BB&T ATLANTA OPEN: DAY 4 MEDIA NOTES

Transcription

1 BB&T ATLANTA OPEN: DAY 4 MEDIA NOTES July 27, 2017 Atlantic Station Atlanta, GA, USA July 24-30, 2017 Draw: S-28, D-16 Prize Money: $642,750 Surface: Hard ATP World Tour Info Tournament Info ATP PR & Marketing ATPWorldTour.com Greg Sharko: Press Room: YOUNG AMERICANS LEAD THE CHARGE ON DAY 4 Fourth-seeded American Ryan Harrison looks to capitalize on one of his best years on tour by making his third quarterfinal of the year. Harrison has been in the Atlanta semifinals twice, the first time when he was just 19 years old. Still just 25 years old, he kicks off a day featuring four Americans aged 25 or younger. Harrison takes on John Millman (AUS), who gained entry into the main draw using his protected ranking after more than four months off tour due to injury. He was able to overcome #NextGenATP player Frances Tiafoe (USA), a match in which both players won the same number of points. If Millman prevails, he will make his third career quarterfinal, and first since 2016 Winston-Salem, when he defeated then No. 15 Richard Gasquet (FRA), before falling to eventual champion Pablo Carreno Busta (ESP) in the semifinals. The surprise of the tournament so far has been the first round success of Christopher Eubanks (USA), a rising senior at Georgia Tech in Atlanta. He beat #NextGenATP player Taylor Fritz (USA) in straight sets. This is the first time Eubanks has been past the first round in a tour-level event, and he is one win away from his first quarterfinal. In his way is yet another American #NextGenATP player Jared Donaldson, who also is looking for his first quarterfinal. Donaldson had no trouble in his first round match against #NextGenATP player Ernesto Escobedo (USA) The last match of the day on the Stadium court features top-seed Jack Sock, the top-ranked player from the United States. Sock has played sparingly this summer, losing in the first round on clay at Roland Garros (l. Vesely) and in the second round on grass at Wimbledon (l. Ofner). He is back in time for the US Open Series and will face former finalist here, Dudi Sela (ISR) (l. Isner 2014). Sela beat Konstantin Kravchuk (RUS) in his first round match and recently got his revenge for the 2014 Atlanta final by defeating Isner in the second round of this year s Wimbledon At 5 9 (175cm) and 144 lbs (65kg), Sela is one of the smallest players on the ATP World Tour. He hit just 2 aces in his 1R win against Kravchuk, but that s only one shy of his all-time high of 3 (2014 SF d. Ben. Becker) in his 9 prior matches in Atlanta. Nevertheless, he managed to win 87% of his first serves, and 71% of his serves overall, in his first round victory Tuesday. On the AJC Grandstand court, Peter Gojowczyk (GER) looks to make his second quarterfinal in consecutive weeks. Last week at Newport he knocked off Ivo Karlovic (CRO) in the quarterfinals, before losing to Matthew Ebden (AUS) in the semis. Here he beat Guido Pella (ARG) in a tight contest in the first round, and now faces world No. 45 Kyle Edmund (GBR). Edmund is the seventh youngest player in the Emirates ATP Rankings Top 50. Edmund kicked off his debut in Atlanta with a win over the 2015 finalist Marcos Baghdatis (CYP), in which he won 40% of his return points. A win would earn Edmund his third quarterfinal of the season.

