleyton Hewitt, Andy Roddick, Jonas Bjorkman and Thomas
Johansson. [For more details see page 4 of the Preview.]
·
Mahut
had his third career victory, and second in two weeks, over his
higher-ranked countryman Arnaud Clement in the first round, winning 63
36 76 64.
·
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 Arnaud
Clement 63 76 in the semis. He lost in the final to No. 2 Andy Roddick
46 76 76, after having a match point in the second set tiebreak.
·
Until
the start of 2007 Queen’s, Mahut had a 10-28 record in tour matches
against Top 50 players, but since then has compiled a 5-1 record against
Top 50 opponents, his only loss being to Roddick in the Queen’s final
(see above). Mahut is 6-11 versus Top 20.
·
From
Queen’s through three wins in Wimbledon qualifying and his first round
victory on Tuesday, Mahut has now won nine of his last ten 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).
NO. 13
TOMMY HAAS (GER) v (Q) TOMAS ZIB (CZE)
Head-to-head: Haas leads 3-0
2001 Washington Hard (O) R32
Haas 63 62
2005 Davis Cup WG PO Clay (I) R5
Haas 67 75 62 60
2005 Vienna Hard (I) R32
Haas 64 63
Haas
has won all three of their previous match-ups, but this is their first
meeting on grass court.
HAAS
v ZIB
29 Age
31
10
ATP Ranking 133
11 Titles
0
67-34 Career Grand
Slam Record 4-13
11-8
Wimbledon Record 3-4
397-215
Career Record 41-93
27-17 Career
Record - Grass 6-9
24-8
2007 Record 1-1
1-0 2007
Record - Grass 1-0
14-14 Career
Five-Set Record 1-2
3 Comebacks
from 0-2 Down 0
138-112 Career
Tiebreak Record 20-28
7-3 2007
Tiebreak Record 1-0
·
Haas
is facing his second successive qualifier today, having defeated
American qualifier Zack Fleishman 63 64 62 in the first round.
·
Haas is
returning to competition at this tournament for the first time since
retiring in the opening 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 the 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, his highlights being 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 enjoyed a successful start to 2007. He
reached his third Australian Open semifinal, 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,
helping his country to reach the semifinals for the first time since
1995. (Germany will play Russia in Moscow in September).
·
Haas
improved his ATP Ranking from No. 44 to No. 11 in 2006, winning three
titles.
·
Zib
defeated Argentine Diego Hartfield 46 76 36 63 64 in the first round,
recording the first five-set victory of his career.
·
Zib had
lost both his previous five set matches, which came at the 1999 US Open
(l. Max Mirnyi 36 26 76 76 63 in the first round) and the 2004 US Open
(l. Juan Carlos Ferrero 46 75 76 67 63 in the first round).
·
In last
week’s qualifying event, Zib was No. 16 seed, and defeated Franco
Ferreriro (BRA) 63 60 in the first round, Ivo Klec (SVK) 63 36 75 in the
second round and Frederik Nielsen (DEN) 36 36 64 63 62 to reach the main
draw. (Note: five-set matches played in qualifying are not counted on a
players’ official record.)
·
This is
Zib’s fifth Wimbledon appearance, but first as a qualifier, and he has
reached the second round for the third time. He has yet to advance to
the third round here, or at any Grand Slam event.
·
Zib has
lost in the Wimbledon second round for the last two years, last year
losing at this stage to Olivier Rochus 61 61 60, and in 2005 falling to
Fernando Gonzalez 64 76 63.
·
This is
Zib’s first Grand Slam appearance since Wimbledon last year. He has
completed 13 majors in his career, losing in the first round ten times,
and the second round three times. As well as reaching the second round
for the last two years here, he also reached the second round at the
2005 Australian Open, falling to Tommy Robredo 64 26 62 64.
·
This is
Zib’s first main draw grass court tournament since playing Wimbledon
last year. He has never won more than two consecutive grass court
matches at any level of competition outside of qualifying events, his
grass court highlight being winning two matches in a row to reach the
round of 16 at 2005 Queen’s (l. Ivo Karlovic 62 64).
·
Before
2007 Wimbledon, Zib had played just one tour-level match in 2007,
falling in the first round as a qualifier at AMS Indian Wells to Michael
Llodra 64 64. He has played mainly challengers this season, his best
result being reaching the final at the Wroclaw, Poland event on indoor
hard court in February, where he lost to Werner Eschauer 57 64 64.
