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2016 AUSTRALIAN OPEN
DAY 4 MEN’S NOTES
Thursday 21 January
2nd Round Bottom Half
Featured matches
No. 2 Andy Murray (GBR) v Sam Groth (AUS)
No. 4 Stan Wawrinka (SUI) v (Q) Radek Stepanek (CZE)
No. 8 David Ferrer (ESP) v (WC) Lleyton Hewitt (AUS)
No. 10 John Isner (USA) v Marcel Granollers (ESP)
No. 13 Milos Raonic (CAN) v Tommy Robredo (ESP)
No. 16 Bernard Tomic (AUS) v Simone Bolelli (ITA)
No. 23 Gael Monfils (FRA) v Nicolas Mahut (FRA)
No. 25 Jack Sock (USA) v Lukas Rosol (CZE)
On court today…
Lleyton Hewitt will look to extend his 20th – and final – Australian Open for at least another match when he takes on David Ferrer on Rod Laver Arena. The 34-year-old Hewitt, who remains the only player from Australia to have defeated Ferrer at a Grand Slam, is looking for his first Top 10 win at a major since beating Juan Martin del Potro at the 2013 US Open. Ferrer, meanwhile, has not lost to a player ranked as low as No. 308 Hewitt in over 13 years.
Andy Murray will be hoping he can maintain his impressive record against players at their home Grand Slam when he faces the big-serving Sam Groth on Rod Laver Arena. Gael Monfils is the only player at their home Grand Slam to have defeated Murray. Groth will be looking to become the first Australian player to defeat Murray in a Tour-level match.
Radek Stepanek will hope to continue to defy the aging process when he takes on 2014 Australian Open champion Stan Wawrinka on Hisense Arena. The 37-year-old, who became the oldest man to win a match in Melbourne since 1978 in the 1st round, is looking to record his 2nd career-win over a Top 10 player at a major and become the oldest man through to the 3rd round at a Grand Slam in 25 years.
Two of the 3 former Junior Australian Open champions to have reached the 2nd round from the 8 who started the men’s main draw are in action today. Monfils, the 2004 boys’ champion, plays compatriot Nicolas Mahut on Margaret Court Arena, while 2008 boys’ winner Bernard Tomic plays Simone Bolelli on the same court in the night match.
2 ANDY MURRAY (GBR) v SAM GROTH (AUS)
Head-to-head: first meeting
MURRAY v GROTH
28 Age 28
2 ATP Ranking 67
35 Titles 0
154-37 Career Grand Slam Record 7-8
40-10 Australian Open Record 3-3
553-165 Career Record 33-43
375-107 Career Record – Hard 20-32
1-0 2016 Record 1-2
1-0 2016 Record – Hard 1-2
18-7 Career Five-Set Record 1-0
8 Comebacks from 0-2 Down 0
157-98 Career Tiebreak Record 37-29
0-0 2016 Tiebreak Record 1-3
4-time Australian Open runner-up MURRAY is bidding to reach the 3rd round here for the 8th straight year. He defeated Alexander Zverev 61 62 63 in the 1st round. He is contesting his 11th straight Australian Open and 40th Grand Slam overall.
Murray is bidding to maintain his record of never having lost a Tour-level match against an Australian. He has won all 16 of his previous meetings against Australian opposition. [NB He lost to Nick Kyrgios at the 2016 Hopman Cup.]
Murray has a 12-1 win-loss record against players at their home Grand Slam. His only loss to a player at their home major came against Monfils at 2006 Roland Garros. He has defeated both the Australian players he has faced at the Australian Open, 6 of the 7 French players he has met at Roland Garros and all 4 of the American players he has played at the US Open. He has never faced a Brit at Wimbledon.
Murray has a 1-3 win-loss record in 5-set matches at the Australian Open. The only 5-set match he has won here came in 2013 when he defeated Roger Federer in the semifinals. He has an 18-7 win-loss record in 5-set matches overall.
Murray has lost just once before to a player ranked as low as No. 67 today’s opponent at a Grand Slam when he was defeated by No. 91 Arnaud Clement at the 2005 US Open. The last time he lost to a player ranked that low at Tour-level was at 2015 Dubai when he was defeated by No. 84 Borna Coric.
Murray is looking to become the first man in the Open Era to win a Grand Slam title after losing 4 finals at any one Grand Slam. He finished as runner-up to Roger Federer here in 2010, and to Novak Djokovic in 2011, 2013 and 2015. Federer, at Roland Garros, and Ivan Lendl, at the US Open, are the only players to lose 3 Grand Slam finals at one major before winning the title in the Open Era.
Elsewhere in Grand Slam play in 2015, Murray reached the semifinals at Roland Garros (l. Djokovic) and Wimbledon (l. Federer). He fell to Kevin Anderson in the round of 16 at the US Open – the first time he had lost before the quarterfinals at a Grand Slam since the 2010 US Open.
Also in 2015, Murray won 4 titles including his first titles on clay at Munich (d. Philipp Kohlschreiber), where he became the first British player to win a Tour-level clay court title since Buster Mottram at 1976 Palma, and Madrid-1000 (d. Rafael Nadal). He also won the title at Queen’s (d. Anderson) and Montreal-1000 (d. Djokovic).
