2007 WIMBLEDON
DAY FOUR MEN’S NOTES
Thursday 28
June 2007
Second Round
Bottom Half
Featured matches
No. 2 Rafael Nadal (ESP) v Werner Eschauer (AUT)
No. 4 Novak Djokovic (SRB) v Amer Delic (USA)
No. 6 Nikolay Davydenko (RUS) v Chris Guccione (AUS)
No. 7 Tomas Berdych (CZE) v Michael Llodra (FRA)
No. 10 Marcos Baghdatis (CYP) v Nicolas Devilder (FRA)
No. 11 Tommy Robredo (ESP) v (Q) Wayne Arthurs (AUS)
No. 16 Lleyton Hewitt (AUS) v Simone Bolelli (ITA)
No. 19 Jonas Bjorkman (SWE) v (Q) Yeu-Tzuoo Wang (TPE)
No. 23 David Nalbandian (ARG) v (LL) Frank Dancevic (CAN)
No. 28 Robin Soderling (SWE) v Sebastien Grosjean (FRA)
Nicolas Kiefer (GER) v Fabrice Santoro (FRA)
On court today…
·
2006 runner-up Rafael Nadal has a first career meeting
with Werner Eschauer. The Austrian is making his second Wimbledon
appearance, seven years after his first.
·
Novak Djokovic bids to maintain his record of always
reaching the third round here. The Serbian, playing his third Wimbledon,
takes on American Amer Delic. Delic was one of just three Americans to
reach the second round, the lowest number in the Open Era.
·
Another man who has always reached at least the third
round here, 2002 runner-up David Nalbandian, looks to continue that run
when he plays lucky loser Frank Dancevic.
·
Roland Garros semifinalist Nikolay Davydenko bids to
advance to the third round at Wimbledon for the first time in his career
when he takes on giant lefthander and Wimbledon debutant Chris Guccione.
·
Another Wimbledon newcomer, Italy’s Simone Bolelli, meets
2002 champion Lleyton Hewitt, who has never lost at this stage of the
tournament.
·
Six of the record 12 Frenchmen who reached the second
round: Nicolas Devilder, Sebastien Grosjean, Michael Llodra, Gael
Monfils, Fabrice Santoro and Gilles Simon, who are all unseeded.
·
Halle runner-up Marcos Baghdatis plays
unheralded French lefthander Nicolas Devilder, who defeated the Cypriot
in their lone previous meeting two years ago. This is Devilder’s first
year at Wimbledon, and today marks just the third main draw grass court
match of his career.
·
Another French lefthander, Michael Llodra, comes up
against Halle champion Tomas Berdych
·
Jonas Bjorkman attempts to reach the third round for the
fifth year in a row when he takes on qualifier Yeu-Tzuoo Wang. Wang is
bidding to reach the third round of a Grand Slam event for the first
time.
·
Qualifier Wayne Arthurs, for whom 2007
Wimbledon is his final tournament before retirement, bids to extend a
2-0 record against No. 11 seed Tommy Robredo.
·
Veterans Nicolas Kiefer and Fabrice
Santoro meet for the eighth time, but first time on grass. Santoro has
dominated their series, but Kiefer had his first victory over the
Frenchman in their most recent match-up, at 2006 AMS Miami. Kiefer is
bidding to keep his comeback from a long-term wrist injury on track;
Santoro is hoping to advance to the Wimbledon third round for the first
time for six years.
NO. 2
RAFAEL NADAL (ESP) v WERNER ESCHAUER (AUT)
Head-to-head: first meeting
While this is their first
meeting at tour level, Nadal defeated Eschauer 62 62 in the second round
of qualifying at 2003 AMS Monte Carlo, which was Nadal’s first Masters
Series event.
NADAL
v ESCHAUER
21 Age
33
2
ATP Ranking 72
22 Titles
0
48-10 Career Grand
Slam Record 3-4
10-3
Wimbledon Record 1-1
229-58
Career Record 9-18
14-6 Career
Record - Grass 1-1
46-7
2007 Record 2-2
3-1 2007
Record - Grass 1-0
7-2 Career
Five-Set Record 0-0
2 Comebacks
from 0-2 Down 0
53-41 Career
Tiebreak Record 4-6
8-5 2007
Tiebreak Record 0-0
·
Nadal
advanced to the second round by defeating Mardy Fish 63 76 63 in the
first round.
·
Nadal
is playing at Wimbledon for the fourth time and has always reached at
least the second round here. He has lost once at this stage, in 2005,
falling to Gilles Muller 64 46 63 64. On his debut here as a 17-year-old
in 2003, he became the youngest player to reach the third round since
16-year-old Boris Becker in 1984. He missed the 2004 event with a stress
fracture in his left ankle.
·
Nadal
reached the final here last year, losing to Roger Federer 60 76 67 63.
It was the first time in the Open Era that the Roland Garros and
Wimbledon finals had featured the same two men, and the first time since
1952 that it had happened.
·
Nadal
was the second Spanish man in history to reach the final here, after
Manolo Santana won the title in 1966. He also recorded the best
performance by a reigning Roland Garros champion at Wimbledon since
Andre Agassi advanced to the final here in 1999.
·
Having
just won Roland Garros for the third time, Nadal now has another chance
to become the third man in the Open Era, after Rod Laver and Bjorn Borg,
to win both the Roland Garros and Wimbledon titles the same year. Borg
achieved the feat for three years in succession 1978-80, while Laver
also did it in 1962, one of eight men to achieve this in the pre-Open
Era. [For the full list of men to achieve this rare double, see page 4
of the Preview.]
·
Nadal
warmed up for Wimbledon by reaching the quarterfinals at Queen’s for the
second successive year. He lost in the last eight to eventual runner-up
Nicolas Mahut 75 76.
·
Nadal
won his third consecutive Roland Garros title earlier this month, as No.
2 seed defeating top seed Roger Federer in the final for the second year
running. His 63 46 63 64 victory again ended the Swiss’s player hopes of
completing a career Grand Slam. Nadal became the first man since Bjorn
Borg in 1980 to collect a third successive Roland Garros title, and just
the second man for 93 years to do so.
·
Nadal’s
Roland Garros triumph marked his fifth title this season. He also won at
AMS Indian Wells (d. Novak Djokovic 62 75), AMS Monte Carlo (d. Roger
Federer 64 64), Barcelona (d. Guillermo Canas 63 64), and AMS Rome (d.
Fernando Gonzalez 62 62). He leads the tour for titles won so far in
2007.
