Day 7 Preview
Sunday Preview - Tipsarevic & Raonic clash in championship match
One of the ATP World Tour's Top 10 players will face someone touted as a future member of the elite on Sunday in the final of the Aircel Chennai Open, an ATP World Tour 250 tournament. This is a first-time meeting.
Janko Tipsarevic, ranked No. 9 and this week's No. 1 seed, may not have had the toughest draw this week - the average rank of his opponents so far has been No. 213 - but he has made it through to the final in his first tournament of 2012, the eighth ATP World Tour final of his career. He is 2-5 in his first seven ATP World Tour finals but he has won two of his last three (he began 0-4). The 27-year-old Serb has always done well in Chennai, reaching the quarter-finals or better in three of his four previous appearances, but this is his first time into the final here.
Milos Raonic, ranked No. 31 and the No. 4 seed here, has had a much tougher road to the final than Tipsarevic, beating Top 100 players Victor Hanescu and Dudi Sela in his first two matches then taking out the No. 10-ranked, No. 2-seeded Nicolas Almagro in the semi-finals - all without losing a set, too. And while Tipsarevic leads the tournament in return games won (12 of 29), Raonic leads the tournament in the serving stats, including service games won (30 of 30) and aces (41 - the next-highest count is 24). He is 1-1 in ATP World Tour finals (both coming last February, winning San Jose but finishing runner-up to Andy Roddick in Memphis - barely,7-5 in third set).
Raonic is 4-8 against Top 10 players, his four wins all coming against No. 9s or No. 10s (one win over No. 10 Mikhail Youzhny, two wins over No. 9 Fernando Verdasco and his win this week over No. 10 Almagro). His win over Almagro snapped a five-match skid against Top 10 players.
WHAT'S AT STAKE
Winner: $71,900 and 250 South African Airways 2012 ATP Ranking points
Runner-up: $37,860 and 150 South African Airways 2012 ATP Ranking points
FINALS HISTORY
Tipsarevic: Appearing in his 8th career ATP World Tour final. He is 2-5 lifetime in finals (2-3 in '11)
Raonic: Appearing in his 3rd career ATP World Tour level final...He is 1-1 lifetime in finals (1-1 in'11)
Sunday Final FedEx ATP Head 2 Head - In Order of Play
Centre Court
(1)Janko Tipsarevic (SRB) vs (4) Milos Raonic (CAN) First Meeting
Tipsarevic FastFacts:
2011 Highlights:
W(2): Kuala Lumpur (d Baghdatis); Moscow (d Troicki); F(3): Delray Beach (l Del Potro); Eastbourne (l Seppi); St. Petersburg (l Cilic); SF(3): Chennai (l Malisse); Belgrade (W/O vs Djokovic); ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Canada (l Fish); QF(2): Washington (l Monfils); US Open (l Djokovic)
YTD W-L: 3-0
YTD Titles: 0/Career Titles: 2
Date of Birth: June 22, 1984
South African Airways 2012 ATP Ranking: 9
Tipsarevic, 27, the No. 2 Serb (behind No. 1 Djokovic), is making his eighth career ATP World Tour final appearance (2-5 record)...Since October, he's reached four finals in nine tournaments (2-1). The Belgrade native is 12-4 lifetime in Chennai and this is his first final in five visits...He was a semi-finalist the past two years and a quarter-finalist in 2009...The top seed opened with a 61 63 win over Indian teenager wild card Yuki Bhambri on Thursday and followed with a 62 36 62 quarter-final victory over Belgian wild card David Goffin on Friday and 61 64 over Japanese qualifier Go Soeda in SFs. Last year made biggest jump into Top 10 from previous season, climbing from No. 49 to No. 9 to earn alternate spot at Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London...Came in for Andy Murray who withdrew and went 1-1 in round robin play, losing to Tomas Berdych in three sets and defeating Djokovic. The Belgrade native reached a career-high five ATP World Tour finals, winning first two titles of his career (Kuala Lumpur, Moscow)...Also advanced to his first Grand Slam QF (US Open)and first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 SF in Montreal...Played the final seven weeks of regular season .He came into 2011 with a 134-138 career match record and was 25-23 last year before putting together a career-best 54-26 mark.
Raonic FastFacts:
2011 Highlights:
W: San Jose (d Verdasco); F: Memphis (l Roddick); SF(2): Estoril (l Verdasco); Stockholm (l Monfils); QF: Halle (l Petzschner)
YTD W-L: 3-0
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 1
Date of Birth: December 27, 1990
South African Airways 2012 ATP Ranking: 31
Raonic, 21, is appearing in his third career ATP World Tour final (1-1), the first outdoors on hard courts. This week through three matches has not dropped serve in 30 games, hitting 41 aces and saving 10 break points. In his main draw Chennai debut on Wednesday, defeated Romanian Victor Hanescu 61 64, then on Friday beat top Israeli Dudi Sela 76(4) 63, before ousting No. 2 seed/World No. 10 Nicolas Almagro 64 64 in the semi-finals (fired 17 aces)...Last year lost in the final round of qualifying to Edouard Roger-Vasselin. Has a 4-8 career mark vs. Top 10 opponents and looking to post back-to-back wins in same tournament for first time. The top Canadian earned ATP Newcomer of the Year honors for breakout season with first ATP World Tour title (San Jose) and 31 match wins, which is what his final ranking was last year...Only player born in 1990s to win an ATP World Tour singles title. Also runner-up in Memphis (l. to Roddick) and semi-finalist in Estoril and Stockholm...Made Grand Slam debut at Australian Open (as qualifier) and advanced to 4R (d. No. 10 Youzhny), losing to No. 7 Ferrer in four sets. Underwent right hip surgery on July 5 after suffering injury in 2R (June 22) at Wimbledon (vs. Muller) and returned two months later.
DOUBLES FINAL - (3) Paes/Tipsarevic (IND/SRB) vs. (4) Erlich/Ram (ISR/ISR)
- No. 3 seeds Leander Paes and Janko Tipsarevic beat No. 2 seeds Scott Lipsky and Rajeev Ram in the semi-finals;; they are playing their first doubles final together (Paes already has a whopping 47 ATP World Tour doubles titles, Tipsarevic has never won one)
- Paes has won this title five times with Bhupathi but has never won it with another partner
- No. 4 seeds Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram, took out top seeds Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna in the semi-finals; they are playing their 27th doubles final together (14-12 career mark)
- ATP World Tour doubles final W-L: Paes (47-34), Tipsarevic (0-2), Erlich (16-13), Ram (18-17)
