2017 AUSTRALIAN OPEN
DAY 1 MEN’S NOTES
Monday 16 January
1st Round Top Half
Featured matches
No. 1 Andy Murray (GBR) v Illya Marchenko (UKR)
No. 4 Stan Wawrinka (SUI) v Martin Klizan (SVK)
No. 5 Kei Nishikori (JPN) v Andrey Kuznetsov (RUS)
No. 7 Marin Cilic (CRO) v Jerzy Janowicz (POL)
No. 10 Tomas Berdych (CZE) v (Q) Luca Vanni (ITA)
No. 12 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) v Thiago Monteiro (BRA)
No. 14 Nick Kyrgios (AUS) v Gastao Elias (POR)
No. 17 Roger Federer (SUI) v (Q) Jurgen Melzer (AUT)
No. 27 Bernard Tomic (AUS) v Thomaz Bellucci (BRA)
On court today…
World No. 1 Andy Murray and 4-time Australian Open champion Roger Federer open their 2017 Grand Slam campaigns today. Murray, who this year will bid to avoid becoming the first man in the Open Era to lose 6 Grand Slam finals at any one major after 5 runner-up finishes at Melbourne Park, takes on world No. 93 Illya Marchenko in the third match on Rod Laver Arena, before Federer headlines the night session with his first Tour-level match in over six months against qualifier and fellow 35-year-old Jurgen Melzer.
2014 Australian Open champion Stan Wawrinka will look to maintain his record of never having lost in the 1st round here when he opens the night session on Margaret Court Arena against Martin Klizan. A surprise win over Wawrinka would give lefthanded Klizan his first Grand Slam match-win since the 2015 US Open and see him end a 9-match losing streak at Tour-level.
Nick Kyrgios will hope to maintain his record of always reaching the 2nd round at the Australian Open when he faces Gastao Elias in the last match on Hisense Arena today. Along with Alex De Minaur, James Duckworth, Sam Groth and Bernard Tomic, Kyrgios is one of 5 Australian men in action today from the 11 who start the main draw here – the most since 2003.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is looking to record his 109th Grand Slam match-win today, which would see him move ahead of Jean Borotra at the top of the list for most Grand Slam match-wins by a Frenchman.
1 ANDY MURRAY (GBR) v ILLYA MARCHENO (UKR)
Head-to-head: Murray leads 1-0
2011 Australian Open Hard (O) R64 Murray 61 63 63
Murray won the pair’s only previous meeting, a 2nd round clash here 6 years ago.
Murray has not lost to a player ranked as low as No. 93 Marchenko at Tour-level since falling to No. 118 Alex Bogomolov Jr. at 2011 Miami-1000. The lowest-ranked player to defeat Murray at a Grand Slam is No. 91 Arnaud Clement at the 2005 US Open.
MURRAY v MARCHENKO
29 Age 29
1 ATP Ranking (9 Jan) 93
44 Titles 0
176-40 Career Grand Slam Record 8-15
45-11 Australian Open Record 2-5
634-175 Career Record 57-78
426-114 Career Record – Hard 48-54
4-1 2017 Record 0-1
4-1 2017 Record – Hard 0-1
23-9 Career Five-Set Record 2-5
9 Comebacks from 0-2 Down 1
183-107 Career Tiebreak Record 36-32
3-0 2017 Tiebreak Record 0-2
5-time Australian Open runner-up MURRAY is contesting his 12th straight Australian Open and 44th Grand Slam overall.
Murray has not lost a 1st round Grand Slam match since the 2008 Australian Open (l. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga).
Murray is looking to become the first man in the Open Era to win a Grand Slam title after losing 5 finals at any one Grand Slam. He finished as runner-up to Roger Federer here in 2010, and to Novak Djokovic in 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2016. Djokovic and Federer (at Roland Garros), Goran Ivanisevic (at Wimbledon) and Ivan Lendl (at the US Open), are the only players in the Open Era to lose 3 Grand Slam finals at one major before winning the title.
Murray is looking to win the title here and avoid becoming the first man in the Open Era to lose 6 Grand Slam finals at any one major. Lendl, is the only other man to have lost 5 finals at any one Grand Slam event – losing in the title match at the US Open in 1982-84 and 1988-89, but winning the tournament in 1985-87.
Elsewhere in Grand Slam play in 2016, Murray won his 3rd Grand Slam title and 2nd at Wimbledon, defeating Milos Raonic in the final. It was 11th Grand Slam final, but the first in which he had faced an opponent other than Djokovic or Federer. He also became the 3rd British man – and first since Bunny Austin in 1937 – to reach the Roland Garros final (l. Djokovic) but fell to Kei Nishikori in 5 sets in the quarterfinals at the US Open.
Also in 2016, Murray became the first player in history to successfully defend an Olympic singles gold medal after defeating Juan Martin del Potro in the final at Rio 2016. He won a career-best 9 Tour-level titles – including his first at the year-end ATP World Tour Finals, where he became the 17th man to secure the year-end No. 1 ranking after defeating Djokovic in the final. Two weeks earlier, he had become the 26th man to attain the world No. 1 ranking after reaching the final at Paris-1000.
Murray warmed up for the Australian Open by reaching the final as No. 1 seed at Doha – his 13th final in his last 14 tournaments. He saw his 28-match Tour-level winning streak ended by Djokovic as the Serb won 63 57 64.
