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2003 US OPEN
DAY SIX MEN’S NOTES
Saturday 30 August 2003
Third Round Top Half
Show court matches
ARTHUR ASHE STADIUM: No. 1 Andre Agassi (USA) v No. 28 Yevgeny Kafelnikov (RUS)
Robby Ginepri (USA) v Todd Martin (USA)
LOUIS ARMSTRONG No. 6 Lleyton Hewitt (AUS) v Radek Stepanek (CZE)
STADIUM: No. 15 Fernando Gonzalez (CHI) v Taylor Dent (USA)
No. 3 Juan Carlos Ferrero (ESP) v No. 33 Juan Ignacio Chela (ARG)
GRANDSTAND: No. 11 Paradorn Srichaphan (THA) v (LL) Fernando Verdasco (ESP)
No. 5 Guillermo Coria (ARG) v Gregory Carraz (FRA)
COURT 11: Jonas Bjorkman (SWE) v Karol Kucera (SVK)
On court today…
• Andre Agassi and Yevgeny Kafelnikov look to write another chapter in their
long history. This will be their 12th meeting overall, with Agassi leading 7-4,
and their fifth in a Grand Slam event, with Agassi having won three of those
four previous clashes.
• Another Grand Slam champion, Lleyton Hewitt, takes on Radek Stepanek in a
repeat of their third round Australian Open match-up at the start of the year.
Hewitt won that in straight sets.
• In the battle of the Juans, birthday boy Juan Ignacio Chela – who turns 24
today – looks to end Juan Carlos Ferrero’s run here, and emulate Carlos Moya who
played on his birthday on Wednesday and won. Today’s match is a possible preview
of the Spain v Argentina Davis Cup World Group semifinal, which takes place in
September.
• 1999 US Open runner-up Todd Martin takes on Robby Ginepri in an all-American
clash on Arthur Ashe. Twenty-year-old Ginepri is 13 years younger than his
veteran opponent.
• Thai star Paradorn Srichaphan looks to reach his second consecutive Grand Slam
round of 16, as he takes on Fernando Verdasco, the only remaining left-hander in
the men’s tournament.
ARTHUR ASHE STADIUM
NO. 1 ANDRE AGASSI (USA) v NO. 28 YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV (RUS)
Head-to-head: Agassi leads 7-4
1994 Monte Carlo Clay (O) R64 Kafelnikov 16 63 64
1995 Australian Open Hard (O) QF Agassi 62 75 60
1995 Roland Garros Clay (O) QF Kafelnikov 64 63 75
1996 Cincinnati Hard (O) QF Agassi 76 36 63
1998 Davis Cup (WG 1R) Hard (O) R4 Kafelnikov 63 60 76
1999 Canadian Open Hard (O) SF Kafelnikov 61 64
1999 Washington Hard (O) FR Agassi 76 61
1999 US Open Hard (O) SF Agassi 16 63 63 63
1999 ATP Finals Hard (I) SF Agassi 64 76
2000 Australian Open Hard (O) FR Agassi 36 63 62 64
2000 Tennis Masters Cup Hard (I) RR Agassi 61 64
Agassi and today’s opponent Kafelnikov have a long history of previous meetings,
with Agassi having won the last five. However the last meeting was nearly three
years ago, at the 2000 Tennis Masters Cup in Lisbon. Outdoors on hard court,
Agassi leads the personal rivalry 5-2. In Grand Slam play, this will be their
fifth meeting, with Agassi leading 3-1 so far. Kafelnikov’s lone Grand Slam
victory over Agassi came on clay at 1995 Roland Garros, while Agassi has won all
the clashes on hard court (1995 and 2000 Australian Open, 1999 US Open).
Today’s match is also a clash between two of the three multiple Grand Slam title
winners left in the draw, Lleyton Hewitt being the third.
Agassi v Kafelnikov
33 Age 29
1 Entry Ranking 28
58 Titles 26
198-44 Career Grand Slam Record 99-35
64-15 US Open Record 24-8
779-238 Career Record 607-301
505-130 Career Record – Hard 249-116
41-7 2003 Record 27-21
26-3 2003 Record – Hard 12-11
23-19 Career Five-Set Record 20-11
5 Comebacks from 0-2 down 3
167-137 Career Tie-break Record 217-169
11-4 2003 Tie-break Record 8-8
• Agassi defeated Alex Corretja 61 62 62 in the first round, and Andreas
Vinciguerra 76 61 64 in the second round.