·
Eschauer
defeated Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo 62 36 64 63 in the first round to reach
the second round at Wimbledon for the first time.
·
This is
Eschauer’s second appearance at Wimbledon, but comes seven years after
his first. In 2000, as a lucky loser, he lost in the opening round to
Alberto Martin 64 64 36 62.
·
Eschauer also played in qualifying for Wimbledon in 2002 and 2005 but
lost in the first round both times. In total, since appearing at 2000
Wimbledon, Eschauer has made 14 unsuccessful attempts to qualify for
Grand Slam events.
·
Eschauer has not played in any other grass-court tournament, apart from
Wimbledon and Wimbledon qualifying, at any level in either his junior or
senior career.
·
This is
just the third time that Eschauer has competed in a Grand Slam as a
direct entrant and plays here on a career-high ranking of No. 72.
·
Overall, this is Eschauer’s fifth Grand Slam appearance. He reached the
second round at both 2000 and 2007 Roland Garros and lost in the first
round at the 2003 US Open.
·
This is
Eschauer’s third tour-level appearance of the year. At Barcelona, he
lost in the first round to Yuri Schukin 64 64 and reached the second
round at Roland Garros before losing to Nikolay Davydenko 75 63 61.
·
Eschauer has won back-to-back matches at tour level just once, at 2003
Kitzbuhel, where he reached the third round.
·
Eschauer has played mainly on the challenger circuit in 2007, winning
four titles to date. He collected his fourth title at Lugano on clay
just over a week ago. He also won titles at Wroclaw on indoor hard in
February and at Monza (ITA) and Chiasso (SUI) on clay in April, as well
as reaching the final at Barletta (ITA), also on clay but retired due to
illness trailing 36 76 20.
NO. 4 NOVAK
DJOKOVIC (SRB) v AMER DELIC (USA)
Head-to-head: first meeting
DJOKOVIC
v DELIC
20 Age
24*
5
ATP Ranking 67
5 Titles
0
23-10 Career Grand
Slam Record 4-5
6-2
Wimbledon Record 1-0
96-44
Career Record 14-28
8-4 Career
Record - Grass 2-4
42-10
2007 Record 9-13
2-1 2007
Record - Grass 2-2
5-3 Career
Five-Set Record 1-1
1 Comebacks
from 0-2 Down 0
39-15 Career
Tiebreak Record 8-12
11-5 2007
Tiebreak Record 4-6
* turns 25
on 30 June
·
Djokovic
defeated Potito Starace 60 63 64 in the first round and is today bidding
to maintiain his record of always reaching at least the third round
here.
·
Djokivic is playing in his third Wimbledon. Last year he reached the
round of 16, losing to No. 7 seed Mario Ancic 64 46 46 75 63, his best
performance here to date.
·
In
2005, as a qualifier Djokovic defeated Juan Monaco 63 76 63 and
Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 36 36 76 76 64, before losing to No 9 seed
Sebastien Grosjean 75 64 57 64.
·
In the
ten Grand Slams that Djokovic has completed, he has fallen before the
third round on only three occasions, and only once since reaching the
third round of a major for the first time here in 2005.
·
Djokovic posted a career-best Grand Slam result at this year’s Roland
Garros, advancing to the semifinals, where he was defeated by Rafael
Nadal 75 64 62. He also lost to the eventual champion at the Australian
Open, losing to Roger Federer 62 75 63 in the round of 16 there.
·
Djokovic warmed up for Wimbledon by reaching the round of 16 at Queen’s.
As No. 4 seed, he defeated Robert Kendrick 36 63 62, before falling to
Arnaud Clement 26 63 64.
·
Djokovic has won three tour titles in 2007: Adelaide, AMS Miami and
Estoril. He also got to the final at AMS Indian Wells, losing to Rafael
Nadal 62 75.
·
Djokovic achieved a career-high ranking of No. 4 on 11 June 2007.
·
Delic
advanced to the second round at his first Wimbledon by defeating Lukas
Dlouhy 63 64 57 64.
·
Delic
attempted to qualify for Wimbledon for the last two years, reaching the
final qualifying round in 2005 (l. Arnaud Clement 76 64 64) but falling
in the first qualifying round last year (l. Andre Sa 76 62).
·
This is
Delic’s third Grand Slam event as a direct entrant and his sixth
overall, having received wild cards to the 2003-04 US Open and the 2006
Australian Open.
·
Delic
is making his fourth second round appearance at a Grand Slam and is
bidding to reach the third round at a major for the first time. His
other second round appearances came at the 2004 US Open (l. Carlos Moya
62 36 63 62), the 2006 Australian Open (l. Nathan Healey 64 67 63 64)
and the 2007 Australian Open (l. Richard Gasquet 61 62 64).
·
Delic
played two grass court events before coming here. He lost to Florent
Serra 67 64 64 in the first round at Queen’s and then reached the second
round at Nottingham, defeating Justin Gimelstob 64 64 in the first round
before losing to Jonas Bjorkman 75 76.
·
Delic
is bidding to win back-to-back matches at tour level for just the second
time. He first achieved this in March this year at AMS Miami on hard
court, where he went on to reach the last 16 before losing to Juan
Ignacio Chela 63 62.
·
Delic
was one of three Americans to reach the second round at this year’s
Wimbledon, along with James Blake and Andy Roddick. This is the lowest
number of American men to reach the second round at Wimbledon in the
Open Era, surpassing their previous lowest of four in 2005. US men had
the joint second-highest representation (with Spain) in the men’s draw
with 14 players. (France had the highest number of players in the men’s
draw with 15.)
NO. 6
NIKOLAY DAVYDENKO (RUS) v CHRIS GUCCIONE (AUS)
Head-to-head: first meeting
DAVYDENKO
v GUCCIONE
26 Age
21
4
ATP Ranking 96
10 Titles
0
43-25 Career Grand
Slam Record 3-6
2-5
Wimbledon Record 1-0
239-177
Career Record 20-22
3-12 Career
Record - Grass 6-3
30-16
2007 Record 8-11
2-1 2007
Record - Grass 2-1
7-5 Career
Five-Set Record 2-1
3 Comebacks
from 0-2 Down 0
66-66 Career
Tiebreak Record 19-12
14-10 2007
Tiebreak Record 9-5
·
For
just the second time in six consecutive Wimbledon appearances,
Davydenko reached the second round by defeating fellow Russian
Evgeny Korolev 76 64 76. He is bidding to reach the third round at
Wimbledon for the first time.
