Four Seeds In Quarterfinals

[dream girl]

February 13, 2009
ABM AMRO World Tennis Tournament
Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Friday Preview -- No. 1 Nadal, No. 2 Murray Among Four Seeds In Quarterfinals

World No. 1 and top seed Rafael Nadal of Spain and Scot Andy Murray, the No. 2 seed, survived tough tests Thursday and secured a place in the quarterfinals along with four French players, including No. 5 seed Gael Monfils and No. 7 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Centre Court matches start with doubles as South Africans Jeff Coetzee and Wesley Moodie take on Czech Tomas Berdych and Austrian Jurgen Melzer. Singles quarterfinal action begins with ’07 champion Mikhail Youzhny of Russia facing Croatia’s Mario Ancic, followed by Murray against French lucky loser Marc Gicquel. In the evening schedule, Nadal and Tsonga face each other in the first match, followed by the all-French battle between Julien Benneteau and Monfils.

 

[dream girl]

FRIDAY HEAD-TO-HEADS – In Order of Play

FRIDAY HEAD-TO-HEADS – In Order of Play​

HEAD-TO-HEAD

Mikhail Youzhny (RUS) vs Mario Ancic (CRO) Youzhny Leads 1-0
07 St. Petersburg (Russia) Carpet R16 Mikhail Youzhny 6-4 6-2
Youzhny FastFacts:
2009 Highlights:
YTD W-L: 3-3
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 4
Date of Birth: June 25, 1982
South African Airways 2009 ATP Ranking: 62
• Youzhny, 26, reached his first ATP World Tour quarterfinal of the year with a 62 36 62 win over No. 6 seed David Ferrer of Spain...The 2007 Rotterdam champion is appearing in his first quarterfinal since Gstaad (l. to Garcia-Lopez) in July ’08… Started this week by defeating qualifier Laurent Recouderc of France 64 64 in opening round
• Finished ’08 in Top 50 for the seventh straight year at No. 33, jumping off to a 12-2 start in first three tournaments of the year and climbing as high as No. 8 on South African Airways ATP Ranking at the end of January last year
• Won his fourth ATP World Tour title at Chennai (d. No. 2 Nadal) in January ’08 and reached Australian Open QF a year ago (l. to Tsonga) after upsetting No. 4 Nikolay Davydenko
• Other titles include Stuttgart – 2002 (d. Canas), St. Petersburg – 2004 (d. Beck) and Rotterdam – 2007 (defeated Ferrer, Djokovic, and Ljubicic in succession to win the title)
• Posted a career-best 50-match win season in ’07, and also followed Rotterdam title by finishing runner-up at Dubai (d. Nadal in QF, l. to Federer in final)
Ancic FastFacts:
2009 Highlights:
F: Zagreb (l Cilic); QF: Sydney (l Djokovic)
YTD W-L: 11-4
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 3
Date of Birth: March 30, 1984
South African Airways 2009 ATP Ranking: 28
• Ancic, 24 successfully reached his third QF in the early ’09 season by upsetting No. 4 seed Gilles Simon of France 64 36 63 in 2 hours, 28 minutes…In the opening round, defeated Germany’s Rainer Schuettler 75 62
• Has lifetime record at Rotterdam of 5-3 with best outing coming in 2005 with win over No. 7 Tim Henman to reach SF (l. to Federer)
• Last Sunday, he advanced to his 11th ATP World Tour final (3-8) in Zagreb (l. to countryman Cilic), also winning his 200th career ATP World Tour match during the week…Enters QF with 11-4 record in ‘09
• In January, reached the quarterfinals in Sydney (l. to Djokovic) and third round at Australian Open (l. to Simon)
• Owns ATP World Tour titles at ‘s-Hertogenbosch (2005-2006) and St. Petersburg (2006)

 

[dream girl]