• Agassi is playing his 17th consecutive US Open. This is a tie, along with
recently-retired countryman Michael Chang, for the most appearances by any man
in the draw.
• Agassi has never lost in the third round here. He does however have three
first round losses (in 1987, 1991 and 1993), and one second round loss (in
2000), but once past the second round he has always reached the round of 16 or
better.
• Following the retirements of Pete Sampras and Michael Chang this week, Agassi
is now the only active American male Grand Slam champion.
• Agassi owns eight Grand Slam titles in total. A third US title would give him
sole possession of sixth place for the most all-time Grand Slam titles.
Top Grand Slam titleholders
1. Pete Sampras 14
2. Roy Emerson 12
3. Bjorn Borg 11
Rod Laver 11
5. Bill Tilden 10
6. Fred Perry 8
Ken Rosewall 8
Jimmy Connors 8
Ivan Lendl 8
Andre Agassi 8
• Agassi reached his fifth US Open final last year, losing to Pete Sampras 63 64
57 64 in the 34th and last meeting between the great rivals. Agassi won the US
Open title in 1994 (defeating Michael Stich 61 76 75 in the final) and again in
1999 (defeating Todd Martin 64 67 67 63 62). The only other former US Open
champion in the draw is 2001 winner Lleyton Hewitt.
• This is the first time Agassi has been seeded No. 1 at a Grand Slam event
since the 2000 US Open. Then, he was upset in the second round by Arnaud Clement
63 62 64.
• The No. 1 seed has won the US Open title only eight times in 35 meetings. The
last top seed to win the title here was Pete Sampras in 1996, when he
successfully defended his US Open title. [For more detail see page 9 of the
Preview.]
• Agassi last played before the US Open at TMS Montreal, where he lost in the
quarterfinals to Rainer Schuettler 26 62 63. He only played one other event on
the summer hard court circuit, reaching the semifinals at Washington the week
previously before losing to Fernando Gonzalez 36 64 76.
• This is only Agassi’s 12th tournament this year. Although he has a 41-7 record
to date and currently heads the ATP Entry Ranking, Agassi had more success in
the first half of the season, when he collected four titles. He won the
Australian Open for the fourth time, then claimed further hard court titles at
San Jose and TMS Miami before winning on clay at Houston.
• Agassi is the tour’s all-time leader in hard court tournament titles, having
won 44 tournaments (of 58 total) on hard courts.
• Kafelnikov has won his two matches here this year despite slow starts. He
defeated Kristof Vliegen 36 76 62 62 in the first round, before defeating
Kenneth Carlsen 46 62 63 63 in the second round.
• This is the first time Kafelnikov has reached the third round at a Grand Slam
event since 2002 Wimbledon. As No. 5 seed there he lost to Xavier Malisse 76 75
61.
• Kafelnikov is playing his ninth US Open. Last year, as No. 4 seed, he lost in
the second round to Dominik Hrbaty 63 61 61.
• Until winning his opening two matches here, Kafelnikov had been unable to win
consecutive matches during the summer hard court circuit. He had byes in the
first rounds at Indianapolis and Washington, losing in the third round of both,
and had second-round exits at both TMS Montreal and TMS Cincinnati. In fact,
Kafelnikov had not won consecutive matches since TMS Rome, where he had a
semifinal finish (losing to Felix Mantilla 46 76 64).
• Kafelnikov has twice advanced to the semifinals here, most recently in 2001.
Then, he defeated Gustavo Kuerten 64 60 63 in the quarterfinals before falling
to eventual champion Lleyton Hewitt 61 62 61. In 1999, Kafelnikov advanced to
the last four by defeating Richard Krajicek 76 76 36 16 76 in the quarters,
falling to eventual champion Andre Agassi 16 63 63 63.
• Kafelnikov’s best result of 2003 so far is a runner-up finish on indoor carpet
at Milan, where he lost to Martin Verkerk 64 57 75 in the final.
• Having realised his long-cherished dream of helping Russia to a first Davis
Cup title at the end of 2002, Kafelnikov, who had said he would retire if his
country won the competition, decided to continue playing after all in 2003.