2 Page 2 of 5 FEDEX ATP HEAD 2 HEADS: DAY 4 SECOND ROUND SINGLES MATCHES STADIUM [4] Ryan Harrison (USA) vs [PR] John Millman (AUS) First Tour-Level Meeting Other Meetings: 16 ATP Masters 1000 Cincinnati Q (USA) Hard Q1 John Millman (3) 6-4 Harrison 2017 Summary W: Memphis (d. Basilashvili); QF: Estoril (l. Ferrer) YTD W-L: YTD Titles: 1 Career Titles: 1 Date of Birth: May 7, 1992 (25) Emirates ATP Ranking: 42 Atlanta W-L (Best Result): 6-5 (2011, 2013 Semifinalist) Tournament Note: Harrison made his first semifinal in Atlanta in 2011 at the age of 19 (l. Fish). Two years later he returned to the semifinals, losing to K. Anderson in a second set tiebreak Earned all 6 of his wins in 3 sets for 1st Grand Slam doubles title at Roland Garros w/venus (d. S. Gonzalez/Young) Won his opening round match at Wimbledon vs #NextGenATP player Coric in straight sets. Lost to Berdych in four sets in the 2R Did not drop a set en route to 1st ATP singles final and title at Memphis (d. Basilashvili after saving 12/12 BPs) Two weeks earlier, did not drop a set en route to 4th Challenger title at Dallas, USA (d. Fritz) First player to follow a Challenger title with an ATP title in consecutive appearances since Goffin in 2014 Also reached Memphis doubles final with 1st-time partner Johnson (l. to Baker/Mektic) Achieved career-high rankings of No. 40 in singles and No. 21 in doubles on July 17 Advanced to Estoril singles QF (l. to Ferrer) and won doubles title w/venus (d. Marrero/Robredo) Suffered 5-match singles losing streak from May 16 to July 4 Millman 2017 Summary YTD W-L: 1-2 Date of Birth: June 14, 1989 (28) Emirates ATP Ranking: 174 Tournament Note: Overcame a tough three-set battle vs #NextGenATP player Tiafoe, taking the third set in a tiebreaker. Each player won 110 points. A win would put him in his first quarterfinal since 2016 Winston-Salem, when he defeated Gasquet before falling to eventual champion Carreno Busta. Missed 1st 4+ months with torn tendon in groin that required surgery Lost to Bautista Agut in Roland Garros 1R and Nadal in Wimbledon 1R Advanced to 2R at GBR Challengers in Surbiton (l. to Sela), Nottingham (l. to J. Smith) and Ilkley (l. to Fucsovics) Fell to No. 174 in Emirates ATP Rankings this week -- lowest since No. 195 on November 3, Prior to his injury, was in Top 100 from July 2015 to January 2017

3 Page 3 of 5 [WC] Christopher Eubanks (USA) vs [8] Jared Donaldson (USA) First Meeting Eubanks 2017 Summary YTD W-L: 1-0 Date of Birth: May 5, 1996 (21) Emirates ATP Ranking: 461 Atlanta W-L (Best Result): 1-2 (2017 Second Round) Tournament Note: Took out fellow American and #NextGenATP player Fritz 7-6(5) 6-4 in the first round, winning 75% of his service points. One win away from his first quarterfinal. Lost in each of his two prior main draw appearances in Atlanta (l. Stepanek 2015; l. #NextGenATP Opelka 2016). Will be a senior at Georgia Tech in the fall. Lost in Q1 last week in Newport, to Ramanathan (in three sets) Played Challenger event in Winnetka (USA), losing 1R Bachinger in three sets. Won Futures event in Winston-Salem (USA), defeating K. King (6). Played the next week s Futures event (also in Winston-Salem), losing to #NextGenATP player Paul in straight sets. Made doubles semifinals in Atlanta in 2015 w/young, losing to the Bryans in straight sets. Donaldson 2017 Summary YTD W-L: Date of Birth: October 9, 1996 (20) Emirates ATP Ranking: 59 Atlanta W-L (Best Result): 3-2 ( nd Round) Tournament Note: Donaldson had to overcome another #NextGenATP player in Escobedo, but dispatched him in under an hour ( ). Will make his first ATP World Tour quarterfinal with a win today. Currently No. 8 in Emirates ATP Race to Milan. Has a career record of on hard courts. Achieved career-high 7 times in Emirates ATP Rankings this season, peaking at No. 58 on July 17 Advanced to Grand Slam 3R for 2nd time at Wimbledon (d. Lorenzi, l. to Thiem) Qualified, then saved 3 MPs vs Edmund in 1R before reaching ATP Masters 1000 Miami 4R (l. to Sock) Also qualified at Brisbane (d. Muller, l. to Nishikori in 2R) Saved 1 MP vs Schwartzman in Eastbourne 1R (l. to Young in 2R) [1] Jack Sock (USA) vs Dudi Sela (ISR) First Meeting Sock 2017 Summary W: Auckland (d. Sousa); Delray Beach (d. Raonic); SF: ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Indian Wells (l. Federer); Houston (l. Johnson); QF: ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Miami (l. Nadal) YTD W-L: YTD Titles: 2 Career Titles: 3 Date of Birth: September 24, 1992 (24) Emirates ATP Ranking: 19 Atlanta W-L (Best Result): 5-4 (2014 Semifinalist) Tournament Note: Has had mixed success in Atlanta, beating Johnson to make the QF in 2012 (l. Isner) and bowing out to Isner again in the 2014 semifinal. But in his two other appearances, he has failed to win a match (l. Giraldo 2013; l. Kudla 2015) Scraped by No. 220 Garin (CHI) in four sets, 1R Wimbledon, and lost in five sets to No. 217 #NextGenATP player Ofner (AUT) in 2R. Captured 2nd and 3rd ATP singles titles respectively at Auckland (d. Sousa) and Delray Beach (w/o vs Raonic) Achieved career-high in Emirates ATP Rankings 6 times in 2017, most recently reaching No. 14 on April 17