HEAD-TO-HEAD

(LL) Marc Gicquel (FRA) vs (2) Andy Murray (GBR) First Meeting
Gicquel FastFacts:
2009 Highlights:
YTD W-L: 3-4
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 0
Date of Birth: March 30, 1977
South African Airways 2009 ATP Ranking: 55
• Gicquel, 31, is making the most of his lucky loser entry, with a 36 63 62 first round win over Russia’s Evgeny Korolev and a second round win over fellow Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu 64 63
• Looking to reach his first ATP World Tour semifinal since Amersfoort (l. to Darcis) in July ’08
• Best result last year was runner-up on grass at ‘s-Hertogenbosch (l. to Ferrer) in June
• Compiled marks of 8-13 on hard, 7-7 on clay, and 6-3 on grass in ‘08
• Highest South African Airways ATP Singles Ranking was No. 37 on Sept. 8, 2008
• Won second career doubles title in first tournament of the year at Brisbane (w/Tsonga)
Murray FastFacts:
2009 Highlights:
W: Doha (d Roddick)
YTD W-L: 10-1
YTD Titles: 1
Career Titles: 9
Date of Birth: May 15, 1987
South African Airways 2009 ATP Ranking: 4
• Murray, 21, posted a 76 75 win over Italy’s Andreas Seppi in 1 hour, 47 minutes to reach quarterfinals
• Improved ’09 record to 10-1, including a title in Doha (d. No. 2 Federer in SF, No. 8 Roddick in F) and also reached the fourth round at the Australian Open (l. to Verdasco in five sets)
• Opened the tournament with a 63 62 win over two-time finalist Ivan Ljubicic
• Did not lose serve in final two rounds in Doha and for the tournament held 47 of 50 service games
• Made his Rotterdam debut last year and lost to Dutchman Robin Haase in the first round
• Reached current career-best ranking of No. 4 on Sept. 8, 2008 and won five of his nine titles last year (Doha, Marseille, ATP Masters Series Cincinnati, ATP Masters Series Madrid, St. Petersburg)

 

[dream girl]

HEAD-TO-HEAD

(1) Rafael Nadal (ESP) vs (7) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) Nadal Leads 2-1
07 US Open (U.S.A.) Hard R32 Rafael Nadal 7-6(3) 6-2 6-1
08 Australian Open (Australia) Hard SF Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-2 6-3 6-2
08 ATP Masters Series Indian Wells Hard R16 Rafael Nadal 6-7(4) 7-6(3) 7-5
Nadal FastFacts:
2009 Highlights:
W: Australian Open (d Federer); QF: Doha (l Monfils)
YTD W-L: 11-1
YTD Titles: 1
Career Titles: 32
Date of Birth: June 3, 1986
South African Airways 2009 ATP Ranking: 1
• Nadal, 22, survived a difficult Thursday test from 17-year-old Bulgarian wild card Grigor Dimitrov, 75 36 62 to reach the quarterfinal in a 2 hour, 25-minute match
• He rallied to beat Italian Simone Bolelli 46 62 75 on Wednesday to improve his match record to 11-1 on the season
• The Mallorca native is making his first tournament appearance since capturing his sixth Grand Slam title at the Australian Open on Feb. 1, his first on hard courts, with a five-set victory over rival Roger Federer...In SF victory over countryman Fernando Verdasco, won a tournament record 5:14 battle in five sets
• He became the first Spaniard to win the Australian title and third player at age 22-under to win three of four Grand Slam titles, joining Connors and Sampras...Also first player to win Aussie Open title winning five-set semifinal and final matches since Mats Wilander in 1988
• Opened the '09 season with a quarterfinal in Doha (l. to Monfils) and won the doubles title(w/M. Lopez)
• Has ranked No. 1 for 26 consecutive weeks since first taking over on Aug. 18, 2008
• Second youngest player (behind Borg) to win six Grand Slam titles in Open Era at age 22
Tsonga FastFacts:
2009 Highlights:
W: Johannesburg (d Chardy); QF: Brisbane (l Gasquet); Sydney (W/O vs Nieminen); Australian Open (l Verdasco)
YTD W-L: 14-2
YTD Titles: 1
Career Titles: 3
Date of Birth: April 17, 1985
South African Airways 2009 ATP Ranking: 13
• Tsonga, 23, fired 13 aces in a victory over Russia’s Dmitry Tursunov Thursday to place him in the quarterfinals in his first visit to Rotterdam…On the previous day, won a tough 76 76 match over Dutch wildcard entry Jesse Huta Galung…He has now reached quarterfinals (or better) in each of the five tournaments he’s played in 2009
• Last month he began the year by reaching the quarterfinals in Brisbane (l. to Gasquet), Sydney (W/O due to back vs. Nieminen) and the Australian Open (l. to Verdasco)
• He enters Rotterdam off to a career-best 14-2 start...His match wins total is tops on the ATP World Tour this season, ahead of Croat Marin Cilic (13-1)
• Last Sunday he captured his third ATP World Tour title in Johannesburg (d. countryman Chardy) without dropping a set
• Peaked on South African Airways ATP Ranking at No. 6 (Nov. 17, 2008) with biggest moments coming at Australian Open, where he reached first Grand Slam final (l. to Djokovic) and later in fall by winning the ATP Masters Series Paris (d. Nalbandian)
• Finished ’08 with 8-5 record against Top 10 opponents