Murray warmed up for the Australian Open at the Hopman Cup. He won 2 of his 3 singles matches in Perth, defeating Kenny de Schepper and Alexander Zverev, but losing to Kyrgios.
By winning his 1st round match here, Murray took sole occupancy of 8th place on the list for the most Australian Open match-wins in the Open Era with 40. If he reaches the final here, he would tie Pete Sampras in 7th place on 45 wins.
Murray was one of 6 Grand Slam champions through to the 2nd round from the 7 to start in the men’s main draw here. Murray won the 2012 US Open title (d. Djokovic) and became the first British man to win the Wimbledon singles title in 77 years in 2013 (d. Djokovic).
Murray is coached by 2006 Australian Open and Wimbledon champion Amelie Mauresmo.
GROTH recorded his first match-win of 2016 and ended a 5-match Tour-level losing streak by defeating Adrian Mannarino 76(6) 64 36 63 in the 1st round.
Groth is looking for his career best match-win today. The highest-ranked player he has defeated is No. 14 Feliciano Lopez at 2015 Stuttgart. He has lost all 4 of his previous match-ups with a Top 10 player.
Groth is looking to reach the 3rd round and equal his best Grand Slam performance. He reached the 3rd round here last year (l. Bernard Tomic) and at 2015 Wimbledon (l. Roger Federer). This is his 4th Australian Open appearance and his 9th Grand Slam overall.
Groth defeated Thanasi Kokkinakis in the 2nd round here last year to record his first 5-set match-win in his first 5-set match. It is the only 5-set match he has played.
Also at the Grand Slams last year, Groth reached the 2nd round at the US Open (d. Alexandr Dolgopolov, l. Tommy Robredo) but lost in the 1st round at Roland Garros (l. Pablo Cuevas).
Groth’s best results in 2015 were quarterfinals finishes at Brisbane (l. Milos Raonic), Stuttgart (l. Viktor Troicki) and Washington (l. Kei Nishikori). He won 2 Challenger titles at Taipei (TPE) (d. Konstantin Kravchuk) and Manchester (GBR) (d. Luke Saville). He reached a career-high ranking of No. 53 in August but plays here ranked No. 67.
Prior to coming here, Groth lost in the 1st round at both Brisbane (l. Hyeon Chung) and Sydney
(l. Federico Delbonis).
Also in 2015, Groth helped Australia reach the Davis Cup World Group semifinals, where they lost to eventual champions Great Britain 3-2. In the quarterfinals against Kazakhstan, he won the doubles rubber with Hewitt and the 1st reverse singles rubber against Mikhail Kukushkin as Australia fought back from 0-2 down to record a historic win.
Groth has entered the men’s doubles event here with Hewitt. They defeated Dusan Lajovic/Viktor Troicki in the 1st round on Wednesday evening after their opponents retired despite leading 64 1-2.
Groth was one of 6 Australian men through to the 2nd round from the 9 to start in the main draw here vying to be the first homegrown champion since Mark Edmondson in 1976.
Groth is coached by Ben Mathias.
4 STAN WAWRINKA (SUI) v (Q) RADEK STEPANEK (CZE)
Head-to-head: Stepanek leads 4-2
2004 Lyon Qualifying Draw Carpet (I) R16 Stepanek 64 62
2005 Barcelona Clay (O) QF Stepanek 36 63 62
2007 Davis Cup (WG-PO) Carpet (I) R5 Stepanek 76(3) 63 76(4)
2009 Barcelona Clay (O) R16 Stepanek 64 16 75
2009 Shanghai-1000 Hard (O) R16 Stepanek 36 76(5) 42 ret. (abdominal strain)
2013 US Open Hard (O) R128 Wawrinka 76(2) 63 62
2015 Tokyo Hard (O) R32 Wawrinka 75 63
Wawrinka ended a 4-match Tour-level losing streak against Stepanek at the 2013 US Open. Wawrinka leads their hard court head-to-head 2-1.
WAWRINKA v STEPANEK
30 Age 37
4 ATP Ranking 188
12 Titles 5
104-41 Career Grand Slam Record 57-50
29-9 Australian Open Record 14-12
398-234 Career Record 373-291
215-128 Career Record – Hard 208-166
5-0 2016 Record 2-1
5-0 2016 Record – Hard 2-1
22-18 Career Five-Set Record 15-23
6 Comebacks from 0-2 Down 6
158-155 Career Tiebreak Record 158-147
1-0 2016 Tiebreak Record 0-3
2014 Australian Open champion WAWRINKA is looking to reach the 3rd round here for the 8th straight year. This is his 11th Australian Open appearance and his 44th Grand Slam overall.
Wawrinka was leading Dmitry Tursunov 76(2) 63 when the Russian retired with a left foot injury in the 1st round on Tuesday evening.
Wawrinka is on a 10-match winning streak against Czech opposition. He has not lost to a Czech player since he was defeated by Tomas Berdych in the Davis Cup first round in 2013. He has a 6-1 win-loss record against Czech players at the majors. His only loss in that time was to Berdych at the 2009 Australian Open.
Wawrinka has lost 3 times to players ranked as low as No. 188 today’s opponent in his Tour-level career. He lost to No. 188 Jan Hernych at 2008 Dubai, No. 216 James Ward at 2011 Queen’s and No. 240 Nicolas Mahut at 2013 ’s-Hertogenbosch.