Murray is one of 6 Grand Slam champions 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) before winning the title again in 2016.
Murray was awarded a knighthood in the Queen’s 2017 New Year’s Honours list.
Murray has played Davis Cup since 2005 and has a 30-3 singles win-loss record in the competition in 20 ties played, leading Great Britain to its first title since 1936 in 2015. Great Britain will face Canada in the World Group first round in Ottawa on 3-5 February.
Murray is coached by Ivan Lendl, who won the Australian Open in 1989 and 1990, and former world No. 121 Jamie Delgado.
MARCHENKO is bidding to reach the 2nd round here for the first time since 2011 and equal his best Australian Open result.
Marchenko’s best Australian Open performance is reaching the 2nd round on his Grand Slam debut as a qualifier in 2010 (d. Carlos Moya, l. Nikolay Davydenko) and as a direct acceptance in 2011 (d. Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo, l. today’s opponent).
Marchenko’s best Grand Slam performance is reaching the round of 16 on his last appearance at a major at the 2016 US Open (l. Stan Wawrinka). He broke into the Top 50 in September 2016 as a result and reached a career-high ranking of No. 49 on 26 September. He plays here ranked No. 93.
Marchenko has lost in the 1st round in 10 of his 16 Grand Slam appearances – including at the Australian Open as a qualifier in both 2012 (l. Sergiy Stakhovsky) and 2015 (l. Milos Raonic) and as a direct acceptance in 2016 (l. Omar Jasika). He didn’t attempt to qualify here in 2013 and failed to qualify in 2014. This is Marchenko’s 6th appearance at the Australian Open.
Elsewhere in Grand Slam play in 2016, Marchenko lost in the 1st round at both Roland Garros (l. Victor Estrella Burgos) and Wimbledon (l. Julien Benneteau).
Marchenko warmed up for the Australian Open at Doha, where he fell to Ivo Karlovic in the opening round. He also fell in the first round of qualifying at Sydney (l. Christopher O’Connell).
As well as reaching the round of 16 at the US Open, Marchenko’s best results in 2016 were reaching the semifinals at Doha (l. Rafael Nadal) and the quarterfinals at Acapulco (l. Bernard Tomic). He also won the title at the Recanati Challenger (ITA) (d. Ilya Ivashka) and finished runner-up at the Segovia Challenger (ESP) (l. Luca Vanni).
Marchenko is playing against a player ranked No. 1 for the first time today. He has a 1-7 win-loss record against Top 10 opposition, with his only win coming against No. 7 David Ferrer in the first round at 2016 Doha.
Marchenko has played Davis Cup for Ukraine since 2008. He helped Ukraine reach the World Group play-offs last year, where they lost 5-0 to Japan. Ukraine were handed a bye in the 2017 Europe/Africa Zone Group I first round.
Marchenko is coached by Tibor Toth.
4 STAN WAWRINKA (SUI) v MARTIN KLIZAN (SVK)
Head-to-head: Wawrinka leads 1-0
2010 Casablanca Clay (O) R16 Wawrinka 64 06 64
A 2nd career meeting between the 2 players, but their first on a hard court and first at a Grand Slam.
WAWRINKA v KLIZAN
31 Age 27
4 ATP Ranking (9 Jan) 35
15 Titles 5
119-44 Career Grand Slam Record 14-20
31-10 Australian Open Record 3-4
441-253 Career Record 106-108
245-141 Career Record – Hard 54-61
2-1 2017 Record 0-2
2-1 2017 Record – Hard 0-2
24-19 Career Five-Set Record 4-7
6 Comebacks from 0-2 Down 1
181-172 Career Tiebreak Record 52-45
1-2 2017 Tiebreak Record 1-2
2014 Australian Open champion WAWRINKA has never lost in the 1st round here. This is his 12th Australian Open appearance and his 48th Grand Slam overall.
The last time Wawrinka lost in the 1st round at a Grand Slam was at 2014 Roland Garros, when as No. 3 seed he was defeated by Guillermo Garcia-Lopez. He was the first reigning Australian Open champion to lose in the 1st round of the subsequent Roland Garros since Petr Korda in 1998.
Last year here as No. 4 seed, Wawrinka fell to Milos Raonic 64 63 57 46 63 in the round of 16.
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 has won 3 Grand Slam titles at 3 different majors. He also won 2015 Roland Garros and the 2016 US Open, defeating Djokovic in both finals. In Paris, he became the 2nd Swiss player – man or woman – in history to win Roland Garros. At 30 years 71 days, he was the oldest man to win in Paris since Andres Gomez in 1990. At the US Open, aged 31 years 167 days, he became the oldest US Open champion since Ken Rosewall in 1970 and just the 5th man to win multiple Grand Slam titles after turning 30. He is one of 6 Grand Slam champions to start in the men’s draw here.
Elsewhere at the Grand Slams in 2016, Wawrinka reached the semfinals at Roland Garros (l. Andy Murray) but fell in the 2nd round at Wimbledon (l. Juan Martin del Potro).
In 2016, Wawrinka won a career-best 4 titles for the 2nd straight year. As well as winning the US Open, he won his 3rd straight title at Chennai (d. Borna Coric) and won the titles at Dubai (d. Marcos Baghdatis) and Geneva (d. Marin Cilic). He also finished runner-up at St. Petersburg (l. Alexander Zverev).