 

[dream girl]

HEAD-TO-HEAD
Julien Benneteau (FRA) vs (5) Gael Monfils (FRA) Monfils Leads 2-1
05 Milan (Italy) Carpet R32 Gael Monfils 6-3 6-3
07 ATP Masters Series Indian Wells Hard R128 Julien Benneteau 3-6 6-3 7-5
08 Nottingham (Great Britain) Grass R16 Gael Monfils 3-6 6-4 6-2
Benneteau FastFacts:
2009 Highlights:
YTD W-L: 3-3
Career Titles: 0
Date of Birth: December 20, 1981
South African Airways 2009 ATP Ranking: 50

• Benneteau, 27, pulled off the biggest upset of the tournament Wednesday with a 63 62 win over No. 3 seed and No. 5 ranked Russia’s Nikolay Davydenko for his first win over a Top 10 since defeating Spain’s David Ferrer in Auckland last January
• Opened the tournament with a 64 57 62 win over Spain’s Feliciano Lopez
• Started the year 1-3 prior to Rotterdam, falling to Baghdatis in opening round at Australian Open…Only previous win came over Robby Ginepri in opening round at Brisbane to start ‘09
• Finished in Top 50 for second time in three years at No. 43 last year by reaching his first ATP World Tour finals in Casablanca (l. to Simon) and Lyon (d. Tsonga in SF, l. to Soderling)
• Finished 1-3 against Top 10 in ’08 and 10-13 on hard, 7-3 on clay, and 1-3 on grass
Monfils FastFacts:
2009 Highlights:
SF: Doha (l Roddick)
YTD W-L: 8-2
Career Titles: 1
Date of Birth: September 1, 1986
South African Airways 2009 ATP Ranking: 12
• Monfils, 22, off to an 8-2 start this year and playing Rotterdam for only the second time, secured a place in the QF with a 64 64 win over defending champion and fellow Frenchman Michael Llodra…In opening round action, advanced with a 64 10 retired win over Switzerland’s Stephane Bohli
• Won his 100th career ATP World Tour singles match earlier this year
• Appearing in his first tournament since retiring with a right wrist injury (vs. Simon) in the fourth round at the Australian Open last month...Trailed 46 62 16 when he retired against his countryman
• The No. 2 Frenchman (behind No. 8 Simon) in the South African Airways 2009 ATP Rankings is at a career-high No. 12 this week
• He opened the season with a semifinal showing in Doha where he beat No. 1 Rafael Nadal 64 64 in the quarterfinals before losing in three sets to No. 8-ranked Andy Roddick