Wawrinka has never lost to a player ranked as low as No. 188 today’s opponent at a Grand Slam. No. 163 Nicolas Lapentti at the 2009 US Open is the lowest-ranked player to have defeated him at a major. The lowest-ranked player to defeat him at the Australian Open is No. 73 Marc Gicquel in the 2nd round here in 2008.
Last year here as defending champion Wawrinka reached the semifinals, losing to eventual champion Novak Djokovic 76(1) 36 64 46 60.
Wawrinka’s best Australian Open result is winning the title in his first Grand Slam final in 2014 (d. Rafael Nadal 63 62 36 63). He was the first player to defeat the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds en route to a Grand Slam title since Sergei Bruguera won 1993 Roland Garros.
Wawrinka won his 2nd Grand Slam title as No. 8 seed at 2015 Roland Garros. He became the 2nd Swiss player – man or woman – in history to win Roland Garros after defeating No. 1 seed Djokovic 46 64 63 64 in the final. At 30 years 71 days, he was the oldest man to win in Paris since Andres Gomez in 1990.
Elsewhere at the Grand Slams in 2015, Wawrinka reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon (l. Richard Gasquet) and the semifinals at the US Open (l. Roger Federer). It was the first time he had reached the quarterfinals at all 4 Grand Slams in a calendar year.
Wawrinka had a career-best season in 2015. As well as winning his 2nd Grand Slam title at Roland Garros, he also won the titles at Chennai (d. Aljaz Bedene), Rotterdam (d. Berdych) and Tokyo (d. Benoit Paire). It was the first time he has won 4 titles in a single season. He also reached 5 further semifinals.
Wawrinka warmed up for the Australian Open by successfully defending his title at Chennai. He defeated Borna Coric in the final. It was his 12th career title and 4th at Chennai, having also won there in 2011, 2014 and 2015.
Wawrinka is currently working with Magnus Norman, who reached the semifinals here in 2000.
At 37 years 65 days old, qualifier STEPANEK is looking to become the oldest man to reach the 3rd round at a Grand Slam since Jimmy Connors (aged 39 years 6 days) reached the semifinals as a wild card at the 1991 US Open.
By defeating qualifier Tatsuma Ito 64 63 67(5) 62 in the 1st round, Stepanek became the oldest man to win a match at the Australian Open since Bob Carmichael (38 years 183 days) and Ken Rosewall (44 years 62 days) reached the 3rd round in 1978.
Stepanek has won just one of his last 18 meetings with a Top 10 player. His only victory in that time came over No. 5 Andy Murray at 2014 Queen’s. He is bidding for his 2nd victory over Top 10 opposition at a major in his 15th attempt. His only Grand Slam victory against a Top 10 player came against No. 5 Fernando Gonzalez at 2007 Roland Garros.
Stepanek defeated Jan Satral (CZE) 62 36 64, No. 5 seed Jan-Lennard Struff (GER) 64 64 and No. 24 seed Alejandro Gonzalez (COL) 63 61 in the 3 rounds of qualifying. It was the first time he had to qualify for a Grand Slam since 2002 Wimbledon.
Prior to coming here Stepanek reached the 2nd round under a protected ranking at Brisbane (d. Dusan Lajovic, l. Bernard Tomic).
Stepanek is bidding to reach the 3rd round here and equal his best Australian Open performance. He has reached the 3rd round on 5 previous occasions – on his debut here in 2003 (l. Lleyton Hewitt), in 2005 (l. Guillermo Canas), as No. 20 seed in 2007 (l. David Ferrer), as No. 22 seed in 2009 (l. Fernando Verdasco) and as No. 31 seed in 2013 (l. Novak Djokovic).
Stepanek missed the Australian Open last year with a back injury. Elsewhere at the majors in 2015, he reached the 2nd round at Roland Garros (d. Ivan Dodig, l. Tomas Berdych) but lost in the 1st round at Wimbledon (l. Aljaz Bedene) and retired in the 1st round at the US Open with neck pain (l. Marsel Ilhan). He is contesting his 13th Australian Open and his 51st Grand Slam overall.
Stepanek is bidding to record back-to-back Tour-level match-wins for the first time since 2015 Bogota, where he reached the quarterfinals as a wild card (l. Ivo Karlovic). Due to a back injury he didn’t start his 2015 season until April and won just 7 Tour-level matches all year.
Stepanek dropped out of the Top 100 in April 2015 for the first time since July 2007. He dropped as low as No. 369 in the rankings on 20 July – his lowest ranking since December 2001. He plays here at No. 188.
Stepanek’s best Grand Slam result is reaching the quarterfinals at 2006 Wimbledon where as No. 14 seed he lost to Jonas Bjorkman in 5-sets. It was his 3rd straight 5-set match, having comeback from 0-2 down to defeat Juan Carlos Ferrero in the 3rd round and then defeated Fernando Verdasco in the round of 16.
Stepanek is a former Top 10 player having reached a career-high ranking of No. 8 in July 2006. He has won 5 career singles titles, most recently at 2011 Washington (d. Gael Monfils). All 5 of his career singles titles have come on a hard court.