Wawrinka warmed up for the Australian Open by reaching the semifinals as No. 2 seed at Brisbane, where he fell to Kei Nishikori 76(3) 63.
Wawrinka has a 24-19 win-loss record in 5-set matches, but a 1-3 win-loss record in 5-set matches at the Australian Open.
Wawrinka is coached by Magnus Norman, who reached the semifinals here in 2000.
Lefthander KLIZAN is looking to record his first Grand Slam match-win since the 2015 US Open and end a 5-match losing streak at the majors.
Klizan is also looking to end a 9-match Tour level losing streak. He has not won a Tour-level match since defeating Enrique Lopez-Perez in the 1st round at 2016 Umag (l. Andrej Martin).
At the Grand Slams in 2016, Klizan fell in the 1st round at the Australian Open (l. Roberto Bautista Agut), at Roland Garros, where he retired with neck pain while trailing Taro Daniel 36 46 75 64 3-0, at Wimbledon (l. Mikhail Kukushkin) and at the US Open (l. Mikhail Youzhny). His last match-win at a major came at the 2015 US Open, when Florian Mayer retired from their 1st round match due to cramp.
Klizan’s best Grand Slam performance is reaching the round of 16 at the 2012 US Open (l. Marin Cilic). He recorded his first win over a Top 10 player when he defeated No. 6 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the 2nd round.
Klizan’s best Australian Open performance is reaching the 3rd round as a lucky loser in 2014
(l. Stephane Robert). This is his 5th straight Australian Open appearance and his 21st appearance at a major.
Klizan’s best results in 2016 were winning the titles at Rotterdam (d. Gael Monfils) and Hamburg (d. Pablo Cuevas). He also reached the semifinals at Sofia (l. Viktor Troicki). He missed 10 weeks of the year after retiring from his 1st round match at Indian Wells-1000 with a foot injury, returning at Roland Garros, and dropped to No. 51 in the rankings on 6 June – his lowest ranking since September 2014.
Prior to coming here, Klizan lost his opening match at Chennai (l. Aljaz Bedene) and retired with a foot injury while trailing Andrey Kuznetsov 26 61 3-0 in the 1st round at Sydney.
Klizan is bidding to end a 7-match losing streak against Top 10 opposition. He has not defeated a Top 10 player since defeating No. 2 Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals at 2014 Beijing. He has a 3-13 win-loss record against Top 10 opposition overall.
Klizan was ranked 1 in the ITF Junior Rankings in 2007 and won the boys’ singles title at 2006 Roland Garros (d. Philip Bester). He contested the boys’ singles event here in 2007, losing in the 3rd round as top seed to eventual champion Brydan Klein.
Klizan is coached by Martin Hromec. His fitness coach is Ivan Trebaticky.
5 KEI NISHIKORI (JPN) v ANDREY KUZNETSOV (RUS)
Head-to-head: Nishikori leads 2-1
2010 Eastbourne Grass (O) R32 Kuznetsov 64 3-1 ret. (hip injury)
2016 Roland Garros Clay (O) R64 Nishikori 63 63 63
2016 Wimbledon Grass (O) R32 Nishikori 75 63 75
A 3rd Grand Slam meeting between the 2 players, who twice met at the majors last year. Nishikori has won both of their Grand Slam meetings – at Roland Garros and Wimbledon – in straight sets.
This is their first meeting on a hard court.
NISHIKORI v KUZNETSOV
27 Age 25
5 ATP Ranking (9 Jan) 48
11 Titles 0
60-28 Career Grand Slam Record 17-15
20-7 Australian Open Record 5-3
304-143 Career Record 66-77
214-100 Career Record – Hard 38-37
3-1 2017 Record 3-2
3-1 2017 Record – Hard 3-2
14-5 Career Five-Set Record 3-3
2 Comebacks from 0-2 Down 0
91-63 Career Tiebreak Record 27-27
1-0 2017 Tiebreak Record 0-0
This is NISHIKORI’S 8th Australian Open appearance and his 30th Grand Slam overall.
Nishikori has lost in the 1st round at the Australian Open once before – on his debut here in 2009 (l. Jurgen Melzer).
Nishikori’s best result here is reaching the quarterfinals in 2012 (l. Andy Murray), 2015 (l. Stan Wawrinka) and 2016 (l. Novak Djokovic). He is the only Japanese man to reach the quarterfinals at Melbourne Park in the Open Era.
At the 2014 US Open, Nishikori became the first Asian male to contest a Grand Slam final after defeating three Top 10 players – Milos Raonic, Wawrinka and Djokovic – in consecutive matches before falling to Marin Cilic in the title match.
In Grand Slam play last year Nishikori reached the semifinals at the US Open (l. Wawrinka), the quarterfinals here and the round of 16 at both Roland Garros (l. Richard Gasquet) and Wimbledon, where he retired with a rib injury while trailing Cilic 61 5-1.
Nishikori’s best result in 2016 was winning his 4th straight title at Memphis (d. Taylor Fritz), joining Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Djokovic as the only active players to have won 4 consecutive titles at a single Tour-level event. He finished runner-up at 4 further tournaments at Miami-1000 (l. Djokovic), Barcelona (l. Nadal), Toronto-1000 (l. Djokovic) and Basel (l. Cilic). He also won singles bronze at the Rio 2016 Olympic Tennis Event after defeating Rafael Nadal in the 3rd place play-off.