·
Among
all the Grand Slam tournaments, Davydenko has by far his worst record at
Wimbledon. Prior to this year he had won just one match, that being in
2005, when he defeated Scott Draper 76 64 63 in the first round, losing
in the second round to Jonas Bjorkman 76 21 ret. (wrist injury).
·
Davydenko has reached at least the quarterfinals at each of the other
three majors, going on to career-best semifinal finishes at 2005 and
2007 Roland Garros, and the 2006 US Open.
·
Davydenko’s first round victory here is one of just three tour-level
grass court wins he has had in his career, from 15 such matches played.
As well as his first round victory in 2005 (see above), the other was at
Halle two weeks ago, when as No. 2 seed he defeated Jurgen Melzer 76 46
62 in the first round, losing in the second round to Florian Mayer 64
64.
·
Although Davydenko has yet to win a title in 2007 (he won five last
year), he has had some good results on surfaces other than grass this
season. He was semifinalist at Roland Garros for the second time, losing
to Roger Federer 75 76 76, and reached the quarterfinals at the 2007
Australian Open, losing to Tommy Haas 63 26 16 61 75. Away from the
Slams, Davydenko’s highlights are semifinal finishes at Doha, Rotterdam
and AMS Rome, and quarterfinal finishes at Barcelona and Portschach.
·
Davydenko is playing his 45th tour-level match against a
lefthander today, and has a 31-13 win-loss record against lefthanded
players. As well as lefthander Scott Draper at 2005 Wimbledon (see
above), the only other time Davydenko has faced a lefthanded player at
Wimbledon was last year, when he lost in the first round to Alejandro
Falla 26 76 76 63.
·
Guccione
defeated wild card Alex Bogdanovic 76 64 64 in the first round,
recording his first victory at Wimbledon.
·
Guccione made his Wimbledon debut this year, following failed attempts
to qualify for the last two years.
·
Last
year, Guccione lost in the first round of Wimbledon qualifying to Sergiy
Stakhovsky 61 62. In 2005, he lost in the second qualifying round for
Wimbledon to Jamie Delgado 64 75.
·
Guccione’s win over Bogdanovic (see above) marks just his third Grand
Slam victory, in nine previous Grand Slam matches. This is his seventh
Grand Slam event and he has made appearances in the main draws at the
Australian Open and Roland Garros, reaching the second round at both -
on his Grand Slam debut as a wild card at the 2004 Australian Open (l.
Robby Ginepri 64 63 63) and as a qualifier at 2005 Roland Garros (l.
Paul-Henri Mathieu 63 64 64).
·
Guccione reached a career-high ranking of No. 95 last week, and plays
here not far off that mark, at No. 96. He reached his first ATP final as
a wild card at Adelaide at the start of this season, losing to Novak
Djokovic 63 67 64, but has not won back-to-back tour-level matches
since. Guccione was in fact on a nine-match losing streak at tour level
until Queen’s, where he defeated Andreas Seppi 76 64 in the first round
(l. second round to Arnaud Clement 64 64).
·
Before
Queen’s, Guccione also played the grass court challenger at Surbiton, as
No. 4 seed reaching the semifinals (l. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 57 64 76) to
record his best challenger result so far this year.
NO. 7 TOMAS
BERDYCH (CZE) v MICHAEL LLODRA (FRA)
Head-to-head: Berdych leads 1-0
2005 World Team Cup Clay (O) R2 Berdych
62 61
BERDYCH
v LLODRA
21 Age
27
11
ATP Ranking 68
3 Titles
1
24-15 Career Grand
Slam Record 13-23
6-3
Wimbledon Record 3-6
129-84
Career Record 68-100
15-6 Career
Record - Grass 21-15
29-14
2007 Record 9-11
5-0 2007
Record - Grass 2-1
9-0 Career
Five-Set Record 1-6
2 Comebacks
from 0-2 Down 0
40-42 Career
Tiebreak Record 29-49
8-8 2007
Tiebreak Record
2-4
·
Berdych
defeated Nicolas Massu 76 64 62 in the first round to advance to the
second round at Wimbledon for the third straight year.
·
Berdych
is making his fourth consecutive appearance at Wimbledon. Since his
debut in 2004 when he lost in the first round, Berdych has improved on
his performance every year, reaching the round of 16 last year before
losing to Roger Federer 63 63 64.
·
The
round of 16 is Berdych’s best performance at any Grand Slam and he has
reached that stage at all of the majors.
·
In
Grand Slam play this year, Berdych reached the round of 16 at the
Australian Open as No. 13 seed, losing to Nikolay Davydenko 57 64 61 76,
but lost in the first round of Roland Garros as No. 10 seed to Guillermo
Garcia-Lopez 75 64 64.
·
Berdych
won the title at Halle two weeks ago, the first grass court title of his
career. Seeded No. 4, he received a walkover from Mikhail Youzhny in the
quarterfinals, defeated Jarkko Nieminen 76 64 in the semifinals and
Marcos Baghdatis 75 64 in the final.
·
Berdych
had a successful clay court season this year posting a 14-6 win-loss
record. He reached the semifinals at AMS Monte Carlo (l. Rafael Nadal 60
75) and Munich (l. Mikhail Youzhny 64 63), and won three matches at
May’s World Team Cup to help Czech Republic reach the final. He also
advanced to the quarterfinals at AMS Rome before losing to Filippo
Volandri 62 63.
·
Berdych
is on a three-match winning streak against Frenchmen, having defeated
Arnaud Clement, Nicolas Devilder and Fabrice Santoro at AMS Miami,
Munich and Halle respectively. He has also faced a Frenchmen at some
stage in the last three Wimbledon Championships.
·
Berdych
is facing one of the 15 lefthanders to have started in the draw and has
an 18-6 win-loss record against lefthanded players.
·
Llodra
defeated Stanislas Wawrinka 64 64 61 in the first round to advance to
the second round at Wimbledon for the first time since 2003.
·
Llodra
is playing his seventh Wimbledon and has never gone beyond the second
round here, losing at that stage on his debut in 2000, to Justin
Gimelstob 76 63 64, and in 2003 to Tim Henman 64 64 63.
·
Llodra
was not ranked high enough for direct acceptance at last year’s
Wimbledon, and chose not to play the qualifying event. On his last
appearance in 2005, he lost in the first round to fellow Frenchmen
Sebastien Grosjean 36 75 46 76 64.
·
Llodra
contested the grass court warm-up event at Queen’s, his first grass
court event since 2005 Wimbledon. He defeated Yen-Hsun Lu 61 61 in the
first round but then retired in his match against countryman Paul-Henri
Mathieu with a right thigh injury while trailing 76.