Stepanek is a 2-time Grand Slam men’s doubles champion having won the 2012 Australian Open and the 2013 US Open titles with Leander Paes. He has won 18 career doubles titles, most recently at 2015 Bogota with Edouard Roger-Vasselin.
Stepanek has entered the men’s doubles here with Daniel Nestor. They defeated wild cards Cheng Peng Hsieh/Tsung-Hua Yang 61 75 in the 1st round.
Stepanek is coached by Petr Korda, who won the title here in 1998.
8 DAVID FERRER (ESP) v (WC) LLEYTON HEWITT (AUS)
Head-to-head: Ferrer leads 2-1
2006 Wimbledon Grass (O) R16 Hewitt 64 64 46 75
2008 Roland Garros Clay (O) R32 Ferrer 62 36 36 63 64
2012 US Open Hard (O) R32 Ferrer 76(9) 46 63 60
Ferrer and Hewitt have only ever met in Grand Slams. This completes a full set of Grand Slam meetings.
Hewitt is the only Australian player to defeat Ferrer at a Grand Slam – beating Ferrer on the Spaniard’s first meeting with an Australian player at a major at 2006 Wimbledon. Ferrer has a 4-1 win-loss record against Australians at the majors and a 12-3 win-loss record against Australians at Tour-level overall.
Ferrer has only lost once to a player ranked as low as No. 308 Hewitt at Tour-level – to No. 316 Thomas Blake at 2002 Tokyo. The lowest-ranked player Ferrer has lost to at a Grand Slam is No. 126 Kei Nishikori at the 2008 US Open.
Ferrer has never lost to a wild card at a Grand Slam. He has a 6-0 win-loss record against wild cards at the majors, with his most recent win over a wild card at a major coming against Hewitt at the 2012 US Open. This is his first meeting with a wild card at the Australian Open.
FERRER v HEWITT
33 Age 34
8 ATP Ranking 308
26 Titles 30
131-51 Career Grand Slam Record 148-63
36-13 Australian Open Record 32-19
660-313 Career Record 616-261
309-166 Career Record – Hard 372-157
3-2 2016 Record 1-0
3-2 2016 Record – Hard 1-0
20-11 Career Five-Set Record 32-25
4 Comebacks from 0-2 Down 6
148-131 Career Tiebreak Record 172-157
1-0 2016 Tiebreak Record 1-0
FERRER is through to the 2nd round here for the 11th straight year. He defeated qualifier Peter Gojowczyk 64 64 62 in the opening round on Tuesday. He is contesting his 14th successive Australian Open and 52nd Grand Slam.
Ferrer has not lost in the 2nd round here since 2010, when as No. 17 seed he lost to Marcos Baghdatis. He also fell in the 2nd round on his 2nd appearance here in 2004 (l. Sjeng Schalken).
Ferrer’s best Grand Slam result is reaching the final as No. 4 seed at 2013 Roland Garros, where he lost in straight sets to Nadal. At 31 years 68 days, he was the 4th oldest man to reach the Roland Garros final.
Ferrer’s best Australian Open performance is reaching the semifinals as No. 7 seed in 2011 (l. Andy Murray) and as No. 4 seed in 2013 (l. Novak Djokovic).
Last year here Ferrer reached the round of 16, losing to Kei Nishikori. Elsewhere at the Grand Slams in 2015, Ferrer reached the quarterfinals at Roland Garros (l. Murray) and the 3rd round at the US Open
(l. Jeremy Chardy). He missed Wimbledon with an elbow injury, ending a run of 50 straight Grand Slam appearances.
Ferrer warmed up for the Australian Open by reaching the semifinals at Auckland, losing to Jack Sock. He fell in the 1st round at Doha to Illya Marchenko.
Ferrer finished 2015 at No. 7 in the rankings – the 6th consecutive year he has finished in the Top 10. He won 5 titles in 2015, the most titles he has won in a calendar year since 2012. He won the titles at Doha
(d. Tomas Berdych), Rio de Janeiro (d. Fabio Fognini), Acapulco (d. Kei Nishikori), Kuala Lumpur
(d. Feliciano Lopez) and Vienna (d. Steve Johnson). He played just one event between Roland Garros and the US Open due to an elbow injury.
Ferrer started working with Francisco Fogues in 2015.
2005 Australian Open runner-up HEWITT is bidding to reach the 3rd round at the Australian Open for the 10th time and first time since 2012.
Hewitt defeated wild card James Duckworth 76(5) 62 64 in Tuesday’s night match to advance to the 2nd round here for the 13th time.
Hewitt is making his 20th – and final – Australian Open appearance, extending his record for the most Australian Open appearances ahead of Fabrice Santoro (18) [see Preview page 3]. He is in joint-4th place in the list for the most appearances at a single Grand Slam.
Hewitt is also making his 66th Grand Slam appearance overall, which puts him in 3rd place for the most Grand Slams played in the Open Era after Fabrice Santoro and Roger Federer [see Preview page 5].
In his 19 previous appearances at Melbourne Park, Hewitt has fallen in the 2nd round 3 times – as a wild card in 1999 (l. Tommy Haas), as No. 3 seed in 2006 (l. Juan Ignacio Chela) and as a wild card last year
(l. Benjamin Becker).
