Three-time Champion Roddick Among Five Seeds In Action

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February 12, 2009
SAP Open
San Jose, California

Top seed and defending champion Andy Roddick is among five of the top six seeds in second round action Thursday as he faces Latvia’s Ernests Gulbis in an evening Center Court match. Roddick defeated Gulbis in the ’08 US Open in their only previous meeting. Juan Martin del Potro, No. 2 seed, made a successful debut Wednesday and now takes on Japan’s Kei Nishikori. Meanwhile, Americans will match up against each other on Center Court as Taylor Dent continues his comeback bid and plays qualifier Todd Widom, while giant-serving John Isner plays veteran No. 5 Mardy Fish. In other action, American Sam Querrey, the No. 6 seed, faces Germany’s Denis Gremelmayr, and No. 3 seed James Blake takes the court against France’s Florent Serra. In the third match on Center Court, the doubles team of American Eric Butorac and Australian Ashley Fisher plays Germany’s Tommy Haas and Czech Radek Stepanek. The evening concludes with doubles as Americans James Cerretani and Querrey take on Blake and Fish.

 

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THURSDAY CENTER COURT MATCH-UPS – In Order of Play

THURSDAY CENTER COURT MATCH-UPS – In Order of Play​

HEAD-TO-HEAD

Taylor Dent (USA) vs (Q) Todd Widom (USA) First Meeting
Dent FastFacts:
2009 Highlights:
YTD W-L: 2-2
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 4
Date of Birth: April 24, 1981
South African Airways 2009 ATP Ranking: 662
• Dent, 27, was in old familiar form in registering a 63 64 win over American Bobby Reynolds in first round action… He continues his return to competitive tennis after back problems which kept him off the tour for almost three years
• Reached second round at Brisbane to start the year, then dropped tough five-set opening round Australian Open match to Amer Delic
• Comes in No. 662 in the South African Airways 2009 ATP Rankings…Reached career-high No. 21 in August 2005
• Won four ATP World Tour titles from 2002-03 – the first in Newport in ’02 (d. Blake) and the last coming in Moscow in ‘03 (d. Sargsian)
Widom FastFacts:
2009 Highlights:
YTD W-L: 1-0
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 0
Date of Birth: April 24, 1983
South African Airways 2009 ATP Ranking: 270
• Widom, 25, pulled the biggest upset of the tournament Tuesday with a 36 76 64 win over fellow American Robby Ginepri in 2 hours, 8 minutes in a match where Widom saved eight of nine break points and had a first serve mark of 73 per cent
• It was his first ATP World Tour match win since Delray Beach in January 2006 when he defeated South African Wesley Moodie (l. to Garcia-Lopez in 2nd Rd.)
• Seeking to reach his ATP World Tour quarterfinal and has a 3-3 career ATP level match record
• Qualified into the main draw over the weekend by winning three matches
• Enters the week at No. 270 on the South African Airways 2009 ATP Rankings

 

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HEAD-TO-HEAD
(5) Mardy Fish (USA) vs (WC) John Isner (USA) First Meeting
Fish FastFacts:
2009 Highlights:
YTD W-L: 3-3
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 2
Date of Birth: December 9, 1981
South African Airways 2009 ATP Ranking: 24
• Fish, 27, defeated former World No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt 76 63 in first round action on Tuesday
• He improved his lifetime record at San Jose to 10-7 and his ’09 overall match record to 3-3
• Posted a 4-7 record against top 10 opponents and compiled records of 26-15 on hard, 4-5 on clay and 2-3 on grass in 2008
• Reached two ATP World Tour finals in ’08 at New Haven (l. to Cilic) and Indian Wells (l. to Djokovic)
• Also reached first-ever QF at US Open, defeating Blake and Monfils before falling to Nadal
• Best finish at San Jose came in ’04 when he reached the final (l. to Roddick)
Isner FastFacts:
2009 Highlights:
QF: Auckland (l Soderling)
YTD W-L: 3-2
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 0
Date of Birth: April 26, 1985
South African Airways 2009 ATP Ranking: 139
• Isner, 23, opened the tournament with a 76 64 win over lucky loser Ramon Delgado of Paraguay, with 22 aces and serving at a 77 per cent first serve clip
• Sets up the second round match against countryman and friend Fish…They reached the Australian Open QF last month (l. to Bryans)
• Has a 3-2 match record and is now looking to reach his second QF of the season
• At Auckland, qualified into main draw, then defeated Montanes, and Ginepri before losing to Soderling in the quarterfinals

