10 THINGS TO WATCH IN GSTAAD

Transcription

1 J.SAFRA SARASIN SWISS OPEN GSTAAD: PREVIEW & DAY 1 MEDIA NOTES Monday, July 24, 2017 Roy Emerson Arena, Gstaad, Switzerland July 24 30, 2017 Draw: S-28, D-16 Prize Money: 540,310 Surface: Clay ATP World Tour Info Tournament Info ATP PR & Marketing Swissopengstaad.ch Fabienne Benoit: Press Room: THINGS TO WATCH IN GSTAAD 1) Scenic Gstaad: This is the 102 nd anniversary of the picturesque tournament and this year s field features four of the Top 30 players, led by David Goffin, Roberto Bautista Agut, defending champion Feliciano Lopez and Fabio Fognini. 2) Goffin Returns: Goffin, who reached the final here two years ago (l. to Thiem) in his previous appearance, is playing his second straight week (QFs in Umag). He suffered a right ankle injury at Roland Garros that forced him to miss the entire grass-court swing. In February, he became the first Belgian to break into the Emirates ATP Rankings Top 10. 3) Former Champs: Besides Lopez, there are two other former champions in the field: Mikhail Youzhny (2013) and Thomaz Bellucci (2009, 2012). 4) Reigning Champion: Lopez is making his 11 th visit to Gstaad. Last year he won his first title (d. Haase), 10 years after reaching the final (l. to Gasquet). He has a 20-9 record in Gstaad. This season Lopez won his biggest career ATP title at Queen s Club/London (d. Cilic). He also was runner-up in Stuttgart (l. to Pouille). 5) Switzerland Second Home: Bellucci has captured three (of four) career ATP World Tour title in Switzerland, the last coming in Geneva in May 2016 (d. Sousa). He is making his eighth Gstaad appearance in the past nine years (except 11) and has a 15-5 record. In 2009, he qualified and captured his first ATP World Tour title (d. A. Beck). In 2012, he won the title again (d. Tipsarevic). 6) Fognini Makes Debut: Fognini is making his main draw debut 10 years after losing in the final round of qualifying. The No. 1 Italian reached 20 match wins on the season for the seventh consecutive year by reaching the QFs in Umag. 7) Dolgo on a Roll: Top Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov, who is making his Gstaad debut, hopes to come in with his second ATP title of the season. He is playing in the Bastad final (vs. Ferrer). He has never won two ATP World Tour titles in a season. 8) Wild Cards: Fognini joins Swiss natives Marco Chiudinelli and Antoine Bellier as wild cards. Chiudinelli is 2-7 in Gstaad and Bellier is making his second straight showing (1R last year) 9) Swiss Title Hopes: Swiss No. 3 Henri Laaksonen is the highest-ranked local player in the draw. This past week he broke the Top 100 for the first time in the Emirates ATP Rankings at No. 100 and he reached his first ATP World Tour QF in Bastad. Federer was the last Swiss champion in ) Doubles Draw: The top seeds are Marcus Daniell and Marcelo Demoliner and No. 2 are the Austrian duo of Oliver Marach and Philipp Oswald. Marach is playing his first tournament since reaching the Wimbledon final (w/pavic).

2 Page 2 of 6 EMIRATES ATP RANKING POINTS AND PRIZE MONEY Swiss Open Gstaad W F SF QF R16 R32 Singles Ranking Points * 0 Singles Prize Money ( ) 85,945 45,265 24,520 13,970 8,230 4,875 Doubles Ranking Points Doubles Prize Money ( ) 26,110 13,730 7,440 4,260 2, * Singles players who receive first-round byes and lose in the second round earn 0 points. SEEDS TO WATCH THIS WEEK SINGLES SEED PLAYER W-L BEST FINISH 1 David Goffin (BEL) Finalist 2 Roberto Bautista Agut (ESP) Round of 16 3 Feliciano Lopez (ESP) Champion 4 Fabio Fognini (ITA) 0-0 Debut 5 Paolo Lorenzi (ITA) Round of 32 6 Robin Haase (NED) , 16 Finalist 7 Dusan Lajovic (SRB) Round of 16 8 Joao Sousa (POR) Quarter-finalist QUALIFIERS (4) Yannick Hanfmann (GER) Daniel Brands (GER) Lorenzo Giustino (ITA) Gleb Sakharov (FRA) WILD CARDS (3) Marco Chiudinelli (SUI) Fabio Fognini (ITA) Antoine Bellier (SUI) OLDEST PLAYER Marco Chiudinelli (SUI) 35 years, 10 months YOUNGEST PLAYER Antoine Bellier (SUI) 20 years, 9 months TOP COUNTRY BREAKDOWN Switzerland (3), Germany (3), Italy (3), Spain (2), Brazil (2), Argentina (2) DOUBLES SEED TEAM W-L BEST TOURNAMENT FINISH 1 Marcus Daniell Quarter-finalist Marcelo Demoliner Quarter-finalist 2 Oliver Marach Finalist Philipp Oswald Semi-finalist 3 Roman Jebavy 9-5 Debut Matwe Middelkoop 3-3 Debut 4 Jonathan Eysseric 4-2 Debut Franko Skugor 8-2 Debut