At last year’s Australian Open, Hewitt lost to Becker in the 2nd round in 5-sets. He is on a 6-match losing streak in 5-set matches. Hewitt has a 7-6 win-loss record in 5-set matches at the Australian Open and a 32-25 5-set win-loss record overall. He hasn’t won a 5-set match at Melbourne Park since defeating Marcos Baghdatis in the 3rd round in 2008 in a match that finished at 4:34am.
Hewitt is bidding to end a 4-match losing streak against Top 10 opposition. He has not defeated a Top 10 player since defeating No. 6 Federer to win the title at 2014 Brisbane. He has a 66-72 career-win-loss record against Top 10 opposition at Tour-level and a 10-30 win-loss record against Top 10 players at the Grand Slams. His last victory over a Top 10 player at a major was against No. 6 Juan Martin del Potro at the 2013 US Open.
Prior to coming here, Hewitt teamed with Jarmila Wolfe as the Australia Gold team at Hopman Cup. Hewitt defeated Jack Sock but lost to Jiri Vesely and Alexandr Dolgopolov in the round-robin.
All 3 of Hewitt’s Grand Slam appearances in 2015 ended in 5-set defeats. As well as losing to Becker in the 2nd round here, he lost to Jarkko Nieminen in the 1st round as a wild card at Wimbledon in a match where the final set finished 11-9, and to Bernard Tomic as a wild card in the 2nd round at the US Open. He did not play at Roland Garros.
Hewitt has played 57 five-set matches, winning 32 of them. Ivan Lendl holds the record for the most 5-set matches played with 58. Lendl also tops the table for most 5-set matches won with 36, ahead of Ilie Nastase (35), Pete Sampras (33) and Hewitt.
Hewitt is a former Grand Slam champion, having won the 2001 US Open (d. Pete Sampras) and 2002 Wimbledon (d. David Nalbandian). He was one of 6 Grand Slam champions to reach the 2nd round here from the 7 to start the men’s main draw.
Hewitt finished runner-up here in 2005, becoming the first Australian to reach an Australian Open final since Pat Cash in 1988. He lost to Marat Safin 16 63 64 64 and had carried a hip flexor injury throughout the whole tournament.
Hewitt has entered the men’s doubles event here with Sam Groth. They defeated Dusan Lajovic/Viktor Troicki in the 1st round on Wednesday evening after their opponents retired despite leading 64 1-2.
In Davis Cup play in 2015, Hewitt helped Australia to reach the semifinals for the first time since 2006, where they lost to eventual champions Great Britain 3-2. He has been named as Australia’s Davis Cup captain and his first tie in charge will be against USA in Kooyong on 4-6 March.
Outside of the Grand Slams and Davis Cup, Hewitt played a limited schedule in 2015, contesting just 6 other tournaments. He won 4 matches all year – 2 at the Grand Slams, one in Davis Cup and one at Washington. He plays here ranked No. 308.
Hewitt is coached by Tony Roche and Jaymon Crabb.
10 JOHN ISNER (USA) v MARCEL GRANOLLERS (ESP)
Head-to-head: Isner leads 1-0
2008 Washington Hard (O) R32 Isner 63 67(5) 76(1)
A 2nd career meeting for the 2 players, but their first in nearly 8 years.
ISNER v GRANOLLERS
30 Age 29
11 ATP Ranking 80
10 Titles 4
46-30 Career Grand Slam Record 31-33
10-7 Australian Open Record 6-8
290-178 Career Record 165-193
213-117 Career Record – Hard 66-86
2-1 2016 Record 1-1
2-1 2016 Record – Hard 1-1
5-14 Career Five-Set Record 11-5
1 Comebacks from 0-2 Down 4
283-160 Career Tiebreak Record 46-64
2-1 2016 Tiebreak Record 0-1
ISNER is bidding to reach the 3rd round here for the 5th time. He advanced to the 2nd round after defeating Jerzy Janowicz 63 76(7) 63 in the 1st round on Tuesday.
Last year here as No. 19 seed he fell to Gilles Muller in the 3rd round. This is his 8th Australian Open appearance and his 31st Grand Slam overall.
Isner’s best Australian Open performance is reaching the round of 16 as No. 33 seed in 2010 (l. Andy Murray).
Isner recorded his best Grand Slam result at the 2011 US Open where he reached the quarterfinals as No. 28 seed (l. Murray).
In Grand Slam play in 2015, Isner reached the round of 16 at the US Open (l. Roger Federer), the 3rd round at the Australian Open and Wimbledon (l. Marin Cilic) and the 2nd round at Roland Garros (l. Jeremy Chardy).
Isner’s best result in 2015 was winning his 10th career singles title as top seed at Atlanta (d. Marcos Baghdatis). He also finished runner-up at Washington (l. Kei Nishikori) and reached the semifinals at Miami-1000 and Nice. 7 of Isner’s 10 career titles have come on a hard court.
Isner finished 2015 ranked No. 11 – his highest year-end ranking and the 6th consecutive season he has finished inside the Top 20. He plays here ranked No. 11 – 2 spots below the career-high ranking of No. 9 he achieved in April 2012.
Isner warmed up for the Australian Open by reaching the quarterfinals at Auckland (l. Roberto Bautista Agut).
Isner is one of 8 Americans to have reached the 2nd round here – the most in Melbourne since 2008 when there were 9.