Nishikori warmed up for the Australian Open by reaching the final at Brisbane, where he fell to Grigor Dimitrov.
Nishikori is the highest-ranked Japanese man in ATP World Tour Rankings history (since 1973). He had the nickname ‘Project 45’ as a major goal was to get him to No. 45 in the rankings, which would be one spot better than the highest by any Japanese man (Shuzo Matsuoka).
Nishikori plays here seeded No. 5 – his joint-highest seeding at the Australian Open. He was also seeded No. 5 here in 2015.
Nishikori is coached by Dante Bottini and Michael Chang. Chang finished as runner-up at the 1996 Australian Open, losing in the final to Boris Becker.
KUZNETSOV is bidding to maintain his record of always reaching the 2nd round here.
Last year here, Kuznetsov recorded his best Grand Slam performance by reaching the round of 16
(l. Gael Monfils). He was the first Russian man to reach the round of 16 at the Australian Open since Nikolay Davydenko in 2010.
Kuznetsov is contesting his 4th Australian Open and his 16th Grand Slam overall. He reached the 2nd round on both of his other appearances here in 2013 (d. Juan Monaco, l. Kevin Anderson) and 2015
(d. Albert Ramos-Vinolas, l. Novak Djokovic). He was ranked too low for direct entry here in 2014 and didn’t attempt to qualify.
Elsewhere at the Grand Slams last year, Kuznetsov reached the 3rd round at both Wimbledon (l. today’s opponent) and the US Open (l. Rafael Nadal), and the 2nd round at Roland Garros (l. today’s opponent).
Kuznetsov warmed up for the Australian Open by reaching the semifinals at Sydney (l. Daniel Evans). He also played at Doha, where he fell to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the 1st round.
As well as reaching the round of 16 here, Kuznetsov’s 2016 highlights include reaching 5 quarterfinals – at Doha (l. Nadal), Marseille (l. Marin Cilic), Barcelona (l. Philipp Kohlschreiber), Geneva (l. Lukas Rosol) and Winston-Salem (l. Pablo Carreno Busta). He climbed to a career-high ranking of No. 39 after reaching the quarterfinals at Barcelona and plays here at No. 48.
Kuznetsov is on a 3-match winning streak in 5-set matches, having not lost a 5-set match since falling to Dudi Sela at the 2013 US Open. He has never played a 5-set match at the Australian Open and has a 3-3 win-loss record in 5-set matches overall.
Kuznetsov won the boys’ singles title at 2009 Wimbledon, defeating Jordan Cox 46 62 62 in the final. He won 6 singles titles and 4 doubles titles as a junior, reaching a career-high junior ranking of No. 3 in 2009.
Kuznetsov has won just one of his last 13 matches against Top 10 opposition, defeating No. 4 Stan Wawrinka in the 2nd round at 2016 Miami-1000. He has a 2-14 win-loss record against Top 10 opposition overall.
Kuznetsov has been coached by his father, Alexander, since 1997.
7 MARIN CILIC (CRO) v JERZY JANOWICZ (POL)
Head-to-head: Tied 1-1
2012 Paris-1000 Hard (I) R32 Janowicz 76(6) 62
2014 Davis Cup (EA1-2R) Hard (I) R4 Cilic 36 67(5) 64 61 63
A 3rd hard court Tour-level meeting for the pair, but their first clash at a Grand Slam. Cilic recovered from 0-2 down to defeat the Pole in 5-sets in their most recent meeting – in Davis Cup in 2014.
Cilic has never lost to a player ranked as low as No. 278 Janowicz at Tour-level. The lowest-ranked player he has lost to at Tour-level is No. 221 Marius Copil at 2012 Beijing. The lowest-ranked player Cilic has lost to at a Grand Slam is No. 168 Thierry Ascione as a qualifier at 2007 Roland Garros.
CILIC v JANOWICZ
28 Age 26
7 ATP Ranking (9 Jan) 278
16 Titles 0
83-34 Career Grand Slam Record 21-16
19-8 Australian Open Record 6-4
391-211 Career Record 95-89
250-123 Career Record – Hard 64-56
0-1 2017 Record 0-0
0-1 2017 Record – Hard 0-0
24-12 Career Five-Set Record 7-5
4 Comebacks from 0-2 Down 2
144-128 Career Tiebreak Record 57-48
0-1 2017 Tiebreak Record 0-0
CILIC is making his 9th Australian Open appearance and his 37th at a Grand Slam
Cilic has lost in the 1st round at the Australian Open once before – on his debut here as a qualifier in 2007 (l. Ilija Bozoljac).
Cilic won his first major title at the 2014 US Open, defeating Kei Nishikori in the final. He was the first Croatian to win a Grand Slam title since Goran Ivanisevic at 2001 Wimbledon. He is one of the 6 Grand Slam champions to start in the men’s main draw here.
Cilic’s best Australian Open performance is reaching the semifinals as No. 14 seed here in 2010 (l. Andy Murray). He is the only Croatian man to reach the Australian Open semifinals in the history of the championships. He broke into the Top 10 for the first time as a result.
Cilic warmed up for the Australian Open at Chennai, where he fell to Jozef Kovalik in the 2nd round after receiving a 1st round bye.
