2007 WIMBLEDON
DAY SIX MEN’S NOTES
Saturday 30
June 2007
Third Round
Bottom Half
Featured matches
No. 2 Rafael
Nadal (ESP) v No. 28 Robin Soderling (SWE)
No. 4 Novak
Djokovic (SRB) v Nicolas Kiefer (GER)
No. 6 Nikolay
Davydenko (RUS) v Gael Monfils (FRA)
No. 7 Tomas
Berdych (CZE) v Hyung-Taik Lee (KOR)
No. 10 Marcos
Baghdatis (CYP) v No. 23 David Nalbandian (ARG)
No. 14 Mikhail
Youzhny (RUS) v No. 18 Jarkko Nieminen (FIN)
No. 16 Lleyton
Hewitt (AUS) v No. 22 Guillermo Canas (ARG)
No. 19 Jonas
Bjorkman (SWE) v (Q) Wayne Arthurs (AUS)
On court today…
NO. 19
JONAS BJORKMAN (SWE) v (Q) WAYNE ARTHURS (AUS)
Head-to-head: Bjorkman leads 4-2
2000 Shanghai Hard (O) R16
Bjorkman 64 76
2001 Nottingham Grass (O) R16
Arthurs 36 64 64
2001 Hong Kong Hard (O) R16
Bjorkman 62 64
2002 Nottingham Grass (O) FR
Bjorkman 62 67 62
2004 AMS Indian Wells Hard (O) R32 Arthurs
46 62 63
2004 Stockholm Hard (I) R32
Bjorkman 46 64 64
Bjorkman and Arthurs have their seventh career meeting today but their
first in three years. This is their third meeting on grass and their
series on the surface is tied at 1-1.
Arthurs aged 36 years, 112 days and Bjorkman aged 35 years, 107 days
(ages at the end of the tournament) were the two oldest men to start in
this year’s men’s singles draw. Arthurs would become the sixth oldest
man to reach the round of 16 and the oldest since Niki Pilic in 1976
while Bjorkman is attempting to become the 11th oldest
through to that stage and the oldest since Jimmy Connors in 1988.
This is the latest stage at which two men aged 35 or over (at which age
players qualify to play on the Seniors Circuit ?) have played each other
at Wimbledon and just the fourth time overall. The other three match-ups
between players aged 35 or over were all in the first round: Luis Ayala
d. Bob Howe in 1969, Alex Olmedo d. Jorgen Ulrich in 1972 and Ken
Rosewall d. Barry Phillips-Moore in 1974. The younger player won on the
first two occasions.
The two men have a combined age of 71 years, 219 days but there has been
a third round match-up at Wimbledon with a higher combined age. In 1970,
Andres Gimeno, aged 32 years, 335 days defeated Torben Ulrich, aged 41
years, 273 days in the third round at Wimbledon. The players’ combined
ages were 74 years, 243 days.
BJORKMAN
v
ARTHURS
35
Age
36
35
ATP Ranking
195
6
Titles
1
85-54
Career Grand Slam Record
25-32
27-13
Wimbledon Record
10-8
408-342
Career Record
133-159
79-40
Career Record - Grass
39-29
15-14
2007 Record
4-1
6-2
2007 Record - Grass
2-0
29-12
Career Five-Set Record
10-3
5
Comebacks from 0-2 Down
4
122-126
Career Tiebreak Record
117-141
6-8
2007 Tiebreak Record
3-4
·
Bjorkman
has
already defeated two qualifiers at 2007 Wimbledon. He defeated Fernando
Vicente 63 61 62 in the first round and Yeu-Tzuoo Wang 60 63 67 64 in
the second to reach the third round here for the fifth consecutive year,
and the ninth time overall.
·
Bjorkman is facing three qualifiers in a row for the first time in his
career. He had faced two in a row at Wimbledon before, defeating David
Di Lucia and Stefano Pescsolido in the first two rounds here in 1998.
·
Bjorkman is bidding to advance to the last 16 at Wimbledon for the fifth
time, having a 4-4 win-loss record in his third round matches here to
date.
·
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. Overall, this is Bjorkman’s 55th
Slam and only Fabrice Santoro among active players who played his 60th
major here has contested more.
·
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 was one of five men through to the third round 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. The others are Roger Federer,
Lleyton Hewitt, Andy Roddick and Richard Gasquet.
·
Bjorkman has a career grass court win-loss record of 79-40 through the
second round here. He has the third best record on the surface of
players in the draw, behind Tim Henman (83-34) and Lleyton Hewitt
(80-18). Hewitt plays Guillermo Canas today while Henman lost to
Feliciano Lopez on Thursday.
·
Bjorkman is one of two Swedes through to the third round, along with
Robin Soderling, who is scheduled to face No. 2 seed Rafael Nadal today.
If both Swedes win today and advance to the round of 16, this will be
the first time since 2000, when three Swedish players reached that
stage, that Sweden has been represented by more than one player in the
last 16 at Wimbledon.