3 PAST FINALISTS J. Safra Sarasin Swiss Open Gstaad Page 3 of 6 SINGLES (since 2006) YEAR CHAMPION RUNNER-UP SCORE 2016 Feliciano Lopez (ESP) Robin Haase (NED) 6-4, Dominic Thiem (AUT) David Goffin (BEL) 7-5, Pablo Andujar (ESP) Juan Monaco (ARG) 6-3, Mikhail Youzhny (RUS) Robin Haase (NED) 6-3, Thomaz Bellucci (BRA) Janko Tipsarevic (SRB) 6-7(6), 6-4, Marcel Granollers (ESP) Fernando Verdasco (ESP) 6-4, 3-6, Nicolas Almagro (ESP) Richard Gasquet (FRA) 7-5, Thomaz Bellucci (BRA) Andreas Beck (GER) 6-4, 7-6(2) 2008 Victor Hanescu (ROU) Igor Andreev (RUS) 6-3, Paul-Henri Mathieu (FRA) Andreas Seppi (ITA) 6-7(1), 6-3, Richard Gasquet (FRA) Feliciano Lopez (ESP) 7-6(4), 6-7(3), 6-3, 6-3 BOLD: Players in 2017 singles draw DOUBLES (since 2006) YEAR CHAMPION RUNNER-UP SCORE 2016 Julio Peralta/Horacio Zeballos Mate Pavic/Michael Venus 7-6(2), Aliaksandr Bury/Denis Istomin Oliver Marach/Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi 3-6, 6-2, [10-5] 2014 Andre Begemann/Robin Haase Rameez Junaid/Michal Mertinak 6-3, Jamie Murray/John Peers Pablo Andujar/Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-3, Marcel Granollers/Marc Lopez Robert Farah/Santiago Giraldo 6-4, 7-6(9) 2011 Frantisek Cermak/Filip Polasek Christopher Kas/Alexander Peya 6-3, 7-6(9) 2010 Johan Brunstrom/Jarkko Nieminen Marcelo Melo/Bruno Soares 6-3, 6-7(4), [11-9] 2009 Marco Chiudinelli/Michael Lammer Jaroslav Levinsky/Filip Polasek 7-5, Jaroslav Levinsky/Filip Polasek Stephane Bohli/Stan Wawrinka 3-6, 6-2, [11-9] 2007 Frantisek Cermak/Pavel Vizner Marc Gicquel/Florent Serra 7-5, 5-7, [10-7] 2006 Jiri Novak/Andrei Pavel Marco Chiudinelli/Jean-Claude Scherrer 6-3, 6-1 BOLD: Players in 2017 doubles draw FEDEX ATP HEAD 2 HEADS: DAY 1 MAIN DRAW FIRST-ROUND MATCHES Centre Court [Q] Yannick Hanfmann (GER) vs Facundo Bagnis (ARG) Hanfmann FastFacts: 2017 Highlights: QF: Munich (l Bautista Agut) YTD W-L: 3-2 Date of Birth: November 13, 1991 Emirates ATP Ranking: 170 Making his Gstaad main draw debut this week after winning two qualifying round matches Made QF run in ATP World Tour debut at Munich as Q (d. Bellucci after saving 1 MP, l. to Bautista Agut) Advanced to R16 at Stuttgart (l. to Zverev) Achieved career-high No. 165 in Emirates ATP Rankings on July 17 Advanced to 1st ATP Challenger Tour SF and final at Shymkent, KAZ (d. Taberner, l. to Berankis) Reached 1st ATP Challenger Tour QF at Bergamo, ITA as Q (d. Seppi in 1R, l. to Halys) Captured Futures doubles title at Los Angeles, USA with former USC teammate Quiroz (d. Bambridge/Salisbury)