 

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HEAD-TO-HEAD
(6) Sam Querrey (USA) vs Denis Gremelmayr (GER) Gremelmayr Leads 1-0
08 San Jose (U.S.A.) Hard R32 Denis Gremelmayr 5-7 7-6(1) 6-3
Querrey FastFacts:
2009 Highlights:
F: Auckland (l Del Potro)
YTD W-L: 5-3
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 1
Date of Birth: October 7, 1987
South African Airways 2009 ATP Ranking: 34
• Querrey, 21, had 16 aces in a nearly two-hour 63 57 76 first round win over Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus on Wednesday
• Upped his match record to 5-3 on the year, and 2-3 lifetime at San Jose
• Started off year strong in Auckland by becoming the first American since Michael Chang in 2000 to reach the final, falling to del Potro
• Won his first ATP World Tour title in Las Vegas in March 2008 (d. Anderson)
• At 6-6 (198cm), along with fellow American Isner, remains one of the tallest American tennis players in history


Gremelmayr FastFacts:
2009 Highlights:
YTD W-L: 1-3
Career Titles: 0
Date of Birth: August 16, 1981
South African Airways 2009 ATP Ranking: 97
• Gremelmayr, 27, won his first match of the year after three losses, rallying for a 36 76 62 victory over Croatian Roko Karanusic to set up rematch of 2008 match with Querrey, whom the German beat here a year ago before falling to Fish
• The left-hander won his first ATP World Tour match since Bucharest last September when he defeated Jeremy Chardy in three sets
• Continues to have success in California, last August defeating Safin to reach the semifinals in Los Angeles before losing to Roddick
• He achieved his highest South African Airways ATP Ranking of No. 59 on May 5, 2008

 

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HEAD-TO-HEAD
Florent Serra (FRA) vs (3) James Blake (USA) Serra Leads 2-1
06 ATP Masters Series Rome (Italy) Clay R64 Florent Serra 6-4 7-6(3)
07 ATP Masters Series Indian Wells)Hard R64 James Blake 6-3 7-6(2)
07 ATP Masters Series Miami (U.S.A.)Hard R64 Florent Serra 7-6(8) 2-6 6-3
Serra FastFacts:
2009 Highlights:
QF: Brisbane (l Verdasco)
YTD W-L: 4-4
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 2
Date of Birth: February 28, 1981
South African Airways 2009 ATP Ranking: 57
• Serra, 27, defeated Jarkko Nieminen of Finland in 2 hours, 15 minutes in opening round action for his 75th career victory on the ATP World Tour.
• Started the season at Brisbane by reaching QF (l. to Verdasco) after upsetting former No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain
• Fell to Karanusic in five-sets in the first round of Australian Open
• Second time playing San Jose, losing to American John Isner in straight sets in ‘08
Blake FastFacts:
2009 Highlights:
YTD W-L: 4-1
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 10
Date of Birth: December 28, 1979
South African Airways 2009 ATP Ranking: 11
• Blake, 29, had 13 aces and broke 34-year-old countryman Vincent Spadea twice for a 63 64 opening round win in their ninth career meeting Wednesday
• Improved his lifetime record to 11-8 at San Jose, reaching semifinals in 2003 and quarterfinals in 2002 and ’08 ….Also won doubles title in 2004 (w/Fish)
• Started the year by reaching the round of 16 at Australian Open (l. to Tsonga)
• Owns 10 ATP World Tour singles titles, and reached a career-high ranking of No. 4 on Nov. 20, 2006
• Approaching 300 career match wins (296-176)

 