·
The
grass court highlight of Llodra’s career came at 2004 ‘s-Hertogenbosch,
where as a wild card, he won his first career singles title, defeating
Guillermo Coria 63 64 in the final. A year later, unseeded, he reached
the final again but lost to Mario Ancic 75 64.
·
Llodra
has had an unremarkable year so far and has not won more than two
consecutive matches at any tournament this year, recording an 8-11
win-loss record coming into Wimbledon.
·
Llodra’s best performance this year was at Zagreb, where he won two
matches to reach the quarterfinals before losing to Alexander Peya 63
63. Llodra also contested both Grand Slam events - he lost in the first
round of the Australian Open to Radek Stepanek 62 64 60 and reached the
third round of Roland Garros before losing to Nikolay Davydenko 64 62
64.
·
Llodra
is a two-time Grand Slam doubles champion, having won the 2003-2004
Australian Open titles with partner Fabrice Santoro. He is playing
doubles here, seeded No. 10 with compatriot Arnaud Clement.
NO. 10
MARCOS BAGHDATIS (CYP) v NICOLAS DEVILDER (FRA)
Head-to-head: Devilder leads 1-0
2005 Chennai Hard (O) R32 Devilder
64 67 76
BAGHDATIS
v DEVILDER
22 Age
27
16
ATP Ranking 102
2 Titles
0
22-11 Career Grand
Slam Record 1-2
6-2
Wimbledon Record 1-0
99-50
Career Record 12-15
13-6 Career
Record - Grass 1-1
29-13
2007 Record 8-10
5-1 2007
Record - Grass 1-1
7-2 Career
Five-Set Record 0-0
1 Comebacks
from 0-2 Down 0
39-22 Career
Tiebreak Record 3-3
11-7 2007
Tiebreak Record 2-2
·
Baghdatis
defeated Latvian Ernests Gulbis 36 64 63 62 in the opening round. Today
he is bidding for his 100th career victory.
·
Baghdatis is making his third consecutive Wimbledon appearance.
He had
his best result here last year, reaching the semifinals by defeating
Andy Murray 63 64 76 in the last 16 and Lleyton Hewitt 61 57 76 62 in
the quarterfinals, before losing to Rafael Nadal 61 75 63.
·
2006
was an outstanding year for Baghdatis. Before reaching the Wimbledon
semifinals, he advanced to his first Grand Slam final at the 2006
Australian Open, as world No. 54 recording three consecutive wins over
Top Ten players – No. 3 Andy Roddick in the round of 16, No. 8 Ivan
Ljubicic in the quarterfinals and No. 4 David Nalbandian in the
semifnials – before falling in the final to No. 1 Roger Federer 57 75 60
62.
·
By
contrast, Baghdatis lost in the second rounds at 2006 Roland Garros and
the 2006 US Open, but the above results combined with winning his first
career title at 2006 Beijing saw his ranking jump up 44 places
throughout the year to end the season at No. 12.
·
In
2007, Baghdatis has picked up where he left off in 2006, although his
Grand Slam results have been less impressive so far. He won his second
career title at Zagreb on indoor carpet (d. Ivan Ljubicic 76 46 64 in
the final), and also reached another final two weeks later at Marseille
on indoor hard (l. to Gilles Simon 64 76), and a third final at Halle on
grass (l. Tomas Berdych 75 64). His best Grand Slam result to date this
season was a round of 16 appearance at Roland Garros (l. Igor Andreev 26
61 63 64).
·
2007
Halle marked Baghdatis’s first career grass court final. That was the
only tournament he played on this surface ahead of 2007 Wimbledon, as he
then withdrew from ’s-Hertogenbosch with a foot injury.
·
Devilder
won on his Wimbledon debut when he defeated Argentina’s Mariano Zabaleta
67 64 75 64 in the opening round. It was also his first Grand Slam match
win.
·
Although this is Devilder’s first year playing at Wimbledon, this is his
third appearance in a Grand Slam singles draw. He made his Grand Slam
singles debut as a direct entrant at this year’s Australian Open, losing
in the first round to countryman Florent Serra 75 62 64, and was also a
direct entrant at 2007 Roland Garros, losing in the first round to
another countryman, Michael Llodra, 64 63 63.
·
Before
being a direct entrant here this year, Devilder tried unsuccessfully to
qualify for Wimbledon in 2004, 2005 and 2006, losing in the first round
of the 2006 qualifying event to Benjamin Becker 76 63. These were three
of a total of eight failed attempts to qualify for Grand Slam
tournaments, before Devilder competed at the 2007 Australian Open as a
direct acceptance.
·
Devilder was one of 15 lefthanders to start in the draw here, and one of
11 to advance to the second round.
·
Today
Devilder is bidding to win back-to-back tour-level matches for just the
second time this season, having won two in a row to reach the
quarterfinals at Munich (l. Tomas Berdych 64 60). Devilder also reached
the last eight at Buenos Aires (l. Diego Hartfield 64 75), having gone
1-1 in the round robin.
·
Devilder has also played on the challenger circuit in 2007, his
highlight being reaching the semifinals on clay at Bermuda in April (l.
Mariano Zabaleta 36 63 76).
·
Devilder played the first main draw grass court match of his career at
’s-Hertogenbosch last week. He lost in the first round to eventual
runner-up Peter Wessels 64 63. Devilder’s three attempts to qualify for
Wimbledon, see above, accounted for the remainder of his grass court
experience at any level of competition.
NO. 11
TOMMY ROBREDO (ESP) v (Q) WAYNE ARTHURS (AUS)
Head-to-head: Arthurs leads 2-0
2002 AMS Cincinnati Hard (O) R16
Arthurs 76 46 64
2006 St Petersburg Carpet (I) R32
Arthurs 63 26 64
ROBREDO
v ARTHURS
25 Age
36
7
ATP Ranking 195
4 Titles
1
53-26 Career Grand
Slam Record 24-32
6-6
Wimbledon Record 9-8
280-171
Career Record 132-159
21-14 Career
Record - Grass 38-29
30-16
2007 Record 3-1
3-1 2007
Record - Grass 1-0
7-3 Career
Five-Set Record 10-3
1 Comebacks
from 0-2 Down 4
90-75 Career
Tiebreak Record 116-141
5-8 2007
Tiebreak Record 2-4
·
Robredo
overcame Robert Kendrick 62 36 63 67 63 in the first round, improving
his five-set record to 6-3 and winning his first five-set match since
2005 Roland Garros. It was the first five-set match he had played at
Wimbledon.