In Grand Slam play in 2016, Cilic reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon for the 3rd straight year, falling to Roger Federer despite holding a 2-0 lead. He reached the 3rd round at both the Australian Open (l. Roberto Bautista Agut) and the US Open (l. Jack Sock), but fell in the 1st round at Roland Garros (l. Marco Trungelliti – his first loss in the 1st round at a major since 2011 Wimbledon.
Cilic’s best result in 2016 was winning his first Masters-1000 title at Cincinnati (d. Murray), where he extended his streak of winning at least one title every year since winning his first at 2008 New Haven. He also won the title at Basel (d. Nishikori) and finished runner-up at both Marseille (l. Nick Kyrgios) and Geneva (l. Stan Wawrinka). He reached 3 further semifinals at Queen’s, Tokyo and Paris-1000.
Cilic has lost 3 of his last 4 five-set matches, despite having won the first 2 sets in all 4 of those encounters. He has won 5 of his 7 five-set matches at Melbourne Park and has a 24-12 win-loss record in 5-set matches overall.
Cilic compiled an 8-3 win-loss record in Davis Cup rubbers to help Croatia reach its 2nd Final in 2016. He was just a set away from clinching the title for Croatia in the fourth rubber, before Juan Martin del Potro recovered to win in 5 sets as Argentina went on to complete a 3-2 comeback victory in the Final in Zagreb. Croatia will host Spain in the Davis Cup World Group first round in Osijek on 3-5 February.
Cilic is coached by Jonas Bjorkman, who reached the singles quarterfinals here in 1998 and 2002 and won the doubles title in 1998, 1999 and 2001.
JANOWICZ is bidding to record his first Grand Slam match-win since 2015 Roland Garros and end a 5-match losing streak at the majors.
Janowicz is looking to record his first Tour-level match-win since reaching the 2nd round at 2015 Vienna (d. Dominic Thiem, l. Steve Johnson). He missed 6 months of the 2016 season with a knee injury and played just 3 Tour-level events last year, falling in the 1st round at the Australian Open (l. John Isner), the Rio 2016 Olympic Tennis Event (l. Gilles Muller) and at the US Open (l. Novak Djokovic).
Janowicz played mainly on the Challenger circuit in 2016, taking part in 6 Challenger tournaments. His best results were winning the title at the Genova Challenger (ITA) (d. Nicolas Almagro) and reaching the quarterfinals at the Meerbusch Challenger (GER) (l. Clement Geens) – the only occasions in which he recorded back-to-back match-wins at any level in 2016.
Janowicz is a former Top 20 player, having reached a career-high ranking of No. 14 in August 2013. He dropped to No. 282 in the rankings in December 2016 – his lowest position since June 2010. He plays here at No. 278, but using a protected ranking of No. 94.
Janowicz’s best Australian Open performance is reaching the 3rd round – on his Australian Open debut in 2013 (l. Almagro), in 2014 (l. Florian Mayer) and in 2015 (l. Feliciano Lopez). This is his 5th straight Australian Open appearance and his 17th Grand Slam appearance overall.
Janowicz’s best Grand Slam performance is reaching the semifinals as No. 24 seed at 2013 Wimbledon
(l. Andy Murray). He was the first Polish man to reach a Grand Slam semifinal.
Prior to coming here, Janowicz fell in the 2nd round of qualifying for Auckland (d. Krisjanis Stabins, l. Michael Mmoh). He also played at the Kooyong Classic Exhibition Event – defeating Yoshihito Nishioka 76 76 and Tommy Haas 57 64 10-4.
Janowicz is bidding to defeat a Top 10 player at a Grand Slam for the first time. He has a 5-14 win-loss record against Top 10 opposition at Tour-level, with his last win over a Top 10 player coming against No. 8 Grigor Dimitrov at 2014 Cincinnati-1000.
Janowicz is currently playing without a coach.
10 TOMAS BERDYCH v (Q) LUCA VANNI (ITA)
Head-to-head: first meeting
The last time Berdych lost to a player ranked as low as No. 160 today’s opponent at Tour-level was at 2009 Rotterdam when he fell to No. 478 Grigor Dimitrov. The lowest-ranked player Berdych has lost to at a Grand Slam is No. 140 Stephane Robert in the 1st round at 2011 Roland Garros.
BERDYCH v VANNI
31 Age 31
10 ATP Ranking (9 Jan) 160
13 Titles 0
130-52 Career Grand Slam Record 0-2
38-13 Australian Open Record 0-0
584-304 Career Record 5-14
364-193 Career Record – Hard 1-6
3-1 2017 Record 0-0
3-1 2017 Record – Hard 0-0
20-8 Career Five-Set Record 0-0
2 Comebacks from 0-2 Down 0
201-165 Career Tiebreak Record 7-6
2-0 2017 Tiebreak Record 0-0
BERDYCH is bidding to reach the 2nd round at the Australian Open for the 12th straight year. He has lost in the 1st round here just once before, in 2005 (l. Guillermo Coria).
Last year here Berdych reached the quarterfinals for the 6th consecutive year, falling to Roger Federer 76(4) 62 64.
Berdych’s best Australian Open performance is reaching the semifinals in 2014 (l. Stan Wawrinka) and 2015 (l. Andy Murray). By reaching the semifinals here in 2014, he became the 2nd Czech man in the Open Era after Ivan Lendl to complete a set of Grand Slam semifinal appearances.