ROBBY GINEPRI (USA) v TODD MARTIN (USA)
Head-to-head: first meeting
This is the second all-American match-up this tournament, the other being Todd
Martin’s first round meeting with wild card Robert Yim.
Ginepri, 20, is 13-years younger than countryman Martin.
Ginepri V Martin
20 Age 33
40 Entry Ranking 93
1 Titles 8
4-5 Career Grand Slam Record 98-43
3-2 US Open Record 32-13
33-31 Career Record 400-218
23-24 Career Record – Hard 225-115
24-14 2003 Record 15-10
19-11 2003 Record – Hard 9-5
0-1 Career Five-Set Record 21-14
0 Comebacks from 0-2 down 8
12-13 Career Tie-break Record 184-139
10-7 2003 Tie-break Record 8-7
• Ginepri defeated David Ferrer 62 63 63 in the first round and upset No. 23
seed Wayne Ferreira 62 64 67 62 in the second round.
• This third round showing is Ginepri’s best Grand Slam result to date. Prior to
this year’s event, his best results at a major were two second round finishes.
At the 2001 US Open, Ginepri defeated Harel Levy 63 75 64 in the first round
before falling to No. 13 seed Roger Federer 62 75 61, and at this year’s
Australian Open he defeated Marc Rosset 63 64 62 in the first round then fell to
Feliciano Lopez 62 64 62.
• Ginepri has a poor record against Americans. Of the ten career matches he has
played against his countrymen, he has won just three. The last victory he posted
against an American was in the first round at Newport in July (where he defeated
Prakash Amritraj 61 64).
• This is Ginepri’s third consecutive US Open, having made his Grand Slam
tournament debut as a wild card in 2001. In last year’s event, Ginepri lost in
the opening round to eventual finalist and countryman Andre Agassi in straight
sets 63 63 63.
• Ginepri had a promising US Open warm-up, with two quarterfinal finishes on the
summer hard court circuit: at Indianapolis, falling to Sjeng Schalken 16 61 62,
and at TMS Cincinnati, falling to Rainer Schuettler 62 63.
• 2003 has been a breakthrough year for the young American, whose ranking has
climbed from 102 at the start of the year to a current career-high of 40, which
he first reached on 18 August. Ginepri claimed the first tour title of his
career in at Newport in July with a 64 67 61 win over Jurgen Melzer in the
final. He reached back-to-back quarterfinals on hard court in the spring at TMS
Indian Wells (falling to eventual champion Lleyton Hewitt 64 62) and at TMS
Miami (falling to Carlos Moya 67 63 76).
• Ginepri was runner-up in both the boys’ singles and doubles tournaments at the
2000 US Open, losing in the final of the singles to Andy Roddick 61 63.
• Martin defeated countryman and wild card Robert Yim 61 76 62 in the first
round and No. 16 seed Martin Verkerk 63 64 67 76 in the second round. By
defeating the Roland Garros runner-up, Martin claimed the 400th victory of his
career.
• This is Martin’s 14th consecutive US Open. Last year he lost in the first
round, falling to No. 21 seed Gaston Gaudio 62 63 06 75.
• By winning his second round match against Verkerk, Martin secured a third
round berth at the US Open for the first time since 2000, when he went on to a
semifinal finish. In addition to a first-round exit last year, Martin lost in
the second round in 2001 to Tommy Robredo 63 75 36 63.
• Martin reached the final here in 1999, falling to Andre Agassi 64 67 67 63 62,
and followed that up by reaching the semifinals in 2000, falling to eventual
champion Marat Safin 63 76 76. He had previously reached the last four in 1994,
falling to eventual champion Andre Agassi 63 46 62 63.
• In addition to being runner-up here in 1999, Martin was runner-up at the 1994
Australian Open, losing in the final to Pete Sampras 76 64 64.
• Martin’s best result so far this year came at TMS Miami, where he reached the
quarterfinals, defeating Andy Roddick 76 64 in the third round, going on to lose
to Paradorn Srichaphan 63 67 75.
• During the summer hard court season, Martin fell in the first round at
Washington to Scott Draper 63 64, and reached the round of 16 as a wild card at
TMS Cincinnati, falling to Rainer Schuettler 75 36 63.