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HEAD-TO-HEAD
Kei Nishikori (JPN) vs (2) Juan Martin del Potro (ARG) del Potro Leads 1-0
08 US Open (U.S.A.) Hard R16 Juan Martin Del Potro 6-3 6-4 6-3
Nishikori FastFacts:
2009 Highlights:
QF: Brisbane (l Mathieu)
YTD W-L: 3-3
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 1
Date of Birth: December 29, 1989
South African Airways 2009 ATP Ranking: 56
• Nishikori, 19, defeated Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller 75 62 in the opening round
• Won his first ATP World Tour title in ’08 and moved up over 200 ranking spots to finish as youngest player in year-end Top 100 and first Japanese player to finish in Top 100 since Shuzo Matsuoka was No. 57 in 1995
• Qualified in ’08 into sixth career ATP World Tour event in Delray Beach and defeated four straight Americans (Delic, Reynolds, Querrey , and top seed Blake to win title
• Also reached round of 16 at U.S. Open in September ’08, defeating No. 4 David Ferrer …Closed season with run to the semifinals at Stockholm (l. to Soderling)
• Starting playing tennis at age five; won Futures event at 16
Del Potro FastFacts:
2009 Highlights:
W: Auckland (d Querrey); QF: Australian Open (l Federer)
YTD W-L: 9-1
YTD Titles: 1
Career Titles: 5
Date of Birth: September 23, 1988
South African Airways 2009 ATP Ranking: 7
• del Potro, 20, received a strong challenge Wednesday from Italian qualifier Andrea Stoppini, but the Argentine prevailed 76 76 in a high-quality first round match that featured no service breaks and lasted 1 hour, 48 minutes
• Competing in the SAP Open for the first time with a current match record of 9-1 in ‘09
• Won fifth ATP World Tour title in Auckland (d. Querrey) to start ’09 and followed with trip to QF at Australian Open (l. to Federer).
• Reached his highest-ever South African Airways ATP Ranking at No. 6 on Jan. 19, 2009
• Won four ATP World Tour titles in five finals to finish in Stuttgart (d. Gasquet), Kitzbuhel (d. Melzer), Los Angeles (d. Roddick), and Washington (d. Troicki)
• After 2nd RD exit at Wimbledon, won 37 of 45 matches, including a 23-match winning streak which ended with QF loss at US Open (l. to Murray)

 

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HEAD-TO-HEAD
(1) Andy Roddick (USA) vs Ernests Gulbis (LAT) Roddick Leads 1-0
08 US Open (U.S.A.) Hard R64 Andy Roddick 3-6 7-5 6-2 7-5
Roddick FastFacts:
2009 Highlights:
F: Doha (l Murray); SF: Australian Open (l Federer)
YTD W-L: 10-2
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 26
Date of Birth: August 30, 1982
South African Airways 2009 ATP Ranking: 6
• Roddick, 26, won his 26th career San Jose match (26-4) in the opening round with a 60 76 victory over qualifier Michael Ryderstedt in 62 minutes
• He is bidding to win his fourth title in the past six years at San Jose, having won 2004 (d Fish), ’05 (d. Saulnier) and ’08 (d. Stepanek)
• Only John McEnroe and Andre Agassi have won more titles at San Jose – each with five
• Now 10-2 in 2009 matches, reaching final in Doha (d. Monfils in SF, l. to Murray) and advancing to his fourth SF at Australian Open (d. No. 3 Djokovic, l. to Federer)
• Moved from No. 9 to No. 6 on South African Airways ATP Ranking following Australian Open
• Joins Federer in having won one ATP title for eight straight years (longest active streak)
• Finished in Top 10 for seventh consecutive year to end ‘08
• Captured three ATP World Tour titles in ’08, winning San Jose (d. Stepanek), Dubai (d. Lopez), and Beijing (d. Sela) while reaching the final in Los Angeles (d. del Potro)

Gulbis FastFacts:
2009 Highlights:
YTD W-L: 5-4
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 0
Date of Birth: August 30, 1988
South African Airways 2009 ATP Ranking: 45
• Gulbis, 20, made a successful debut at the SAP Open Tuesday with a 76 64 win over Brazilian Ricardo Mello, setting up a rematch of the ’08 US Open second round match won by the American
• Erupted onto the ATP World Tour last year and reached a career-high of No. 38 on South African Airways ATP Rankings on Aug. 4, 2008,
• Picked up where he left off to start 2009 with a 6-4, 6-4 victory in the first round over No. 3 Novak Djokovic in Brisbane.
• Increased match record for ’09 to 5-4; has a 3-10 overall record against Top 10 opponents

 

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