Isner’s 64 36 67 76 70-68 1st round defeat of Nicolas Mahut at 2010 Wimbledon played over 3 days set the record for the longest tennis match in history in terms of number of games and duration. The match lasted 11 hours 5 minutes and totalled 183 games. The final set alone lasted 8 hours 11 minutes. In comparison, the fewest games played through 7 rounds to win a Grand Slam Open Era men’s singles title is 147, by Guillermo Vilas at the 1977 US Open.
Isner started working with Justin Gimelstob, who was a doubles semifinalist here in 2001, in December 2014. His fitness trainer is Kyle Morgan.
GRANOLLERS is bidding to reach the 3rd round here for the first time.
Granollers defeated wild card Matthew Ebden 62 46 61 64 in the opening round on Tuesday to reach the 2nd round here for the 6th time and equal his best Australian Open performance.
Granollers’ best Australian Open result is reaching the 2nd round here in 2009 (l. Andy Murray), 2010
(l. Alejandro Falla), 2012 (l. Frederico Gil), 2013 (l. Jeremy Chardy) and 2015 (l. Gilles Simon).
Granollers’ best Grand Slam result is reaching the round of 16 at Roland Garros in 2012 (l. David Ferrer) and in 2014 (l. Milos Raonic), and at the 2013 US Open (l. Novak Djokovic). This is his 9th consecutive Australian Open and his 34th appearance at a major.
Granollers warmed up for the Australian Open by reaching the semifinals at the Canberra Challenger (AUS) (l. Paolo Lorenzi) after a 1st round defeat at Chennai (l. Borna Coric).
Granollers has won just one of his previous 18 matches against Top 20 opposition at the Grand Slams. His only victory over a Top 20 player at a major came against No. 8 Robin Soderling at the 2010 Australian Open.
Granollers broke the Top 20 for the first time in July 2012 at a career-high ranking of No. 19. He plays here ranked No. 80.
Granollers has won 4 career singles titles, one of which came on hard court – at 2011 Valencia (d. Juan Monaco).
Granollers is a successful doubles player and has won 10 career doubles titles. He entered the men’s doubles event here with Pablo Cuevas as No. 16 seeds. The pair will face Alexandr Dolgopolov/Dmitry Tursunov in the 1st round.
Granollers is coached by Fernando Vicente. His physical trainer is Sergi Valldaura.
13 MILOS RAONIC (CAN) v TOMMY ROBREDO (ESP)
Head-to-head: Raonic leads 5-0
2013 Barcelona Clay (O) QF Raonic 67(5) 63 76(2)
2014 Monte Carlo-1000 Clay (O) R16 Raonic 64 63
2015 Indian Wells-1000 Hard (O) R16 Raonic 63 62
2015 Monte Carlo-1000 Clay (O) R16 Raonic 63 36 63
2015 St. Petersburg Hard (I) QF Raonic 61 62
Raonic has never lost a set against Robredo on a hard court.
RAONIC v ROBREDO
25 Age 33
14 ATP Ranking 42
8 Titles 12
44-19 Career Grand Slam Record 106-55
15-5 Australian Open Record 21-14
212-103 Career Record 527-339
155-64 Career Record – Hard 227-174
5-0 2016 Record 2-1
5-0 2016 Record – Hard 2-1
5-4 Career Five-Set Record 17-5
0 Comebacks from 0-2 Down 7
137-88 Career Tiebreak Record 184-144
2-1 2016 Tiebreak Record 2-0
RAONIC is bidding to maintain his record of always having reached the 3rd round here. He defeated Lucas Pouille 61 64 64 in the 1st round on Tuesday.
Last year here as No. 8 seed Raonic recorded his best Australian Open result by reaching the quarterfinals (l. Novak Djokovic). This is his 6th Australian Open appearance and his 20th Grand Slam overall.
Elsewhere in Grand Slam play in 2015, Raonic reached the 3rd round at both Wimbledon (l. Nick Kyrgios) and the US Open (l. Feliciano Lopez). He missed Roland Garros with a right foot injury, which required surgery in May 2015. Raonic has reached the 3rd round at every Grand Slam he has contested since the 2013 US Open.
Raonic’s best Grand Slam result is reaching the semifinals as No. 8 seed at 2014 Wimbledon (l. Roger Federer). He became the first Canadian man to reach a Grand Slam semifinal after Robert Powell at 1908 Wimbledon.
Raonic’s best result in 2015 was winning the title at St. Petersburg (d. Joao Sousa). He also finished as runner-up at Brisbane (l. Federer) and reached the semifinals at Indian Wells-1000 and Rotterdam. He ended his season after Shanghai-1000 in October due to a hip injury.
Raonic reached a career-high ranking of No. 4 in May 2015 after reaching the quarterfinals at Madrid-1000 (l. Andy Murray). He finished the year in the Top 20 for the 4th straight year and plays here at No. 14.
Raonic warmed up for the Australian Open by winning his 8th career title as No. 4 seed at Brisbane, avenging his defeat to Federer in the 2015 final with his 2nd career victory over the Swiss. All 8 of Raonic’s career titles have come on a hard court.