Berdych’s best result at a major is finishing runner-up at 2010 Wimbledon. He defeated Federer in the quarterfinals and Novak Djokovic in the semifinals before losing to Rafael Nadal in the final.
Berdych warmed up for the Australian Open by reaching the semfinals at Doha (l. Murray).
Berdych’s best result in 2016 was winning his 13th career title at Shenzhen (d. Richard Gasquet). 9 of his 13 titles have come on a hard court. He also reached the semifinals at Doha (l. Djokovic), Marseille (l. Nick Kyrgios), Wimbledon (l. Murray) and St. Petersburg (l. Alexander Zverev) and 7 further quarterfinals.
In Grand Slam play in 2016 Berdych reached the semifinals at Wimbledon and the quarterfinals at both the Australian Open and Roland Garros (l. Djokovic). He missed the US Open with appendicitis, ending his run of 52 consecutive Grand Slam appearances.
This is Berdych’s 14th consecutive Australian Open appearance and his 53rd Grand Slam overall.
Berdych dropped to No. 11 in the rankings on 31 October 2016 – the first time he had been out of the Top 10 since June 2010. He has been seeded at every Grand Slam event he has played since the 2005 US Open and plays here – ranked and seeded – at No. 10.
Berdych started working with Goran Ivanisevic in August 2016. He is also coached by Luka Kutanjac.
VANNI is bidding to record his first Grand Slam match-win on his Australian Open debut.
Vanni came through qualifying here after defeating Federico Gaio (ITA) 57 62 63, Alexander Sarkissian (USA) 36 63 62 and Jan Satral (CZE) 46 64 64.
Vanni is making his 3rd Grand Slam appearance. He fell in the 1st round on his Grand Slam debut as a qualifier at 2015 Roland Garros (l. Bernard Tomic) and as a lucky loser at 2015 Wimbledon (l. James Ward).
Vanni lost in the 1st round of qualifying at all 4 Grand Slam events in 2016, falling to Daniel Evans at the Australian Open, Daniel Gimeno-Traver at Roland Garros, Grega Zemlja at Wimbledon and Alejandro Gonzalez at the US Open. He has failed to qualify on 7 of his 10 attempts to qualify for the majors – including at the Australian Open in 2015 (l. Maxime Authom) and 2016.
Vanni plays predominantly on the Challenger circuit. He won 3 Challenger titles in 2016 – at Segovia (ESP) (d. Illya Marchenko), Brescia (ITA) (d. Laurynas Grigelis) and Andria (ITA) (d. Matteo Berrettini).
Vanni is bidding to end a 5-match Tour-level losing streak and record his first Tour-level match-win since reaching the 2nd round at 2016 Chennai (d. Jan-Lennard Struff, l. Aljaz Bedene).
Vanni’s career-best result is reaching his first Tour-level final as a qualifier at 2015 Sao Paulo (l. Pablo Cuevas). He has recorded a Tour-level match win at just 2 other events – reaching the 2nd round at both 2015 Madrid-1000 (d. Bernard Tomic, l. Simone Bolelli) and 2016 Chennai.
Vanni reached a career-high ranking of No. 100 in May 2015 after reaching the 2nd round at Madrid-1000. He plays here at No. 160.
Prior to coming here, Vanni fell in the 1st round of qualifying at both Doha (l. Nikoloz Basilashvili) and Sydney (l. Gastao Elias).
Vanni is coached by Fabio Gorietti. His physical trainer is Gianfranco Palini.
12 JO-WILFRIED TSONGA (FRA) v THIAGO MONTEIRO (BRA)
Head-to-head: Monteiro leads 1-0
2016 Rio de Janeiro Clay (O) R32 Monteiro 63 36 64
Monteiro upset Tsonga in 3 sets in the pair’s only previous meeting, on clay in Rio de Janeiro last year.
TSONGA v MONTEIRO
31 Age 22
12 ATP Ranking (9 Jan) 83
12 Titles 0
108-35 Career Grand Slam Record 0-0
30-9 Australian Open Record 0-0
390-181 Career Record 6-9
260-117 Career Record – Hard 0-5
2-1 2017 Record 0-2
2-1 2017 Record – Hard 0-2
15-9 Career Five-Set Record 0-0
4 Comebacks from 0-2 Down 0
182-133 Career Tiebreak Record 1-3
0-0 2017 Tiebreak Record 0-0
TSONGA is bidding to reach the 2nd round here for the 9th time. This is his 10th appearance at Melbourne Park and his 36th Grand Slam overall.
If he wins today, Tsonga will move ahead of Jean Borotra at the top of the list for most Grand Slam match-wins by a Frenchman. He is currently tied in first place with Borotra (108-23), with a 108-35 win-loss record at the majors.
Tsonga has lost in the 1st round here just once before, on his Australian Open debut as a wild card in 2007. He lost in 4 sets to Andy Roddick, in a match that included the longest tiebreak in Australian Open history, with Roddick winning the first set tiebreak 20-18.
Tsonga’s best Grand Slam result to date is a runner-up finish at the 2008 Australian Open (l. Novak Djokovic). He defeated three Top 10 players (Andy Murray, Richard Gasquet and Rafael Nadal) en route to the final.
Tsonga warmed up for the Australian Open by reaching the quarterfinals at Doha, where he lost to Tomas Berdych in straight sets. He also played a match at the Kooyong Exhibition Event, defeating Borna Coric 63 76.