·
Robredo is playing his seventh straight Wimbledon. Also as No. 11 seed,
he reached the second round last year, falling to Novak Djokovic 76 62
64.
·
Robredo is today bidding to equal his best Wimbledon
result. He has reached the third round here just once previously, in
2003, as No. 25 seed losing to Andy Roddick 76 64 64.
·
In contrast to his Wimbledon results, Robredo has reached
the round of 16 or better at each of the other three Grand Slam events,
and has had four quarterfinal finishes in majors. Three of these were at
Roland Garros – in 2003, 2005 and 2007 – and the fourth was at this
year’s Australian Open.
·
Robredo has had good results on all surfaces in 2007,
including reaching the quarterfinals at both the Australian Open and
Roland Garros, losing in both events to Roger Federer. He reached the
final on hard court at Auckland in January, losing to countryman David
Ferrer 64 62, and his other ATP hard court highlights were reaching the
quarterfinals at Rotterdam and AMS Miami. On clay, Robredo was a
semifinalist at Estoril and a quarterfinalist at AMS Rome.
·
This is Robredo’s second grass court tournament of the
season. He was No. 1 seed at ’s-Hertogenbosch last week, and reached the
quarterfinals before losing to eventual runner-up Peter Wessels 63 63.
Robredo has had his best grass court results at ’s-Hertogenbosch, having
been a semifinalist there three times, in 2001, 2002 and 2004.
·
Qualifier Arthurs defeated Dutch wild card and 2006
Wimbledon junior champion Thiemo De Bakker 67 67 76 64 64 in the first
round.
·
Arthurs has said that 2007 Wimbledon will be the final
tournament of his 17-year career. Having turned 36 in March, he was the
oldest man starting in draw.
·
His win over De Bakker was Arthurs’s fourth career
comeback from two-sets-to-love down. It was his tenth five-set victory
in 13 five-set matches played, but just his second five-set match at
Wimbledon, having lost to Alexander Popp 63 67 36 76 1412 in the second
round here in 2005.
·
Arthurs is playing Wimbledon as a qualifier for the third
time in his career. He was also a qualifier here last year, losing in
the first round to Fabrice Santoro 76 63 36 61; that marked his first
appearance as a qualifier at this event since his debut in 1999.
·
In last week’s qualifying competition, unseeded, Arthurs
defeated No. 25 seed Ramon Delgado 75 63 in the first round, Alex
Calatrava 76 76 in the second round, and outlasted Christophe Rochus 63
36 67 75 64 in the final qualifying round. (Note: five-set matches
played in qualifying events are not counted on a players’ official
five-set match record.).
·
This is Arthurs’s ninth appearance at Wimbledon. His best
results here are round of 16 finishes, achieved on his debut in 1999 as
a qualifier, losing to eventual runner-up Andre Agassi 67 76 61 64, and
again in 2002, when he also lost to the eventual runner-up, David
Nalbandian 64 76 26 76.
·
The round of 16 is Arthurs’s best showing at any Grand
Slam tournament. As well as reaching the last 16 twice here, he also
reached that stage at the 2000 US Open and 2001 Roland Garros.
·
Arthurs has played sparingly in his final season. This is
just his second tour-level event after the 2007 Australian Open, where
as a wild card he advanced to the third round before retiring with a
right leg problem when trailing Mardy Fish 3-0. He played five
qualifying events without success – for Adelaide, Las Vegas, AMS Indian
Wells, Roland Garros and Queen’s – before breaking through for
Wimbledon.
·
Arthurs has also played a limited doubles schedule in
2007. He competed at Adelaide, the Australian Open, Roland Garros and
the Surbition Challenger, and plays here with Justin Gimelstob.
NO. 16
LLEYTON HEWITT (AUS) v SIMONE BOLELLI (ITA)
Head-to-head: first meeting
HEWITT
v BOLELLI
26 Age
21
19
ATP Ranking 65
26 Titles
0
107-33 Career Grand
Slam Record 2-1
26-7
Wimbledon Record 1-0
459-146
Career Record 6-12
79-18 Career
Record - Grass 1-0
21-10
2007 Record 6-8
1-1 2007
Record - Grass 1-0
24-10 Career
Five-Set Record 0-0
4 Comebacks
from 0-2 Down 0
120-99 Career
Tiebreak Record 4-7
2-7 2007
Tiebreak Record 3-4
·
2002
champion
Hewitt
reached
the second round for the fourth straight year after
defeating wild card Richard Bloomfield 75 63 75. Hewitt has now reached
the second round on seven out of his nine appearances at Wimbledon and
has never lost at this stage.
·
Last
year, Hewitt reached the quarterfinals here before losing to Marcos
Baghdatis 61 57 76 62. He has advanced to at least the last eight at
Wimbledon in four of the past five years.
·
Hewitt
collected his second Grand Slam title at 2002 Wimbledon, defeating No.
28 seed David Nalbandian 61 63 62 in the final. Apart from Roger
Federer, he is the only other player in the draw to have won a Wimbledon
title.
·
Having
also won the 2001 US Open, Hewitt is one of only four players to have
started in the main draw with more than one Grand Slam title, the others
being Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Marat Safin (all of whom advanced
to the second round).
·
Hewitt
lost the only match he has played on grass this year ahead of Wimbledon,
falling in the second round at Queen’s (after receiving a first round
bye) to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 76 76.
·
As well
as being champion here in 2002, Hewitt has won five other grass court
titles, winning four times at Queen’s (2000-02, 2006) and at 2001
’s-Hertogenbosch.
·
Hewitt’s best result of the year so far came on hard court at Las Vegas,
where he won his 26th career title, defeating Jurgen Melzer 64 76 in the
final. He also advanced to the semifinals on clay at AMS Hamburg and
Portschach.
·
Bolelli
made a successful Wimbledon debut, defeating Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 46
76 64 64 in the first round.
·
Having
entered the Top 100 for the first time on 30 April 2007, Bolelli was a
direct entrant into the main draw at Wimbledon. He had tried to qualify
for Wimbledon only once before, in 2006, but lost in the final
qualifying round to fellow Italian Stefano Galvani 61 64 75.
·
2007
Wimbledon is only Bolelli’s second Grand Slam appearance, having made
his Grand Slam debut at this year’s Roland Garros. He reached the second
round before losing to Guillermo Canas 64 63 63.
·
Bolelli
did not have any grass court preparation in the run-up to Wimbledon, and
in fact had not competed in any event at any level since Roland Garros.