• Martin’s last singles title came at Sydney in 1999, although he did win the
doubles title at TMS Cincinnati last year with James Blake.
• Martin is one of 12 players aged 30 or over who entered the 2003 US Open. At
33, he is in fact the second-oldest player to start in the men’s draw after
Andre Agassi, who is just over two months older than Martin.
LOUIS ARMSTRONG STADIUM
NO. 6 LLEYTON HEWITT (AUS) v RADEK STEPANEK (CZE)
Head-to-head: Hewitt leads 1-0
2003 Australian Open Hard (O) R32 Hewitt 63 62 60
This is Hewitt and Stepanek’s second Grand Slam meeting of the year, and no
doubt Stepanek will be hoping to do better than he did at the Australian Open,
when he could win only five games in a straight-sets defeat.
Hewitt v Stepanek
22 Age 24
6 Entry Ranking 46
19 Titles 0
54-19 Career Grand Slam Record 9-5
21-3 US Open Record 2-1
292-93 Career Record 46-41
177-55 Career Record – Hard 18-19
34-11 2003 Record 27-21
24-7 2003 Record – Hard 11-9
11-8 Career Five-Set Record 1-4
1 Comebacks from 0-2 down 0
74-63 Career Tie-break Record 19-17
8-8 2003 Tie-break Record 9-11
• Hewitt defeated Victor Hanescu 63 62 62 in the first round, and went on to
defeat Hyung-Taik Lee 57 62 62 64 in the second round.
• Hewitt has a strong record against Czech opponents. He has faced a Czech 14
times prior to today’s match, and has won 12 times, losing only twice.
• Hewitt has maintained his record of never having lost here before the third
round. His earliest exit at the US Open to date was on his debut in 1999, when
he lost at this stage to Andrei Medvedev 36 63 36 64 63.
• This is Hewitt’s fifth US Open. Last year he reached the semifinals, falling
to No. 6 seed Andre Agassi 64 76 67 62.
• Hewitt won the tournament in 2001 for his first Grand Slam title, defeating
Pete Sampras in the final 76 61 61 to become the second-youngest US Open men’s
champion of the Open Era. He and two-time winner Andre Agassi are the only
former US Open champions to play in this year’s draw.
• Hewitt lost in the first round at 2003 Wimbledon, where he was upset by
qualifier Ivo Karlovic 16 76 63 64, becoming the first defending Wimbledon
champion to lose in the first round there in the Open Era, and only the second
in history.
• This is the first time that Hewitt has not been seeded No. 1 at a Grand Slam
event since the 2001 US Open (he was No. 4 seed here when he won). Hewitt came
into the 2003 US Open with an Entry Ranking of No. 6, which he first held on 11
August. This is his lowest ranking for nearly two years, since 18 June 2001.
• Hewitt has won two titles so far in 2003, both on hard court. At Scottsdale he
defeated countryman Mark Philippoussis 64 64 in the final, and the following
week at TMS Indian Wells he defeated Gustavo Kuerten 61 61 in the final. He was
also runner-up in Los Angeles, having held three match points against Wayne
Ferreira in the final before falling 63 46 75.
• Hewitt has led the Australian Davis Cup team to the Davis Cup semifinals this
year, playing in Australia’s first round defeat of Great Britain, and in the
defeat of Sweden in the quarterfinals. He is undefeated in Davis Cup play this
year, with a 2-0 win-loss record in singles, and 1-0 in doubles. Australia faces
Switzerland at home in Melbourne in September’s semifinals.
• Stepanek defeated No. 29 seed Feliciano Lopez 64 64 64 in the first round,
before taking four sets to dispose of Fabrice Santoro in the second round 62 64
67 63.
• Stepanek lost in the first round here on his debut last year, to Karol Kucera
67 64 26 62 61. With his first and second round victories here this year, he has
now won matches at each Grand Slam event.
• So far in 2003, Stepanek has reached the third round at each Grand Slam
tournament apart from Roland Garros, where he fell in the second round. However
he has not reached the round of 16 at any Slam, so he has bidding for a
career-best Grand Slam result today.