NO. 15 IVAN
LJUBICIC (CRO) v JAN HERNYCH (CZE)
Head-to-head: Ljubicic leads 1-0
2004 Indianapolis Hard (O) R16
Ljubicic 63 64
LJUBICIC
v
HERNYCH
28
Age
27*
12
ATP Ranking
130
8
Titles
0
29-31
Career Grand Slam Record
6-11
5-7
Wimbledon Record
2-3
313-201
Career Record
50-69
16-16
Career Record - Grass
10-8
33-13
2007 Record
6-11
7-1
2007 Record - Grass
1-0
7-14
Career Five-Set Record
1-2
3
Comebacks from 0-2 Down
0
154-154
Career Tiebreak Record
19-19
21-13
2007 Tiebreak Record
1-3
* Turns 28
on 7 July
·
Ljubicic
defeated Vince Spadea 64 64 46 76 in the first round to extend his
winning streak to six matches.
·
Ljubicic is making his eighth straight appearance at Wimbledon. He is
now bidding to equal his best result at Wimbledon, having advanced to
the third round here for the first time last year, as No. 5 seed losing
to Dmitry Tursunov 57 46 61 76 62.
·
Before
reaching the third round here last year, Ljubicic had suffered four
first round losses (2000-01 and 2004-05) and two second round losses
(2003-03) at Wimbledon.
·
Ljubicic’s best Grand Slam result was reaching the semifinals at 2006
Roland Garros, losing to eventual champion Rafael Nadal 64 62 76. One
Slam earlier, at the 2006 Australian Open, he finally advanced beyond
the third round of a major for the first time in 26 Grand Slam events,
falling at the quarterfinal stage to eventual runner-up Marcos Baghdatis
64 62 46 36 63.
·
Ljubicic arrived here 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.
·
Hernych
defeated Marc Gicquel 06 64 64 64 in the first round, winning his first
match at Wimbledon for two years, and claiming his 50th
career victory at tour level.
·
This is
Hernych’s fourth time playing Wimbledon and he has advanced to the
second round for the second time. In 2005 he defeated James Blake 16 64
76 76 in the first round, losing in the second round to 2002 champion
Lleyton Hewitt 62 75 36 63. Hernych lost in the first round here last
year to countryman Tomas Berdych 63 64 75.
·
Hernych
is bidding to reach the third round of a Grand Slam event for the first
time, having never advanced beyond the second round of 11 majors played
ahead of this one.
·
Hernych
did not play a grass court event ahead of 2007 Wimbledon, his most
recent event on the surface being here last year. He had his career-best
performance on grass in 2006, reaching the final at ’s-Hertogenbosch
before losing to Ljubicic’s Davis Cup teammate Mario Ancic 60 57 75.
That is his only ATP singles final to date.
·
Hernych’s best result in 2007 to date is reaching the third round at AMS
Indian Wells, where he defeated Tim Henman and Agustin Calleri in the
first and second rounds respectively before losing to Nikolay Davydenko
63 61. His first round victory over Gicquel here broke a four-match
losing streak.
NO. 17
DAVID FERRER (ESP) v PAUL-HENRI MATHIEU (FRA)
Head-to-head: first meeting
FERRER
v MATHIEU
25 Age
25
15
ATP Ranking 39
3 Titles
3
27-18 Career Grand
Slam Record 17-19
6-4
Wimbledon Record 2-4
175-131
Career Record 128-125
6-6 Career
Record - Grass 8-12
32-12
2007 Record 26-13
1-0 2007
Record - Grass 5-2
5-1 Career
Five-Set Record 2-6
2 Comebacks
from 0-2 Down 0
33-38 Career
Tiebreak Record 56-49
3-5 2007
Tiebreak Record 13-5
·
Ferrer
defeated Sergio Roitman 63 63 61 in the first round to advance to the
second round for the fourth time at Wimbledon.
·
Ferrer
lost at this stage on his debut in 2003 (l. Jiri Novak 62 75 63) and
2004 (l. Hicham Arazi 76 64 63 76).
·
Ferrer
is making his fifth consecutive appearance at Wimbledon. Last year, he
advanced past the second round at Wimbledon for the first time and
achieved his best result by reaching the round of 16, defeating No. 10
seed Fernando Gonzalez 46 26 62 63 64 in the third round, before losing
to No. 6 seed Lleyton Hewitt 64 64 46 75.
·
Ferrer
didn’t have any grass court preparation for this year’s Wimbledon and
last played at Roland Garros. Seeded No. 12, he reached the third round
before losing to fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco 46 76 63 63.