·
2007
Wimbledon is Bolelli’s third grass court event at any level (including
qualifying). As well as the Wimbledon qualifying event last year (see
above), he also tried to qualify for 2006 Halle but lost in the second
round to Rohan Bopanna 76 75.
·
Bolelli’s best result in 2007 came at AMS Miami, where he won
back-to-back matches at tour level for the first time in his career,
defeating Gael Monfils 64 62 and Dmitry Tursunov 67 63 64 before falling
to David Ferrer 76 62 in the third round.
·
Bolelli
has won three Challenger titles and reached another three challenger
finals in the last twelve months and plays here on a ranking of No. 75,
one place lower than his career-high of No. 74, achieved on 21 May 2007.
NO. 19
JONAS BJORKMAN (SWE) v (Q) YEU-TZUOO WANG (TPE)
Head-to-head: Wang leads 1-0
2006 Queen’s Grass (O) R64 Wang 63 63
BJORKMAN
v WANG
35 Age
22
35
ATP Ranking 168
6 Titles
0
84-54 Career Grand
Slam Record 3-6
26-13
Wimbledon Record 2-2
407-342
Career Record 27-30
78-40 Career
Record - Grass 5-7
14-14
2007 Record 3-0
5-2 2007
Record - Grass 1-0
29-12 Career
Five-Set Record 1-0
5 Comebacks
from 0-2 Down 0
122-125 Career
Tiebreak Record 12-15
6-7 2007
Tiebreak Record 0-2
·
Bjorkman
defeated Fernando Vicente 63 61 62 in the first round to reach the
second round here for the 11th time.
·
Bjorkman is bidding to reach the third round here for the fifth
consecutive year and the ninth time overall. He has lost in the second
round at Wimbledon twice in 1995 and 1999.
·
Bjorkman is making his 14th consecutive Wimbledon appearance.
Along with Tim Henman, Bjorkman has made more appearances than any other
player in the men’s draw.
·
Last
year, Bjorkman produced his best Wimbledon result when advancing to the
semifinals before losing to eventual champion Roger Federer 62 60 62.
·
At last
year’s Wimbledon, Bjorkman also equalled his career-best Grand Slam
result. He also reached the semifinals at the 1997 US Open before losing
to Greg Rusedski 61 36 36 63 75. Of those players to reach two or more
Grand Slam semifinals in the Open Era, only Wayne Ferreira has a longer
gap between his first and second semifinal appearances.
·
Bjorkman played two grass court events before arriving at 2007
Wimbledon. He lost in the second round at Queen’s to eventual finalist
Nicolas Mahut 63 67 63 and then advanced to the semifinals at Nottingham
last week, falling to Arnaud Clement 62 64.
·
Reaching the semifinals at Nottingham was Bjorkman’s best result of the
year. He also reached the last 16 at Roland Garros before losing to
Carlos Moya 76 62 75, having gone into Roland Garros on a seven-match
losing streak (excluding victory in a dead Davis Cup rubber).
·
Bjorkman is one of six men in this year’s men’s singles who have won
more than one grass court title, having won at Nottingham in both 1998
and 2002.
·
At 35
years, 3 months, Bjorkman is the second-oldest man competing in this
year’s men’s singles behind Aussie qualifier Wayne Arthurs, aged 36
years, 3 months.
·
Wang
defeated Igor Kunitsyn 63 64 67 67 62 in the first round.
·
This is
Wang’s third appearance at Wimbledon. He qualified for this year’s main
draw by defeating Sergiy Stakhovsky (UKR), Rogerio Dutra Da Silva (BRA)
and Andrey Golubev (RUS) respectively in the three rounds of qualifying.
·
Last
year, as a direct entrant, he reached the second round here for the
first time before falling to James Blake 64 62 46 62. He lost in the
first round as a qualifier in 2004 to Andy Roddick 63 75 64. He failed
to qualify for Wimbledon in 2002, 2003 and 2005.
·
Wang is
bidding to reach the third round at a Grand Slam for the first time
today. Apart from here last year, Wang also reached the second round at
the 2006 Australian Open before losing to Jarkko Nieminen 62 76 62.
Overall, this is Wang’s seventh Grand Slam appearance.
·
Wang
has mainly played on the challenger circuit this year, winning the title
at Busan (KOR) in his final tournament before coming here. He also
reached the semifinal at Fergana (UZB).
·
This is
Wang’s first tour-level tournament of the year. He played Davis Cup in
April, winning both singles rubbers to help Chinese Taipei defeat China
3-2 in an Asia/Oceania Zone Group I relegation tie.
·
Wang
reached the semifinals of the Wimbledon boys’ singles in 2001, losing to
eventual champion Roman Valent.
NO. 23
DAVID NALBANDIAN (ARG) v (LL) FRANK DANCEVIC (CAN)
Head-to-head: first meeting
NALBANDIAN
v DANCEVIC
25 Age
22
25
ATP Ranking 113
5 Titles
0
69-22 Career Grand
Slam Record 2-2
16-4
Wimbledon Record 1-1
230-118
Career Record 25-41
18-6 Career
Record - Grass 5-6
13-11
2007 Record 8-10
1-1 2007
Record - Grass 2-1
14-8 Career
Five-Set Record 2-3
6 Comebacks
from 0-2 Down 0
76-63 Career
Tiebreak Record 13-10
6-8 2007
Tiebreak Record 3-4
·
Nalbandian,
playing
in his fifth Wimbledon, defeated qualifier Mischa Zverev 63 64 62
in the first round.
·
Nalbandian has never failed to reach the third round at Wimbledon on his
four previous appearances. Last year, he suffered his earliest exit
here, losing in the third round to Fernando Verdasco 76 76 62.
·
Nalbandian reached his first Grand Slam final on his Wimbledon debut in
2002. He defeated Nicolas Lapentti 64 64 46 46 64 in the quarterfinals
and Xavier Malisse 76 64 16 26 62 in the semifinals, before losing to
Lleyton Hewitt 61 63 62 in the final. This is his most successful Grand
Slam performance to date and remarkably was achieved in his first ever
professional grass court event.
·
Since
reaching the final in 2002, Nalbandian’s best performance at Wimbledon
has been a quarterfinal finish in 2005 (l. Thomas Johansson 76 62 62).
·
Nalbandian is one of two active players, along with Roger Federer, to
have reached the semifinals or better at all four Grand Slams. He
reached that stage here in 2002 en route to the final (see above), at
the 2003 US Open, and at 2004 Roland Garros, and completed the set at
the 2006 Australian Open. He reached his fifth Grand Slam semifinal at
2006 Roland Garros.
·
Nalbandian warmed up for Wimbledon at Halle, but as No. 7 seed lost in
the first round to Marc Gicquel 57 62 64.