Last year here, Tsonga reached the round of 16 for the 7th time, losing in straight sets to Kei Nishikori.
Elsewhere in Grand Slam play in 2016, Tsonga reached the quarterfinals at both Wimbledon (l. Murray) and the US Open, where he retired with a left knee injury while trailing Djokovic 63 62. He reached the 3rd round at Roland Garros, where he retired with an adductor injury when leading Ernests Gulbis 5-2 in the first set.
Away from the Grand Slams, Tsonga’s best result in 2016 came at Vienna, where he reached the final
(l. Murray). He also reached the semifinals at Auckland (l. Roberto Bautista Agut) and Monte Carlo-1000
(l. Gael Monfils). Last year was the first year he did not win a title since 2010.
Tsonga is a former Top 5 player. He reached a career-high No. 5 in the world in February 2012 and plays here at No. 12.
Tsonga has played Davis Cup for France since 2008. He has played a total of 17 ties, achieving an 18-7 win-loss record in singles and a 24-8 record overall. France take on Japan at the Ariake Coliseum in Tokyo in the 2017 World Group first round on 3-5 February.
Tsonga is coached by Thierry Ascione and Nicolas Escude.
Lefthander MONTEIRO is making his Grand Slam debut today.
At the Grand Slams in 2016, Monteiro lost in the 1st round of qualifying at Roland Garros (l. Ruben Bemelmans), Wimbledon (l. Julian Reister) and at the US Open (l. Daniel Brands) – the first occasions in which he had attempted to qualify for each major. He was ranked too low to enter qualifying for the Australian Open last year.
Prior to coming here, Monteiro lost to Daniil Medvedev in the 1st round at Chennai before falling to Daniel Evans in the 1st round as a qualifier at Sydney.
Monteiro’s best results in 2016 include reaching his first Tour-level quarterfinals – as a wild card at Sao Paolo (l. Pablo Cuevas) and as a qualifier at Gstaad (l. Robin Haase). He also won his first Challenger title at Aix En Provence (FRA) (d. Carlos Berlocq) and reached further Challenger finals at Lyon (FRA) (l. Steve Darcis) and Santos (BRA) (l. Renzo Olivo).
Monteiro broke into the Top 100 on 15 August 2016 and reached a career-high No. 80 in October after reaching the semifinals at the Santiago Challenger (CHI). He climbed over 300 places in the rankings during the previous 8 months, having started 2016 ranked No. 463. He plays here at No. 83
Monteiro has a 1-1 win-loss record against Top 20 opposition. He defeated No. 9 today’s opponent in the 1st round at 2016 Rio de Janeiro but lost to No. 14 David Goffin in the opening rubber during Brazil’s Davis Cup World Group play-off defeat to Belgium last September.
Monteiro made his Davis Cup debut in September 2016, losing in straight sets to Goffin as Belgium defeated Brazil 4-0. Brazil will play the winner of the Americas Zone Group I first round tie between Ecuador and Peru in their next Davis Cup tie on 7-9 April.
Monteiro is coached by Carlos Matos and Joao Zwetsch.
14 NICK KYRGIOS (AUS) v GASTAO ELIAS (POR)
Head-to-head: first meeting
KYRGIOS v ELIAS
21 Age 26
14 ATP Ranking (9 Jan) 81
3 Titles 0
25-14 Career Grand Slam Record 0-5
7-3 Australian Open Record 0-0
75-45 Career Record 22-38
43-25 Career Record – Hard 4-17
0-0 2017 Record 1-2
0-0 2017 Record – Hard 1-2
4-1 Career Five-Set Record 0-4
2 Comebacks from 0-2 Down 0
52-38 Career Tiebreak Record 10-11
0-0 2017 Tiebreak Record 2-1
KYRGIOS is bidding to reach the 2nd round here for the 4th straight year. This is his 4th Australian Open appearance and his 15th Grand Slam overall.
Last year here Kyrgios reached the 3rd round, falling to Tomas Berdych. Elsewhere at the majors in 2016, he reached the round of 16 at Wimbledon (l. Andy Murray) and the 3rd round at both Roland Garros
(l. Richard Gasquet) and the US Open, where he retired with a right hip injury while trailing Illya Marchenko 46 64 61.
At the 2015 Australian Open aged 19 years 280 days, Kyrgios equalled his best Grand Slam result by reaching the quarterfinals (l. Murray). He became the youngest man to reach the Australian Open quarterfinals since Andrei Cherkasov in 1990. He was the first Australian to reach the last 8 at the Australian Open since Lleyton Hewitt in 2005 and only the 3rd Australian man to reach the quarterfinals here as a teenager after Brad Drewett and Pat Cash.
Kyrgios also reached the quarterfinals at 2014 Wimbledon (l. Milos Raonic). Ranked No. 144, he defeated world No. 1 Rafael Nadal in the round of 16 to become the lowest-ranked player to defeat a world No. 1 at a Grand Slam since No. 193 Andrei Olhovskiy defeated Jim Courier in the 3rd round at 1992 Wimbledon.
Kyrgios won his first 3 career titles in 2016 – winning at Marseille (d. Marin Cilic), Atlanta (d. John Isner) and Tokyo (d. David Goffin) to become the first Australian to win 3 or more titles in a year since Lleyton Hewitt in 2004. He reached 3 further semifinals – at Dubai, Miami-1000 and Estoril – and climbed to a career-high ranking of No. 13 on 24 October. He plays here at No. 14.