4 Page 4 of 6 Bagnis FastFacts: 2017 Highlights: R16: Bastad (d. Haas, l. to Verdasco) YTD W-L: 3-10 Date of Birth: February 27, 1990 Emirates ATP Ranking: 109 Making his Gstaad main draw debut this week after failing to get out of qualifying in 2013, 2014 and 2015 Defeated former World No. 2 Tommy Haas last week in Bastad before falling to Fernando Verdasco in the R16 Secured 1st hard-court win in ATP Masters 1000 main draw debut at Indian Wells (d. Benneteau, l. to A. Zverev) Also advanced to Sao Paulo 2R (d. Lajovic, l. to Cuevas) Suffered 7 losses in 1R matches, including at Auckland (l. to Klein after holding 1 MP) Qualified in doubles at Rio de Janeiro w/elias (l. to eventual champions Carreno Busta/Cuevas in QF) Reached Bastad, SWE Challenger SF (l. to Lajovic) [WC] Antoine Bellier (SUI) vs [Q] Gleb Sakharov (FRA) Bellier FastFacts: YTD W-L: 0-1 Date of Birth: October 18, 1996 Emirates ATP Ranking: 714 Gstaad W-L (Best Result): 0-1 (2016 R32) Lost to Thaigo Monteiro in the R32 in his Gstaad debut last year Fell to Steve Johnson in a dead rubber during the USA-Switzerland Davis Cup World Cup 1st Round Tie in January Reached the QF at the Portugul F2, Qatar F1 and Israel F7 events on the Futures circuit Posted a 1-3 record on the main circuit last year, winning the fifth rubber of a Davis Cup World Group Playoff against Uzbekistan (d. Karimov) Resident of Geneva, Switzerland whose idol growing up was World No. 5 Stan Wawrinka Sakharov FastFacts: YTD W-L: 0-0 Date of Birth: June 10, 1988 Emirates ATP Ranking: 196 Making his ATP World Tour main draw debut this week after winning two rounds of qualifying matches Advanced to the final of the France F2, Egypt F4, Canada F1, Canada F2, Egypt F13 and France F9 events on the Futures circuit Achieved a career-high ranking of No. 191 on the Emirates ATP Rankings on July 17 Won the Egypt F5 and Turkey F51 events on the Futures circuit last year Born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, but resides in Nantes, France Renzo Olivo (ARG) vs [6] Robin Haase (NED) Olivo FastFacts: 2017 Highlights: QF: Quito (l Bellucci) YTD W-L: 6-14 Date of Birth: March 15, 1992

5 Page 5 of 6 Emirates ATP Ranking: 120 Making his first appearance in Gstaad this week Won four 3-setters to reach Quito QF (l. to Bellucci) and doubles SF w/estrella Burgos (l. to Peralta/Zeballos) Advanced to the R16 last week in Bastad (l. to Schwartzman) Earned biggest win of career over No. 11 Tsonga in Roland Garros 1R (l. to Edmund in 2R) Achieved career-high No. 78 in Emirates ATP Rankings on January 9 Qualified at ATP Masters 1000 Monte-Carlo (l. to Ramos-Vinolas in 1R) Retired in Houston qualifying 1R vs Klahn due to illness Haase FastFacts: 2017 Highlights: SF: Dubai (l Verdasco); QF: Auckland (l Sousa); Halle (l Gasquet) YTD W-L: Career Titles: 2 Date of Birth: April 6, 1987 Emirates ATP Ranking: 50 Gstaad W-L (Best Result): 12-4 (2013, 2016 Finalist) Two-time finalist in Gstaad (2013, l. to Youzhny; 2016, l. to Lopez) and is 12-4 lifetime at this event, also reaching the semi-finals in 2014 (l. to Monaco) Advanced to 1st ATP World Tour 500 SF at Dubai (d. Berdych in 2R, l. to Verdasco in 3 sets) Also advanced to QFs at Auckland (d. Ferrer 76 in 3rd, l. to Sousa) and Halle (d. Thiem, l. to Gasquet) Fell in 2R at 8 tournaments, including Roland Garros (l. to Nadal) Reached Marseille doubles final in team debut w/inglot (l. to Benneteau/Mahut 10-5 in Match TB) Led NED to 3-1 Davis Cup Group I win over BIH (d. Basic, w/rojer d. Basic/Brkic, d. Dzumhur in 5 sets) Mikhail Youzhny (RUS) vs Radu Albot (MDA) Youzhny FastFacts: 2017 Highlights: QF: Chennai (l Bautista Agut) YTD W-L: 8-14 Career Titles: 10 Date of Birth: June 25, 1982 Emirates 2017 ATP Ranking: 85 Gstaad W-L (Best Result): (2013 Champion) Won the 2013 Gstaad title (d. Haase) and is lifetime at this tournament, also reaching the semi-finals in 2011 (l. to Granollers) and quarter-finals in 2008, 2010, 2014 and 2016 Advanced to Chennai QF (d. Myneni and Olivo, l. to Bautista Agut after leading 62 41) Lost to Nicolas Kicker in the R32 at Umag last week Reached the R64 at Wimbledon (d. Mahut in 1R, l. to Raonic in 2R) Qualified at Halle by beating Sugita 76(5) 67(11) 76(12), then reached 2R (l. to Rublev) Squandered 2 MPs in Roland Garros 1R vs Dutra Silva Fell in qualifying at Rotterdam and ATP Masters 1000 events in Miami, Monte-Carlo and Madrid Retired in Australian Open 1R vs Baghdatis due to illness and Rotterdam Q1 vs Donskoy due to right elbow injury Albot FastFacts: 2017 Highlights: QF: Antalya (l Seppi) YTD W-L: 6-14 Date of Birth: November 11, 1989 Emirates ATP Ranking: 132 Gstaad W-L (Best Result): 0-1 (2016 R32)

