Thursday Preview - Tipsarevic & Almagro play first singles matches in 2012
The four remaining second round matches of the Aircel Chennai Open take to the courts on Thursday, with the Top 2 seeds playing on Centre Court - along with a few intriguing quarter-final doubles matches.
The first match is No. 2 seed Nicolas Almagro against Belgium's Steve Darcis. Almagro had his first Top 10 season in 2011, finishing the year at No. 10. Although the last few months weren't his best (he lost seven of his last nine matches of the year), he picked up three ATP World Tour titles (Costa do Sauipe, Buenos Aires, Nice) and made another two finals (Acapulco, Hamburg). He will try to find that form again today as he plays his first match of the year against Darcis. It will be an uphill battle for Darcis - the World No. 88 is 0-2 against Almagro and 0-9 against Top 10 players.
Next up is No. 1 seed Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia against Indian wild card Yuki Bhambri. Like Almagro, Tipsarevic had his first Top 10 season in 2011 - in fact, he had never even been ranked in the Top 20 until the summer, but a fantastic second half of the year - highlighted by his first two ATP World Tour titles at Kuala Lumpur and Moscow - propelled him to the year-end No. 9 ranking. He has done very well in Chennai in the past, reaching the semi-finals the last two years, but this time comes to Chennai as a Top 10 player for the first time (he was never even in the Top 30 here before). Bhambri is a 19-year-old Indian rising star playing a Top 10 player for the first time.
For the second day in a row the Centre Court ticket includes some legendary doubles action. After the singles matches, No. 1 seeds Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna face Andreas Beck and Stanislas Wawrinka in a quarter-final match (Bhupathi, a former doubles World No. 1, is playing with Bopanna for the first time this week, their first round win being the first match of their new partnership). The second doubles match pits No. 3 seeds Leander Paes and Tipsarevic against Fabio Fognini and Igor Zelenay (Paes is also a former doubles World No. 1).
Bhupathi and Paes have won this tournament five times playing together (1997, 1998, 1999, 2002 and 2011) but neither has ever won it with another partner.
Thursday Second Rd. FedEx ATP Head 2 Head - In Order of Play
Centre Court
Steve Darcis (BEL) vs (2) Nicolas Almagro (ESP) Almagro Leads 2-0
09 US Open (U.S.A.) Hard R128 Nicolas Almagro 6-2 6-4 2-6 7-6(8)
10 Roland Garros (France) Clay R64 Nicolas Almagro 6-3 6-0 7-5
Darcis FastFacts:
2011 Highlights:
QF: Vienna (l Brands)
YTD W-L: 1-0
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 2
Date of Birth: March 13, 1984
South African Airways 2012 ATP Ranking: 88
Darcis, 27, made a successful debut in Chennai with a 46 75 63 win over top Slovenian Blaz Kavcic on on Tuesday...One of four Belgians in main draw (David Goffin also in 2R). Last year finished as the No. 3 Belgian (behind Malisse, O. Rochus) and finished at No. 88, his first Top 100 year-end ranking in three years (No. 61 in '08). His best ATP World Tour result was the quarter-finals in Vienna and in Grand Slam play, reached 3R at Roland Garros as a qualifier, defeating Llodra and Petzschner (l. to Monfils). A two-time ATP World Tour winner ('07 Amersfoort, '08 Memphis) and his best ranking was No. 44 on May 12, 2008
Almagro FastFacts:
2011 Highlights:
W(3): Costa Do Sauipe (d Dolgopolov); Buenos Aires (d Chela); Nice (d Hanescu); F(2): Acapulco (l Ferrer); Hamburg (l Simon); SF(4): Auckland (l Nalbandian); Barcelona (l Ferrer); Bastad (l Ferrer); Gstaad (l Verdasco); QF(2): ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Montreal (l Tsonga); Kuala Lumpur (l Nishikori)
YTD W-L: 0-0
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 10
Date of Birth: August 21, 1985
South African Airways 2012 ATP Ranking: 10
Almagro, 26, is making his debut in Chennai...The No. 3 Spaniard (behind No. 2 Nadal, No. 5 Ferrer) finished a year-end best No. 10, won a career-high three ATP World Tour titles in five finals, all on clay, and 47 matches...In February, won back-to-back titles in Costa do Sauipe (d. Dolgopolov), Buenos Aires (d. Chela)...In May, picked up 10th title in Nice (d. Hanescu)...Runner-up in Acapulco (l. to Ferrer) and Hamburg (l. to Simon) ...Has won a title every year since 2006. After his runner-up in Hamburg, re-entered the Top 10 on July 25, moving from No. 14 to No. 10... First broke into Top 10 on Apr. 25 and was there for 3 weeks. Went 1-7 vs. Top 10 and compiled marks of 32-9 on clay, 13-12 on hard courts...His 32 match wins on clay was a tour-best and earned a career-high $1,326,007.
(1) Janko Tipsarevic (SRB) vs (WC) Yuki Bhambri (IND) 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: 0-0
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 fifth appearance in Chennai (8-4 record) with back-to-back semi-finals in 2010-11 and quarter-finals in 2009. 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.
Bhambri FastFacts:
2011 Highlights:
YTD W-L: 1-0
YTD Titles: 0/Career Titles: 0
Date of Birth: July 4, 1992
South African Airways 2012 ATP Ranking: 345
Bhambri, 19, won his first ATP World Tour main draw match on home soil Monday, defeating Slovakian Karol Beck 62 63 (breaking five times)...Last year lost in 1R in main draw debut...Played in qualifying draw from 2008-10, losing in the 1R twice and final round once ('10). Reached a career-high No. 321 on Apr. 12, 2010 and comes in as the No. 3 Indian at No. 345 (will pick up 20 ATP ranking pts. thus far, 45 if he reaches QFs). He is playing in his fourth ATP World Tour main draw, falling 1R in 2009 Miami, reaching 2R in 2010 Kuala Lumpur (d. unranked Si in 1R) and losing in 1R here last year. After his first win, he said, "You always remember your milestones, like getting your first rankings points or your first match win at ATP level, so Malaysia is good luck for me."). Last year played mostly Futures events, winning titles at India #1 and Nigeria #3...Also R-up at India #3. He became the first Indian to win the Australian Open junior title (2009) and fourth Indian to win any Grand Slam junior title
Court 1
Andreas Beck (GER) vs (WC) David Goffin (BEL) First Meeting
(Q) Yuichi Sugita (JPN) vs Yen-Hsun Lu (TPE) First ATP Meeting
Other Meetings:
10 Athens CH (Greece) Hard QF Yen-Hsun Lu 6-4 6-1
11 Seoul CH (Korea) Hard R16 Yen-Hsun Lu 7-6(3) 2-6 6-3