·
Qualifier Arthurs defeated Dutch wild card and 2006 Wimbledon
junior champion Thiemo De Bakker 67 67 76 64 64 in the first round,
which was his fourth career comeback from two-sets-to-love down. He
upset No. 11 seed Tommy Robredo 63 76 63 in the second round, his fourth
victory over a seeded player at Wimbledon from six such meetings.
·
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 (see head-to-head).
·
This
is Arthurs’s third appearance in the Wimbledon third round. He has never
lost at this stage, going on to record two round of 16 finishes, his
best result here. On his debut in 1999 also as a qualifier, he defeated
Tommy Haas 76 76 76 in the third round before losing to eventual
runner-up Andre Agassi 67 76 61 64. In 2002, he defeated Taylor Dent 76
76 67 76 in the third round before also losing to the eventual
runner-up, David Nalbandian 64 76 26 76.
·
Arthurs is playing Wimbledon as a qualifier for the third time in his
career. As well as on his debut in 1999 (see above), 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.
·
[UPDATE
LATER] Arthurs is the only qualifier OR is one of two qualifiers
remaining in the draw. He is bidding to join Eduoard Roger-Vasselin,
who defeated Richard Gasquet on Friday, in the last of 16 here this
year.
·
Arthurs is bidding to become just the second man in the Open Era after
Russian Andrei Olhovskiy, who did so in 1988 and 1992 to qualify and go
on to reach the round of 16 at Wimbledon.
·
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.).
·
Overall, this is Arthurs’s ninth appearance at Wimbledon.
·
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.
·
At No.
195, Arthurs is the lowest-ranked player remaining in the men’s draw.
(Note: Nicolas Kiefer, who is due to play his third round match against
No. 4 seed Novak Djokovic today is currently unranked, having not earned
any ranking points in the last 12 months.)
·
[UPDATE
LATER] Arthurs was one of five lefthanders to reach the third round
of the men’s singles here this year, the highest number since 1999 when
Arthurs was also one of five lefties to advance to this stage.
·
[UPDATE
LATER, IF VERDASCO AND LOPEZ WIN] With Felician0 Lopez and Fernando
Verdasco already through to the round of 16, there is still a
possibility of five lefthanders reaching the round of 16 here, if
Arthurs, Rafael Nadal and Jarkko Nieminen all win today. This would
equal the most lefthanders through to that stage at Wimbledon in the
Open Era. Five lefthanders advanced to the round of 16 here in 1974,
1976 and 1987.
·
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. 10
MARCOS BAGHDATIS (CYP) v NO. 23 DAVID NALBANDIAN (ARG)
Head-to-head: Baghdatis leads 2-1
2005 Roland Garros Clay (O) R128
Nalbandian 06 64 64 64
2005
Basel Carpet (I) SF
Baghdatis 62 76
2006 Australian Open Hard (O) SF
Baghdatis 36 57 63 64 64
BAGHDATIS
v
NALBANDIAN
22
Age
25
16
ATP Ranking
25
2
Titles
5
23-11
Career Grand Slam Record
70-22
7-2
Wimbledon Record
17-4
100-50
Career Record
231-118
14-6
Career Record - Grass
19-6
30-13
2007 Record
14-11
6-1
2007 Record - Grass
2-1
7-2
Career Five-Set Record
14-8
1
Comebacks from 0-2 Down
6
40-23
Career Tiebreak Record
76-63
12-8
2007 Tiebreak Record
6-8
·
Baghdatis
defeated Latvian Ernests Gulbis 36 64 63 62 in the first round and then
recorded the 100th victory of his career in defeating Nicolas
Devilder 60 76 67 64 in the second.
·
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. He lost to
Mikhail Youzhny 62 36 61 64 in the first round on his debut in 2005.
·
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.
·
This is
Baghdatis’s 12th Grand Slam event and he is bidding to reach
the round of 16 at a major for the fifth time.
·
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.
·
Baghdatis was ITF Junior World Champion in 2003, winning the boys’
singles at the Australian Open and finishing runner-up in that event at
the US Open that year. He fared less well at Wimbledon during his junior
career, losing in the boys’ singles second round on both of his
appearances here, in 2001-02.
·
Nalbandian,
playing
in his fifth Wimbledon, defeated qualifier Mischa Zverev 63 64 62
in the first round and lucky loser Frank Dancevic 62 63 57 63 in the
second round.
·
Nalbandian has maintained his record of always reaching the third round
at Wimbledon. Last year he lost at this stage for the first time, losing
to Fernando Verdasco 76 76 62, his earliest Wimbledon exit.
·
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 is playing a Top 10 player for the 53rd time in
his career. He has a 20-32 win-loss record in his previous meetings with
Top 10 players.
·
Nalbandian is joined in the third round by Guillermo Canas, who plays
Lleyton Hewitt today. If both Argentines win today and advance to the
round of 16, it will mark the second time in the Open Era that two
Argentines have advanced to the round of 16 at Wimbledon. Nalbandian and
Guillermo Coria achieved this for the first time in 2005.
·
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.
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