• Stepanek was a doubles runner-up here last year with countryman and Davis Cup
teammate Jiri Novak. The Czech pairing fell to Mahesh Bhupathi and Max Mirnyi 63
36 64. Novak and Stepanek are playing in the doubles again this year, as No. 16
seeds, and are through to the second round.
• Stepanek has reached two semifinals this year, indoors on hard court at
Copenhagen, where he fell to Olivier Rochus 63 67 64, and on clay at Gstaad,
where he fell to eventual champion – and his current doubles partner – Jiri
Novak 75 61.
• Stepanek had some good results on hard court earlier in the year. As well as
his semifinal at Copenhagen, he also won three matches to reach the round of 16
at TMS Miami, defeating Rainer Schuettler 64 64 in the third round, before
falling to Todd Martin 63 62.
• However Stepanek had not won a match on the summer hard court circuit before
his wins in rounds one and two here. Stepanek fell ion the first rounds at both
TMS Montreal, to James Blake 76 64, and at TMS Cincinnati, where he fell to
Robby Ginepri 61 36 60.
• Stepanek won the Prostejov Challenger at home in the Czech Republic in June,
defeating Mariano Puerta in the final 75 63.
• Stepanek is usually coached by Tomas Krupa, but is working here with 1998
Australian Open champion Petr Korda. Stepanek first approached Korda for advice
in November 2001, and was told by Korda that if he did everything Korda told
him, he would finish in the Top 70 by the end of the year. Stepanek finished the
year at No. 63.
NO. 15 FERNANDO GONZALEZ (CHI) v TAYLOR DENT (USA)
Head-to-head: first meeting
Gonzalez V Dent
23 Age 22
15 Entry Ranking 73
3 Titles 2
19-10 Career Grand Slam Record 9-11
7-2 US Open Record 4-5
89-56 Career Record 49-52
35-23 Career Record – Hard 35-37
32-17 2003 Record 16-10
11-8 2003 Record – Hard 11-3
6-3 Career Five-Set Record 0-3
0 Comebacks from 0-2 down 0
38-22 Career Tie-break Record 24-26
14-6 2003 Tie-break Record 8-8
• Gonzalez reached the third round at this year’s US Open with a 63 75 57 64
victory over wild card Michael Chang in the first round and a 76 61 62 win
against Stefan Koubek in the second round.
• Having won his first two matches here, Gonzalez has posted consecutive match
wins for the first time since Washington at the beginning of August. Coming into
the US Open, he had won just one match in three tournaments played. He fell in
the first round at TMS Montreal and Long Island and posted just one win at TMS
Cincinnati – over Brian Vahaly 75 62.
• That being said, Gonzalez did achieve his best result of the year during the
US summer hard court circuit, reaching the final at Washington. He defeated Max
Mirnyi 76 62 in the quarterfinals and Andre Agassi 36 64 76 in the semifinals,
before falling to Tim Henman 63 64.
• Gonzalez is making his third appearance at the US Open, having reached the
quarterfinals in 2002 and the second round in 2000 (as a qualifier). Last year,
he defeated Arnaud Clement 64 62 63 in the round of 16 before falling to Sjeng
Schalken in an epic five-set quarterfinal 76 36 36 76 67.
• Gonzalez is playing against an American for the second time in this event. He
has played Americans a total of 14 times in his career and currently holds a
10-4 win-loss record against the nation (including a win over Andre Agassi in
the semifinals at 2003 Washington). He could potentially face another American,
Agassi again, in the round of 16 (Agassi plays Kafelnikov in their third round
match today).
• Gonzalez had an indifferent start to the year but posted better results after
his quarterfinal appearance at TMS Hamburg in May. He guided Chile to victory at
the World Team Cup, reached the quarterfinals at Roland Garros (losing to
eventual champion Juan Carlos Ferrero 61 36 61 57 64) and progressed to the
semifinals at Stuttgart before his runner-up finish at Washington.
• Gonzalez reached a career-high ranking of No. 13 on 4 August.
• By winning his first two matches here – against qualifier Robin Soderling 76
63 36 64 in the first round and Nikolay Davydenko 63 64 76 in the second - Dent
has posted his best US Open result to date. Prior to this year’s event, he had
two second round and three first round finishes here.