6 Page 6 of 6 Lost to Tristan Lamasine in the R32 last year in his Gstaad debut Advanced to 1st ATP World Tour QF at Antalya (d. Sousa and Lorenzi, l. to Seppi) Reached Wimbledon 2R for 2nd straight year (d. Bagnis, l. to Johnson) Advanced to R16 at Umag last week (d. Zekic in 1R, l. to Vesely in 2R) Qualified at ATP Masters 1000 events in Indian Wells (l. to Chardy in 1R) and Miami (l. to Seppi in 1R) Also qualified in doubles at Acapulco w/m. Zverev (l. to Marach/F. Martin in QF after holding 1 MP) Achieved career-high No. 81 in Emirates ATP Rankings on April 17 Reached Caltanissetta, ITA Challenger SF (l. to Lorenzi) Withdrew from Istanbul due to right hand injury FEDEX ATP HEAD 2 HEADS: REMAINING FIRST-ROUND MATCHES Thiago Monteiro (BRA) vs Alexandr Dolgopolov (UKR) Thomaz Bellucci (BRA) vs Henri Laaksonen (SUI) 14 Marburg CH (Germany) Clay R16 Henri Laaksonen 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(4) First Tour-Level Meeting Santiago Giraldo (COL) vs (8) Joao Sousa (POR) Giraldo Leads Acapulco (Mexico) Clay R16 Santiago Giraldo 15 Barcelona (Spain) Clay R32 Santiago Giraldo 7-6(8), , 3-6, Australian Open (Australia) Hard R64 Joao Sousa 6-3, 7-5, 3-6, ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Madrid Q (Spain) Clay -- Santiago Giraldo 6-2, 6-2 [5] Paolo Lorenzi (ITA) vs Marco Chiudinelli (SUI) Series Tied Doha (Qatar) Hard R32 Marco Chiudinelli 16 ITA vs. SUI WG 1st RD (Italy) Clay RR Paolo Lorenzi 7-5, (14), 6-3, 4-6, 5-7, Dubai Q (U.A.E.) Hard -- Marco Chiudinelli 09 Tenerife CH (Spain) Hard F Marco Chiudinelli 7-6(1), , 6-4 [Q] Daniel Brands (GER) vs [PR] Ernests Gulbis (LAT) First Tour-Level Meeting 12 Eckental CH (Germany) Carpet F Daniel Brands 7-6(0), 6-3 Norbert Gombos (SVK) vs Taro Daniel (JPN) 12 Croatia F5 (Croatia) Clay R16 Taro Daniel 6-3, Italy F22 (Italy) Clay SF Norbert Gombos 6-3, Cherbourg CH (France) Hard R32 Norbert Gombos 7-6(1), 7-6(6) 14 Todi CH (Italy) Clay R16 Norbert Gombos 6-2, Valencia Q (Spain) Hard -- Taro Daniel 6-4, 6-3 First Tour-Level Meeting [7] Dusan Lajovic (SRB) vs Dustin Brown (GER) Brown Leads Wimbledon (Great Britain) Grass R128 Dustin Brown 4-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 [Q] Lorenzo Giustino (ITA) vs Denis Istomin (UZB) Istomin Leads Marrakech (Morocco) Clay R32 Denis Istomin 7-6(1), 6-4