·
Ferrer’s best ever Grand Slam result was at 2005 Roland Garros, when he
reached the quarterfinals, losing to eventual champion Rafael Nadal 75
62 60.
·
Ferrer
has had a consistent season so far. He began the year by winning the
title at Auckland, defeating Tommy Robredo in the final 64 62. He went
on to reach the round of 16 at the Australian Open, the quarterfinals at
AMS Indian Wells and AMS Monte Carlo, and the semifinals at Barcelona.
·
Mathieu
defeated Radek Stepanek 76 62 62 in the first round to advance to the
second round for the first time since 2002.
·
Mathieu
is making his fifth appearance at Wimbledon. Last year as No. 32 seed,
Mathieu lost to Mark Philippoussis in the first round 57 76 63 76.
·
By
reaching the second round, Mathieu has equalled his best performance at
Wimbledon. On his debut in 2002, he defeated Francisco Clavet before
losing to David Nalbandian 76 76 63.
·
Mathieu
warmed up for this year’s Wimbledon at Queen’s and Nottingham. He won
two matches at Queen’s to reach the round of 16 (l. Dmitry Tursunov 67
63 63) and two matches at Nottingham to reach the quarterfinals (l.
Jonas Bjorkman 62 63 64).
·
Mathieu
won his first title since 2002 at Casablanca in April this year, the
third of his career. He defeated Marc Gicquel 63 75 in the semifinals
and Albert Montanes 61 61 in the final. He also reached the semifinals
in Estoril the following week, but had to retire in the first set with a
hip while trailing Richard Gasquet 31.
NO. 26
MARAT SAFIN (RUS) v (Q) AISAM-UL-HAQ QURESHI (PAK)
Head-to-head: first meeting
SAFIN
v
QURESHI
27
Age
27
24
ATP Ranking
279
15
Titles
0
82-28
Career Grand Slam Record
1-0
10-7
Wimbledon Record
1-0
375-218
Career Record
22-15
19-15
Career Record - Grass
13-6
15-12
2007 Record
2-1
2-1
2007 Record - Grass
2-1
26-11
Career Five-Set Record
2-5
0
Comebacks from 0-2 Down
0
185-151
Career Tiebreak Record
14-12
7-9
2007 Tiebreak Record
2-0
·
Safin
is playing his second consecutive qualifier today. He defeated South
African qualifier Rik De Voest 76 64 75 in the first round.
·
This is
Safin’s eighth Wimbledon appearance. He fell in the second round last
year, 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 made quarterfinal appearances at all four Grand Slams, but Wimbledon
is the only major at which he has not progressed to the semifinals. He
won the 2000 US Open and 2005 Australian Open titles and was a
semifinalist at 2002 Roland Garros.
·
Safin
was one of four multiple Grand Slam winners starting in the 2007
Wimbledon draw, alongside Roger Federer, Lleyton Hewitt and Rafael
Nadal.
·
The
2005 Australian Open was Safin’s 15th and most recent
tournament title. Since then, he has reached two finals without success:
at Halle, in his only appearance in a grass court final (l. Roger
Federer 64 67 64) and on home soil at 2006 Moscow (l. countryman Nikolay
Davydenko 64 57 64).
·
Safin
warmed up for 2007 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 in 2007 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 lost in
the third round at the Australian Open, as No. 26 seed losing to Andy
Roddick 76 26 64 76, and in the second round at Roland Garros, as No. 22
seed losing to Janko Tipsarevic 64 64 75.
·
Qureshi
won on his Grand Slam singles debut when he defeated fellow qualifier
Lee Childs 63 64 76 in the opening round.
·
Unseeded in last week’s qualifying competition, Qureshi defeated Hector
Ruiz-Cadenas (ESP) 61 62 in the first round, Michal Przysiezny (POL) 62
76 in the second round and No. 4 seed Frank Dancevic (CAN) 46 76 62 76
in the final round to reach the main draw. [Dancevic later also entered
the main draw as a lucky loser.]
·
Before
this event, Qureshi had made 11 unsuccessful attempts to qualify for a
Grand Slam tournament, including four times for Wimbledon: in 2000,
2001, 2002 and 2005.
·
Qureshi
is the fourth Pakistani man to play at Wimbledon in the Open Era, and
the second to reach the second round after Haroon Rahim, who reached
this stage twice, in 1975 falling to No. 9 seed Tom Okker 89 46 97 63
60, and in 1976 falling to No. 6 Guillermo Vilas 97 63 64.