• Dent is now attempting to progress to the round of 16 of a Grand Slam event
for the first time in his career. Since his Grand Slam debut as a wild card at
the 1998 US Open, he has reached the third round of a Slam event on now three
occasions, but got not further. In addition to this year’s US Open, he reached
the third round at the 2002 Australian Open (losing to Adrian Voinea 36 63 64 36
63) and 2002 Wimbledon (losing to Wayne Arthurs 76 76 67 76).
• This is Dent’s sixth US Open. Last year he lost in the first round to Raemon
Sluiter 36 63 60 16 63. It was the first time he played as a direct acceptance
rather than as a wild card.
• Dent has not played at all on the summer hard court circuit. He was due to
defend his title on grass at 2003 Newport, but withdrew due to a pinched nerve
in his right hand and has been recovering from the injury since.
• Dent performed well on hard court earlier in the season, winning his second
career title indoors at Memphis by defeating compatriot Andy Roddick 61 64 in
the final. He advanced to the semifinals at Scottsdale before losing to eventual
champion Lleyton Hewitt 62 64.
• Dent’s other 2003 highlights are a quarterfinal finish at Queen’s (64-draw),
where Roddick avenged his loss at Memphis and defeated Dent 63 76, and a
quarterfinal finish at Nottingham, where Dent lost to Jonas Bjorkman by walkover
due to a back injury.
NO. 3 JUAN CARLOS FERRERO (ESP) v NO. 33 JUAN IGNACIO CHELA (ARG)
Head-to-head: Ferrero leads 1-0
2002 Kitzbuhel Clay (O) QF Ferrero 75 67 64
Ferrero v Chela
23 Age 23/24*
3 Entry Ranking 41
10 Titles 2
45-13 Career Grand Slam Record 13-11
9-4 US Open Record 5-2
219-92 Career Record 100-80
77-49 Career Record – Hard 40-37
52-12 2003 Record 30-20
17-7 2003 Record – Hard 14-9
11-8 Career Five-Set Record 0-5
1 Comebacks from 0-2 down 0
74-64 Career Tie-break Record 38-36
12-11 2003 Tie-break Record 9-7
* turns 24 on 30 August
• Ferrero defeated qualifier Jan Vacek 62 46 63 62 in the first round, before
defeating Jurgen Melzer 16 76 62 64 in the second round.
• This is Ferrero’s fifth US Open. He has now matched last year’s performance,
when he reached the third round, falling to No. 28 seed Fernando Gonzalez 64 64
64.
• Ferrero is now bidding to match his best result at the US Open, which came in
2000, when he reached the round of 16. Ferrero defeated Roger Federer 75 76 16
76 in the third round, falling to No. 6 seed and eventual champion Marat Safin
61 62 62.
• Fererro is also bidding to record three consecutive hard court wins for the
first time since the Australian Open. During the summer hard court circuit
Fererro reached the round of 16 at TMS Montreal, falling to Karol Kucera 63 75,
and the second round at TMS Cincinnati, where he fell to Gaston Gaudio 67 76 64.
• At each Grand Slam event to date in 2003, Ferrero has posted his best career
result at those events. At the Australian Open he reached the quarterfinals, he
was champion at Roland Garros, and at Wimbledon he reached the round of 16.
Ferrero therefore needs to reach the quarterfinals here to keep this run going
and surpass his previous best showing.
• Ferrero is seeded No. 3 here, his best seeding at the US Open and his
joint-highest seeding at a Grand Slam event (he was also seeded third at 2003
Roland Garros and 2003 Wimbledon).
• Playing in his second Roland Garros final, Ferrero claimed his first Grand
Slam title in June by defeating Albert Costa 63 76 64 in the semifinals and
Martin Verkerk 61 63 62 in the final. Ferrero is one of five men to start in the
draw who own one Grand Slam title: the others were Michael Chang (1989 Roland
Garros), who lost in the opening round, Albert Costa (2002 Roland Garros), who
lost in the second round, Carlos Moya (1998 Roland Garros), and Roger Federer
(2003 Wimbledon).
• Ferrero has won three titles this year, all on clay – TMS Monte Carlo,
Valencia and Roland Garros. He began the year with a runner-up finish at Sydney
on hard court, holding a match point against Hyung-Taik Lee in the final but
falling 46 76 76.