Prior to coming here, Kyrgios played at the Hopman Cup, where he defeated Feliciano Lopez 63 64 and Adam Pavlasek 75 64 before falling to Jack Sock 62 62.
Kyrgios is one of 7 former Australian Open junior singles champions to start in the men’s main draw. Kyrgios won the junior title in 2013, defeating compatriot Thanasi Kokkinakis in the final.
Kyrgios was ranked No. 1 in the Junior rankings in January 2013 after winning the title at the Junior Australian Open. He also won the boys’ doubles title with Kokkinakis at 2013 Wimbledon.
Kyrgios is one of 11 Australian men to start this year’s Australian Open main draw – the most since 2003 when there were also 11. The last Australian man to win the title here was Mark Edmondson in 1976.
Kyrgios has played Davis Cup for Australia since 2013. Australia will play Czech Republic in the World Group first round at Kooyong on 3-5 February.
Kyrgios is currently without a coach. His fitness trainers are Will Maher and Matt James.
ELIAS is bidding to record his first Grand Slam match-win on his Australian Open debut.
This is Elias’ 6th Grand Slam appearance. He lost in the 1st round on all 5 of his previous appearances at the majors – at Wimbledon in 2013 (l. Alexandr Dolgopolov) and 2016 (l. Radu Albot), as a qualifier at Roland Garros in both 2014 (l. Diego Schwartzman) and 2015 (l. Benoit Paire) and as a direct acceptance at the 2016 US Open (l. Sergiy Stakhovsky).
Last year here Elias fell to Pierre-Hugues Herbert in the 1st round of qualifying. He also fell in the 1st round on his only other attempt to qualify for the Australian Open in 2015 (l. Peter Torebko).
Elias’ 2016 highlights include reaching back-to-back semifinals at Bastad (l. Fernando Verdasco) and Umag (l. Fabio Fognini). He also reached the quarterfinals as a qualifier at Sao Paulo and as a direct acceptance at Stockholm.
Elias warmed up for the Australian Open by reaching the 2nd round as a qualifier at Sydney
(d. Christopher O’Connell, l. Dominic Thiem) after a 1st round loss to Jozef Kovalik at Chennai.
Elias’ best surface is clay. He has a 16-19 Tour-level win-loss record on clay, compared with 4-17 on hard courts and 0-2 on grass.
Elias is bidding to record his 3rd career win over a Top 20 opponent. His career-best win came against No. 7 Gael Monfils at 2016 Stockholm. He has a 2-5 career-win loss record against Top 20 opposition overall.
Elias has never won a 5-set match. He has lost all 4 of the 5-set matches he has contested.
Elias was a member of the International 18 & under Junior team to Europe 2007, supported by the Grand Slam Development Fund.
Elias is coached by Fabian Blengino. His physical trainer is Cassiano Costa.
17 ROGER FEDERER (SUI) v (Q) JURGEN MELZER (AUT)
Head-to-head: Federer leads 3-1
2010 Wimbledon Grass (O) R16 Federer 63 62 63
2010 US Open Hard (O) R16 Federer 63 76(4) 63
2010 Paris-1000 Hard (I) QF Federer 61 76(4)
2011 Monte Carlo-1000 Clay (O) QF Melzer 64 64
A 5th career meeting between the 2 players, who grew up in juniors together, and their 3rd at a Grand Slam. This is their first meeting in almost 6 years, with Melzer defeating Federer for the first time in their most recent meeting at 2011 Monte Carlo-1000.
Federer has won both of their Grand Slam meetings – and both of their hard court meetings – in straight sets.
Federer has never lost to a player ranked as low as today’s opponent. The lowest-ranked player he has lost to at Tour-level is No. 249 Sergio Bruguera at 2000 Barcelona. The lowest-ranked player he has lost to at a Grand Slam is No. 154 Mario Ancic at 2002 Wimbledon and the lowest-ranked player he has lost to at the Australian Open is No. 54 Arnaud Clement on his debut here in 2000.
FEDERER v MELZER
35 Age 35
17 ATP Ranking (9 Jan) 296
88 Titles 5
307-51 Career Grand Slam Record 59-52
80-13 Australian Open Record 14-12
1080-245 Career Record 348-332
664-135 Career Record – Hard 178-171
0-0 2017 Record 0-0
0-0 2017 Record – Hard 0-0
24-20 Career Five-Set Record 17-19
10 Comebacks from 0-2 Down 2
395-215 Career Tiebreak Record 146-157
0-0 2017 Tiebreak Record 0-0
FEDERER is bidding to become the 3rd man in history to win 5 Australian Open singles titles after Novak Djokovic and Roy Emerson, who have both won 6 titles here [see Preview page 2].
At 35 years 174 days, Federer is looking to become the 2nd oldest man in the Open Era to win a Grand Slam title after Ken Rosewall, who won 3 Grand Slam titles after turning 35. Rosewall won the 1970 US Open (aged 35 years 315 days) and the Australian Open in 1971 (aged 36 years 73 days) and 1972 (aged 37 years 62 days).
Last year here Federer reached his 12th Australian Open semifinal, taking sole occupancy of 2nd place on the Open Era list for the most semif