·
Nalbandian reached the round of 16 at both the Australian Open and
Roland Garros this year, losing to Tommy Haas 46 63 62 63 and Nikolay
Davydenko 63 76 36 76 at that stage respectively.
·
Nalbandian’s other highlight of 2007 was reaching the quarterfinals at
Barcelona. After a first round bye, he defeated two Spaniards (Alberto
Martin and Carlos Moya) in the next two rounds before losing to another
Spaniard David Ferrer 76 62.
·
Lucky
loser Dancevic defeated Stefan Koubek 62 64 62 in the first round
to record his first victory at Wimbledon.
·
This is
Dancevic’s second Wimbledon appearance. He made his debut here last
year, when, as a qualifier, he lost to Radek Stepanek 76 63 64 in the
first round.
·
Dancevic also played the Wimbledon qualifying event this year. Despite
losing in the final round of qualifying to Aisam Qureshi 46 76 62 76, he
moved into the main draw as a lucky loser when Mario Ancic withdrew.
(Ancic is recovering from glandular fever.)
·
Dancevic also attempted to qualify for Wimbledon in 2004 (l. Christophe
Rochus 61 75 in the first round of the qualifying event) and 2005 (l.
Uros Vico 67 76 119, losing in the second round of the qualifying
event). In total, Dancevic has made 13 attempts to qualify for Grand
Slam events, but has failed to reach the main draw on 11 occasions. His
only successes have been at Wimbledon in the last two years.
·
Overall, this is Dancevic’s third Grand Slam appearance. Apart from
appearing at Wimbledon twice, he also played at the 2007 Australian Open
as a direct entrant, recording his first Grand Slam victory against
Victor Hanescu 63 63 76 in the first round before losing to Lleyton
Hewitt 64 64 36 64.
·
Dancevic played at Queen’s before coming here, defeating Sergio Roitman
63 67 61 in the first round before losing to Dmitry Tursunov 75 61 in
the second round.
·
Dancevic is today bidding to win back-to-back matches at the same
tournament for the first time at tour level. Excluding team
competitions, Dancevic has a 16-29 win-loss record at tour level.
·
Dancevic’s best result of the year at all levels was reaching the final
of the Bermuda challenger on clay in April. He lost to Mariano Zabaleta
75 57 63 in the final.
NO. 28
ROBIN SODERLING (SWE) v SEBASTIEN GROSJEAN (FRA)
Head-to-head: Soderling leads 1-0
2004 AMS Cincinnati Hard (O) R64
Soderling 36 63 64
SODERLING
v GROSJEAN
22 Age
29
28
ATP Ranking 62
2 Titles
3
10-16 Career Grand
Slam Record 73-37
3-4
Wimbledon Record 24-8
118-94
Career Record 323-217
13-11 Career
Record - Grass 47-21
24-13
2007 Record 12-11
2-1 2007
Record - Grass 3-2
3-5 Career
Five-Set Record 14-13
2 Comebacks
from 0-2 Down 3
55-57 Career
Tiebreak Record 129-92
10-11 2007
Tiebreak Record
2-3
·
Soderling
recorded his first win at Wimbledon for four years in the first round,
defeating Olivier Rochus 63 62 62.
·
This is
Soderling’s fifth appearance at Wimbledon. He is bidding to reach the
third round for the first time since 2003, when on his debut as a
qualifier, he reached the third round before losing to Tim Henman 63 61
64. He lost in the first round on his next three appearances here, again
to Henman in last year’s first round 67 63 62 16 63.
·
Soderling’s best performance at any major is a third round finish. As
well as reaching the third round here in 2003 (see above), he reached
the third round at the 2005 US Open (l. Guillermo Coria 62 67 61 64).
·
Soderling warmed up for 2007 Wimbledon at Halle. He defeated Stefan
Koubek 57 63 75 in the first round but fell to eventual runner-up Marcos
Baghdatis 67 64 63 in the second round.
·
Soderling’s first round victory over Rochus was his first Grand Slam win
of 2007. As No. 23 seed, he lost in the first round of the Australian
Open to Florian Mayer 36 64 36 64 60 and again in the first round at
Roland Garros, where he retired with a stiff neck while trailing Albert
Montanes 76 41.
·
Soderling’s best performances this year have been semifinal finishes at
Doha (l. Ivan Ljubicic 36 64 76), Marseille (l. Gilles Simon 62 76), and
Dubai (l. Mikhail Youzhny 75 62). He also won three matches in a row at
AMS Monte Carlo to reach the quarterfinals (l. Tomas Berdych 57 63 60).
·
Soderling has also won all of his three Davis Cup matches this year. In
Sweden’s World Group first round tie against Belarus he defeated
Vladimir Voltchkov in the opening singles rubber, and followed this up
with a five-set defeat over Max Mirnyi in the decisive fourth rubber,
having saved two match points. In the quarterfinals, Soderling overcame
Argentina’s Juan-Martin Del Potro 76 76 64 to help his nation reach the
semifinals for the first time in six years. Sweden hosts USA in
Gothenburg in September.
·
Soderling’s career grass court highlights are semifinal finishes at 2004
and 2006 Nottingham.
·
Grosjean
defeated wild card Jonathan Marray 62 76 75 in the first round to
advance to the Wimbledon second round for the fifth straight year. Last
year, as No. 15 seed, Grosjean reached the third round before losing to
Marcos Baghdatis 46 64 64 61.
·
Grosjean is making his ninth appearance at Wimbledon and is bidding to
reach the third round for the eighth time. He twice reached the
semifinals here, in 2003 and 2004, and reached the quarterfinals in
2005.
·
The
semifinals represent Grosjean’s best finish at any Grand Slam. As well
as doing so twice here (see above), he also reached the semifinals at
the 2001 Australian Open and 2001 Roland Garros.
·
In this
year’s Grand Slam play, Grosjean reached the third round at the
Australian Open, losing to David Nalbandian 57 46 76 64 61. At Roland
Garros, he lost in the first round to Marcos Baghdatis 63 62 64.
·
Grosjean warmed up for 2007 Wimbledon at Queen’s and
Nottingham. He lost in the second round at Queen’s to Marat Safin 36 64
64, and also in the second round at Nottingham, to Guillermo
Garcia-Lopez 64 63.
·
Grosjean has a good record on grass. As well as reaching
the semifinals here on two occasions (see above), he won the 2000
Nottingham title and reached the finals at 2003 and 2004 Queen’s.