Raonic became the first Canadian to be seeded in the men’s singles at a Grand Slam event in the Open Era at 2011 Roland Garros. He plays here seeded No. 13 – his lowest Grand Slam seeding since 2013 Wimbledon.
Raonic was born in Montenegro but moved to Canada in 1994. He started playing tennis aged 8.
Raonic started working with former world No. 1 Carlos Moya at the 2016 Australian Open. Moya finished runner-up here in 1997 before going on to win Roland Garros in 1998. He is also coached by Riccardo Piatti.
ROBREDO defeated Malek Jaziri 75 36 46 76(7) 86 in the 1st round to advance to the 2nd round at the Australian Open for the 9th time.
Robredo’s victory over Jaziri in the 1st round took his 5-set record at Melbourne Park to 3-0. He has a 17-5 win-loss record in 5-set matches overall.
Robredo is a 7-time Grand Slam quarterfinalist. He reached the last 8 here in 2007 (l. Roger Federer), at the 2013 US Open (l. Rafael Nadal) and at Roland Garros in 2003 (l. Albert Costa), 2005 (l. Davydenko), 2007 (l. Federer), 2009 (l. Andy Roddick) and 2013 (l. David Ferrer). This is his 15th Australian Open appearance and his 56th Grand Slam overall.
At the Grand Slams in 2015 Robredo reached the 3rd round at the US Open (l. Benoit Paire) and the 2nd round at Roland Garros (l. Borna Coric). He retired with a groin injury in the 1st round at the Australian Open (l. Edouard Roger-Vasselin) and lost at the same stage at Wimbledon (l. Millman).
Robredo’s best result in 2015 was reaching the final at Bastad (l. Paire). He reached the semifinals at Shenzhen
(l. Tomas Berdych) and the quarterfinals at Buenos Aires, Barcelona and St. Petersburg.
Robredo warmed up for the Australian Open by reaching the 2nd round at Sydney (d. John Millman, l. Viktor Troicki).
Robredo is bidding to end a 7-match losing streak against Top 20 players. The last time he defeated a Top 20 ranked player was No. 11 Grigor Dimitrov at 2015 Indian Wells-1000. His last win over a Top 20 player at a major was at the 2014 Australian Open when he defeated No. 9 Richard Gasquet.
Only one of Robredo’s 12 career singles titles has come on a hard court – at 2007 Metz. The rest have come on a clay court. Robredo is a former Top 10 player – reaching a career high ranking of No. 5 in 2006. He plays here ranked No. 42.
In 2010, Robredo became one of 6 ITF Wheelchair Tennis Ambassadors. He is the Tournament Director of an event on the NEC Wheelchair Tennis Tour in Olot and has a Foundation in his name that exclusively supports wheelchair tennis. Robredo became interested in wheelchair tennis as a result of his good friend Santi Silva, who he used to play tennis with until Silva had an accident which left him disabled. Silva died in 2008.
Robredo is coached by Karim Perona. His fitness trainer is Toni Martinez.
16 BERNARD TOMIC (AUS) v SIMONE BOLELLI (ITA)
Head-to-head: first meeting
TOMIC v BOLELLI
23 Age 30
17 ATP Ranking 64
3 Titles 0
31-23 Career Grand Slam Record 22-26
13-7 Australian Open Record 4-5
134-117 Career Record 114-149
100-74 Career Record – Hard 49-80
5-2 2016 Record 1-2
5-2 2016 Record – Hard 1-2
7-2 Career Five-Set Record 5-5
2 Comebacks from 0-2 Down 1
80-65 Career Tiebreak Record 74-69
2-3 2016 Tiebreak Record 3-2
TOMIC is bidding to reach the 3rd round here for the 5th time.
Tomic advanced to the 2nd round for the 7th time after defeating Denis Istomin 67(4) 64 64 64 on Tuesday for his 100th career hard court match-win.
Tomic’s best Grand Slam result is reaching the quarterfinals as a qualifier at 2011 Wimbledon (l. Novak Djokovic). He was the youngest man since Boris Becker in 1986 to reach the quarterfinals at Wimbledon.
Tomic’s best Australian Open performance is reaching the round of 16 in 2012 (l. Roger Federer) and 2015 (l. Tomas Berdych). This is his 8th consecutive appearance at the Australian Open and his 25th Grand Slam overall.
Elsewhere at the Grand Slams in 2015, Tomic reached the 3rd round at Wimbledon (l. Novak Djokovic) and the US Open (l. Richard Gasquet) and fell in the 2nd round at Roland Garros (l. Thanasi Kokkinakis).
Also in 2015, Tomic defended his title at Bogota (d. Adrian Mannarino) and reached the semifinals at Delray Beach (l. Donald Young). All of Tomic’s 3 career singles titles have come on a hard court.
Tomic warmed up for the Australian Open by reaching the semifinals at Brisbane (l. Milos Raonic) and the quarterfinals at Sydney, where he retired with fatigue and dizziness while trailing Teymuraz Gabashvili 63 3-0. He plays here on a career-high ranking of No. 17.
Tomic is one of 6 Australians through to the 2nd round here from the 9 to start in the men’s main draw. He is looking to become the first native champion to win the Australian Open men’s singles title since Mark Edmondson in 1976.