·
Qureshi
is bidding to become just the second Pakistani man to reach the third
round of a Grand Slam event in the Open Era. Rahim advanced to the third
round at the 1971 US Open (at the time played on grass), before losing
to John Alexander 67 46 60 64.
·
Most of
Qureshi’s 22-15 career win-loss record is accounted for by Davis Cup
matches, which are considered to be at tour level on a players’ record.
Ahead of 2007 Wimbledon, Qureshi had played just three tour-level
tournaments (not including Davis Cup), and they were all on grass. He
lost in the first round of his first two - as a qualifier at 2004
Nottingham and as a qualifier at ’s-Hertogenbosch - but reached the
second round as a qualifier two weeks ago at Halle, upsetting Richard
Gasquet 76 64 in the first round before falling to Philipp Kohlschreiber
64 63.
·
In main
draw events below tour level, Qureshi’s best grass court performance was
reaching the semifinals at the 2002 Manchester Challenger (l. Karol Beck
46 76 63).
·
At No.
279, Qureshi is the lowest ranked man to reach the second round.
(Nicolas Kiefer is unranked here.) He has played mainly on the ITF
Futures circuit in 2007, winning two titles on hard court in the United
Arab Emirates and Kuwait.
·
Qureshi
has played four Grand Slam doubles events, his highlight being reaching
the round of 16 at 2002 Wimbledon with Israeli partner Amir Hadad (l.
Martin Damm/Cyril Suk 61 76 64). He was the first Pakistani man ever to
reach the round of 16 of the Wimbledon doubles event, and the
partnership made headlines because Qureshi is Muslim, and Hadad is
Jewish. Qureshi also teamed with Hadad at the 2002 US Open and 2003
Wimbledon, while he played 2003 Roland Garros with Daniel Vacek.
TIM HENMAN
(GBR) v FELICIANO LOPEZ (ESP)
Head-to-head: tied 1-1
2006 Dubai Hard (O) R32
Henman 62 76
2007 Las Vegas Hard (O) RR
Lopez 67 63 64
A
third career meeting for Tim Henman and Feliciano Lopez, with their
series tied at 1-1. Both men will be out for a measure of revenge as
Henman eliminated a Spaniard and Lopez defeated a Brit in the first
round here.
HENMAN
v
LOPEZ
32
Age
25
74
ATP Ranking
78
11
Titles
1
97-47
Career Grand Slam Record
29-22
43-13
Wimbledon Record
13-5
494-270
Career Record
148-149
83-33
Career Record - Grass
17-12
5-8
2007 Record
11-12
2-2
2007 Record - Grass
1-1
20-14
Career Five-Set Record
7-4
4
Comebacks from 0-2 Down
1
176-149
Career Tiebreak Record
85-77
4-2
2007 Tiebreak Record
9-6
·
Henman
defeated No. 25 seed Carlos Moya 63 16 57 62 1311 in the first round to
bring his five-set record at Wimbledon to 9-3. This is the third
consecutive year that Henman has won his opening round match in five
sets. At four hours, 10 minutes, this was the longest first round match
in this half of the draw. (Bottom half first round matches were still on
court at the time of writing.)
·
Henman
has lost in the second round at Wimbledon for the last two years. In
2005, as No. 6 seed, he fell to Dmitry Tursunov 36 62 36 63 86 while
last year he lost to eventual champion Roger Federer 64 60 62.
·
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. Among
players in the 2007 men’s draw, only Jonas Bjorkman has made as many
appearances here.
·
Henman
has reached the semifinals here four times (1998-99, 2001-02), and the
quarterfinals another four times (1996-97, 2003-04). He also reached the
semifinals at Roland Garros and the US Open in 2004.
·
Having
recorded his first Grand Slam victory of the year here, Henman is now
looking to advance to the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time
in nine tournaments. He last reached the third round at the 2005
Australian Open, falling to Nikolay Davydenko.
·
Henman
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 prior to this year’s Wimbledon 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.
·
Lopez
defeated British wild card Joshua Goodall 61 64 64 in the first round.
·
Lopez
is playing at Wimbledon for the sixth successive time and is bidding to
reach the third round here for the fifth time.
·
Last
year was the only year to date that Lopez failed to reach at least the
third round here, losing in the first round 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
played just one match on grass before coming to Wimbledon. He fell in
the first round at Queen’s to Paul-Henri Mathieu 63 67 63.
·
This is
the fourth British opponent that Lopez has faced at Wimbledon in his six
appearances.
·
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.
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