·
Grosjean’s year so far has been average by his standards.
He reached the quarterfinals at Casablanca and Munich but recorded an
11-11 win-loss record ahead of Wimbledon.
·
This is
the first time since 2000 that Grosjean has not been seeded at
Wimbledon.
NICOLAS
KIEFER (GER) v FABRICE SANTORO (FRA)
Head-to-head: Santoro leads 6-1
1999 Australian Open Hard (O) R32
Santoro 76 61 63
2000 Doha Hard (O) SF
Santoro 75 64
2000 AMS Indian Wells Hard (O) R64
Santoro 61 64
2001 AMS Hamburg Clay (O) R16
Santoro 63 63
2001 AMS Montreal Hard (O) R32
Santoro 46 64 63
2002 AMS Indian Wells Hard (O) R32
Santoro 76 61
2006 AMS Miami Hard (O) R64
Kiefer 76 26 64
This is the pair’s eighth
meeting, but first on grass. Santoro has dominated their series,
dropping just one set in his first six meetings with the German, but
Kiefer scored his first victory over his older opponent at 2006 AMS
Miami.
KIEFER
v SANTORO
29* Age
34
-
ATP Ranking 70
6 Titles
4
54-35 Career Grand
Slam Record 57-59
15-9
Wimbledon Record 10-11
313-227
Career Record 424-401
36-22 Career
Record - Grass 27-25
1-1
2007 Record 12-10
1-1 2007
Record - Grass 2-2
12-10 Career
Five-Set Record 19-14
5 Comebacks
from 0-2 Down 1
99-76 Career
Tiebreak Record 143-120
1-1 2007
Tiebreak Record 9-2
* Turns 30
on 5 July
·
Kiefer
won his first match for nearly 13 months when he upset No. 30 seed
Filippo Volandri 63 76 61 in the first round.
·
Kiefer
missed more than a year of the circuit, from 2006 Roland Garros to 2007
Halle, with a left wrist injury. As No. 13 seed at 2006 Roland Garros,
he injured his wrist in his second round defeat of Santoro’s countryman
Marc Gicquel, retiring with the problem in the third round when trailing
Tomas Berdych 61. Kiefer subsequently underwent surgery on the wrist on
17 July and made his comeback as a wild card this year at Halle, losing
in the first round again to Berdych 64 76.
·
Kiefer
plays here unranked, having earned no points in the last 13 months (he
did not received any for his first round loss at 2007 Halle because he
played as a wild card). He plays 2007 Wimbledon on a protected ranking
of No. 17.
·
This is
Kiefer’s tenth Wimbledon appearance. Until missing last year with his
wrist injury, he had played every year since making his debut in 1997.
On his last appearance here, in 2005, Kiefer reached the third round as
No. 25 seed, losing to eventual champion Roger Federer 62 67 61 75. He
was the only player to take a set off Federer that year.
·
Kiefer
has never bettered the result he achieved on his Wimbledon debut in
1997, when he advanced to the quarterfinals in just his third Grand Slam
event. Kiefer defeated Yevgeny Kafelnikov 62 75 26 61 in the round of 16
before losing to Todd Woodbridge 76 26 60 64.
·
Kiefer
had his best Grand Slam result four months before his injury, when he
advanced to the semifinals at the 2006 Australian Open, defeating
Sebastien Grosjean 63 06 64 67 86 in the quarterfinals before losing to
eventual champion Roger Federer 63 57 60 62.
·
Following his appearance in last year’s Australian Open semifinals,
Kiefer went as high as No. 11 in the rankings on 24 April 2006. This was
his highest position for nearly six years, since he reached No. 8 on 29
May 2000. Kiefer peaked at a career-high ranking of No. 4 on 10 January
2000.
·
Kiefer
was one of 13 men starting in the draw to have won at least one grass
court title, collecting his at 1999 Halle (d. Nicklas Kulti 63 62 in the
final). Kiefer has had the majority of his best grass court results at
his home event, going on to be runner-up at Halle in 2002 and 2003.
·
Santoro
defeated Nottingham champion Ivo Karlovic 46 76 76 36 64 in the first
round. It was the 19th five-set victory of his career, and
third at Wimbledon. His other two five-set victories at this event were
also in the first round: he defeated Agustin Calleri 26 76 64 46 63 in
2002, and Andreas Vinciguerra 46 63 26 62 62 in 2003.
·
Santoro
is making his 12th appearance at Wimbledon and has reached
the second round for the eighth time. He is now bidding to advance to
the third round for the first time since 2001, when he defeated Max
Mirnyi 76 61 64 at this stage. He then retired in the third round with a
right shoulder injury and compensatory back complaint when trailing
Mikhail Youzhny 75 60 20.
·
Santoro
has lost in the Wimbledon second round for the last five years, 2002-06,
and also lost in the second round 1999-2000. Last year Santoro fell in
the second round to Tomas Berdych 64 67 26 76 64 (his only five-set loss
at this event).
·
2007
Wimbledon is Santoro’s 60th major overall. He has now moved
up to second place in the Open Era list of most Grand Slam tournaments
played, and is chasing Andre Agassi’s record mark of 61 Grand Slam
appearances. Santoro is also playing his 36th consecutive
Grand Slam event at 2007 Wimbledon. [For more details see pages 4-5 of
the Preview.]
·
With
Santoro’s best Wimbledon result being a third round finish in 2001 (see
above), this is his least successful Grand Slam tournament.
·
Santoro
recorded his best Grand Slam result at the 2006 Australian Open, when he
reached the quarterfinals in his 54th major. Among Open Era
players, no other man has made as many appearances in majors before
reaching the quarterfinals for the first time. Santoro defeated David
Ferrer 64 75 75 in the round of 16, then lost in the quarterfinals to
David Nalbandian 75 60 60. Interestingly, the 2006 Australian Open was
also where today’s opponent Kiefer achieved his best Grand Slam result.
(See his notes above.)
·
Santoro
played the pre-Wimbledon grass court events at Halle and
‘s-Hertogenbosch. He reached the second round at Halle (l. Tomas Berdych
63 76) and retired with a stomach problem in the first round at
‘s-Hertogenbosch when trailing Kristof Vliegen 63 11.
·
Santoro’s best singles results this year have been quarterfinal finishes
at Chennai and Dubai. In doubles, he has won two titles (Dubai and AMS
Rome) with Nenad Zimonjic, with whom he is competing in the 2007
Wimbledon doubles event.
·
Santoro
has won two Grand Slam doubles titles, teaming with Michael Llodra to
win the Australian Open 2003-04.
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