Tomic is one of 3 former junior Australian Open champions through to the 2nd round here from the 8 to start the men’s main draw along with Gael Monfils (2004) and Nick Kyrgios (2013). He won the 2008 Australian Open boys’ title aged 15 years 3 months, defeating Yang Tsung-Hua in the final. He was the youngest winner of the title since Ken Rosewall in 1950. He also won the 2009 US Open boys’ singles title (d. Chase Buchanan). Stefan Edberg is the only player to have won both the junior and senior title here in the Open Era. He captured the boys’ singles title in 1983, before winning the men’s singles in 1985 and 1987.
Tomic is coached by his father John.
BOLELLI is bidding to reach the 3rd round at the Australian Open for the first time and equal his best Grand Slam result. He is also looking to record his 50th career hard court match-win today.
Bolelli recorded his first match-win of 2016 and advanced to the 2nd round here for the 4th time after defeating Brian Baker 76(6) 76(3) 67(2) 76(5) in the 1st round on Tuesday.
By reaching the 2nd round here Bolelli has equalled his best Australian Open performance. He also reached the 2nd round here in 2008 (l. Novak Djokovic), 2009 (l. Mardy Fish) and 2015 (l. Roger Federer). This is Bolelli’s 5th Australian Open appearance.
Bolelli’s best Grand Slam performance is reaching the 3rd round at Roland Garros in 2008 (l. Michael Llodra) and 2015 (l. David Ferrer), and at Wimbledon 3 times – in 2008 (l. Lleyton Hewitt), as a lucky loser in 2011 (l. Richard Gasquet) and as a lucky loser in 2014 (l. Kei Nishikori). This is his 27th appearance at a major.
At the Grand Slams in 2015, Bolelli reached the 3rd round at Roland Garros and the 2nd round at the Australian Open, but fell in the 1st round at both Wimbledon (l. Nishikori) and the US Open (l. David Goffin). He fell to Nishikori in 5-sets at Wimbledon for his 3rd straight defeat in 5-set matches. He won his only 5-set match at Melbourne Park in the 1st round on his Australian Open debut in 2008 (d. Rajeev Ram) and has a 5-5 win-loss record in 5-set matches overall.
Bolelli’s best results in 2015 were reaching the quarterfinals at 7 Tour-level events – at Sydney, Marseille, Bucharest, Nottingham, Hamburg, St. Petersburg and Shenzhen.
Bolelli has lost 6 of his last 7 matches against Top 20 opposition. His only win in that time came against No. 5 Tomas Berdych at 2015 St. Petersburg for his career-best win.
Bolelli is bidding to end a 9-match losing streak against Top 20 opposition at the Grand Slams. He has not defeated a Top 20 player at a major since beating No. 14 Stan Wawrinka in the 2nd round at 2011 Wimbledon.
Prior to coming here, Bolelli fell in the 1st round at both Doha (l. Teymuraz Gabashvili) and Sydney
(l. Alexander Sarkissian).
Bolelli won the men’s doubles event here last year alongside Fabio Fognini, becoming the first all-Italian pairing to win a Grand Slam men’s doubles title since Nicola Pietrangeli/Orlando Sirola at 1959 Roland Garros after defeating Pierre-Hugues Herbert/Nicolas Mahut 64 64 in the final. They were the first all-Italian pair to win the Australian Open. 3 of Bolelli’s 4 career doubles titles have come with Fognini.
Bolelli has entered the men’s doubles here as No. 5 seeds with Fognini. They defeated Rameez Junaid/Mikhail Kukushkin 76(1) 36 63 in the 1st round and will play Adrian Mannarino/Lucas Pouille in the 2nd round.
Bolelli is currently without a coach.
23 GAEL MONFILS (FRA) v NICOLAS MAHUT (FRA)
Head-to-head: Monfils leads 1-0
2004 Paris-1000 Qualifying Carpet (I) R16 Monfils 67(5) 62 60
2005 Besancon Challenger Hard (I) R16 Monfils 76(5) 64
2012 Metz Hard (I) R16 Monfils 76(4) 75
Monfils won the only previous Tour-level meeting between the 2 players at Tour-level in straight sets at 2012 Metz.
Monfils and Mahut are 2 of the 8 Frenchmen through to the 2nd round here from the 13 to start in the main draw. This is the 10th all-French 2nd round clash at the Australian Open in the Open Era and the first since Julien Benneteau defeated Edouard Roger-Vasselin here in 2013.
Monfils has an 8-4 win-loss record against French opposition at the Grand Slams, but he has lost 3 of his 4 matches against French opposition at the Australian Open. His only win against one of his countrymen here came over Lucas Pouille in the 1st round last year.
Mahut has won just one of his 4 previous meetings with his countrymen at Grand Slams – defeating Arnaud Clement in the 1st round at 2007 Wimbledon. He has never played a French player at the Australian Open.
MONFILS v MAHUT
29 Age 34*
25 ATP Ranking 63
5 Titles 3
74-36 Career Grand Slam Record 20-40
18-10 Australian Open Record 6-7
348-204 Career Record 136-175
210-120 Career Record – Hard 66-102
1-0 2016 Record 3-2
1-0 2016 Record – Hard 3-2
15-11 Career Five-Set Record 3-8
2 Comebacks from 0-2 Down 1
145-101 Career Tiebreak Record 68-96
0-0