4 Page 4 of 5 Saved 4 MPs to defeat Dimitrov in 3R, earned biggest win of career over No. 5 Nishikori in QF, and won 4 straight 3-setters overall to reach 1st ATP Masters 1000 SF at Indian Wells (l. to eventual champion Federer) Followed with run to 4th consecutive ATP Masters 1000 QF-or-better at Miami (l. to Nadal in QF) Reached Australian Open 3R for 1st time (l. to Tsonga), but fell in Roland Garros 1R for 1st time (l. to Vesely) Beat fellow Olympic bronze medalist Johnson in Auckland SF and Delray Beach QF, but lost to him in Houston SF Fell to 2-6 in ATP Masters 1000 doubles finals at Miami w/monroe (d. Bryan/Bryan, l. to Kubot/Melo) Withdrew from London/Queen s Club due to knee injury Sela 2017 Summary SF: Chennai (l. Medvedev) YTD W-L: 8-10 Date of Birth: April 4, 1985 (32) Emirates ATP Ranking: 74 Atlanta W-L (Best Result): 7-3 (2014 Finalist) Tournament Note: Easily took out Kravchuk in the first round, with a whopping 87% of his first service points won, despite being one of the smallest players on tour. His run to the finals in 2014 (l. Isner) included victories over Young, Querrey, V. Pospisil and Ben. Becker. The following year he made the quarterfinals (l. Kudla). He s on the opposite side of the Atlanta draw from Isner, but got some revenge at R2 Wimbledon, where he took out Isner in five sets, after having defeated Granollers in five sets in R1. He retired (right adductor injury) in the next round, down two sets to Dimitrov Advanced to 1st ATP World Tour SF since 2014 Atlanta at Chennai (l. to Medvedev after holding 1 MP) Snapped 6-match losing streak at ATP Masters 1000 Miami (d. C. Harrison, l. to Nadal in 2R) Won 21st and 22nd Challenger titles respectively at Canberra, AUS (d. Struff) and Nottingham, GBR (d. Fabbiano) Advanced to Seoul (KOR) Challenger doubles final w/fabbiano (ret vs Hsieh/Peng due to neck injury) Retired in Delray Beach 1R vs Querrey due to back injury and withdrew from Newport due to groin injury AJC GRANDSTAND [SE] Peter Gojowczyk (GER) vs [5] Kyle Edmund (GBR) First Meeting Gojowczyk 2017 Summary SF: Newport (l. Ebden) YTD W-L: 7-4 Date of Birth: July 15, 1989 (28) Emirates ATP Ranking: 108 Tournament Note: Stayed hot with a 2+ hour victory over No. 97 Pella in 1R. Gained a special entry to Atlanta to follow up on his second tour-level semifinal success at Newport last week (l. Ebden). Defeated Newport defending champ Karlovic in QF in three TB sets. Comes in ranked No. 108, his best since January 19, 2015 Won three matches to qualify for Wimbledon, and then defeated Copil in four 1R sets before bowing out to Bautista Agut in four sets 2R Qualified at ATP Masters 1000 Indian Wells (d. Opelka, l. to Carreno Busta in 2R) Fell in qualifying at Australian Open, Dubai, ATP Masters 1000 Miami and Roland Garros Retired in Australian Open Q2 (abdomen) and Miami Q1 (right foot), then missed 2+ months of action Did not drop a set en route 5th ATP Challenger Tour title at Happy Valley (AUS) (d. Jasika) Also advanced to Quimper (FRA) Challenger final (l. to Mannarino)

5 Page 5 of 5 Edmund 2017 Summary QF: Brisbane (l. Wawrinka); Delray Beach (l. Raonic) YTD W-L: Date of Birth: January 8, 1995 (22) Emirates ATP Ranking: 45 Tournament Note: Dispatched former Atlanta finalist Baghdatis in straight sets, winning more than 40% of his return points. Has a career record on hard courts. Peaked at No. 40 in October 2016, and could best that with a strong showing in Atlanta. Advanced to QFs at Brisbane (l. to Wawrinka in 3 sets) and Delray Beach (l. to Raonic in 3 sets) Defeated Elias and Olivo to reach Roland Garros 3R (l. to K. Anderson after leading 2 sets to 1) Earned 1st win in 5th appearance at Wimbledon (d. A. Ward, l. to Monfils in 2R) Also reached 2R at Australian Open (l. to Carreno Busta), Indian Wells (l. to Djokovic), Monte-Carlo (l. to Nadal), Barcelona (l. to Thiem), Rome (l. to del Potro) and Lyon as Q (l. to Simon) Squandered 3 MPs in ATP Masters 1000 Miami 1R (l. to #NextGenATP Donaldson) and 2 MPs in Estoril 1R (l. to Domingues)