• Chela defeated qualifier Roko Karanusic of Croatia 64 76 63 in the first
round, following this up with a 26 61 64 63 win over lucky loser Tomas Berdych
in the second round, the 100th victory of his career.
• Chela is celebrating his 24th birthday today.
• Chela had his best Grand Slam result here last year, when he reached the round
of 16 as No. 26 seed, defeating No. 5 seed Tim Henman 63 63 62 in the third
round, before falling to No. 11 Andy Roddick 57 64 64 64.
• Before his success here last year, Chela had not won a match at the US Open,
losing in the first round in 2000 on his only previous appearance, to Stefan
Koubek 46 63 76 76.
• Chela has had modest success on hard court this year. He has avoided losing
his first match at every hard court event he has played, except for a first
round defeat at Scottsdale to Mark Philippoussis 76 36 61. Chela has reached one
hard court semifinal in 2003, at Chennai at the start of the year, and one hard
court quarterfinal, at Long Island last week, falling to Nicolas Kiefer 61 30
ret., due to a stomach virus. He also won three matches to reach the round of 16
at TMS Cincinnati, falling to David Nalbandian 64 64.
• Despite his best finish of the year so far coming on hard court at Chennai as
described above, Chela has had more consistent success on clay this year,
reaching four quarterfinals (Buenos Aires, TMS Monte Carlo, Gstaad and Kitzbuhel).
GRANDSTAND
NO. 11 PARADORN SRICHAPHAN (THA) v (LL) FERNANDO VERDASCO (ESP)
Head-to-head: first meeting
Srichaphan v Verdasco
24 Age 19
11 Entry Ranking 119
4 Titles 0
13-15 Career Grand Slam Record 2-1
3-3 US Open Record 2-0
130-91 Career Record 6-10
103-63 Career Record – Hard 4-3
37-20 2003 Record 5-8
29-11 2003 Record – Hard 4-3
11-3 Career Five-Set Record 0-1
1 Comebacks from 0-2 down 0
48-49 Career Tie-break Record 6-5
11-9 2003 Tie-break Record 6-5
• Srichaphan is making his first appearance in the third round at the US Open,
having defeated Cyril Saulnier 26 62 63 76 in the first round and Dominik Hrbaty
64 64 63 in the second round.
• This is Srichaphan’s fourth US Open. His best result here, prior to this
year’s event, was a second round finish in 2002. Then, he defeated wild card
Prakash Amritraj 61 63 60 in the first round for his first win at the US Open,
falling to No. 33 seed Greg Rusedski in the second round 36 76 76 67 64.
• Srichaphan is now bidding to reach the round of 16 at a Grand Slam event for
the second time in his career. He reached the round of 16 at this year’s
Wimbledon where, as No. 12 seed, he defeated Rafael Nadal 64 64 62 in the third
round before falling to eventual semifinalist Andy Roddick 64 36 63 62.
• Srichaphan has played against Spaniards 13 times in his career ahead of today,
but has only won on four occasions. His last win against the nation was his 64
60 76 first round victory over Alberto Martin at TMS Montreal.
• Srichaphan arrived here fresh from winning the title in Long Island. He
defeated James Blake in the final 62 64, defending the title he won there last
year, to claim his second title of 2003 after winning Chennai at the start of
the year. The last player to win back-to-back Long Island and US Open titles was
Patrick Rafter in 1998.
• Srichaphan has posted some strong results this year on hard court. He began
the year by winning the title in Chennai, defeating Karol Kucera 63 61 in the
final, and went on to reach the semifinals at TMS Miami, falling to Carlos Moya
64 62.
• During the summer hard court season, Srichaphan reached the final at
Indianapolis, falling to Andy Roddick 76 64, the quarterfinals at Washington
falling to Tim Henman 76 75, and the round of 16 at TMS Montreal falling to Max
Mirnyi 63 62, before winning at Long Island.
• Despite this string of good performances on hard court, Srichaphan has also
suffered some early defeats during the year on the surface, falling in the first
rounds at San Jose (indoors), Scottsdale, TMS Indian Wells and TMS Cincinnati.
• In April 2003 Srichaphan reached No. 10 on the ATP Entry Ranking, becoming the
first Asian man to enter the world top ten since rankings were introduced in
August 1973. On 12 May he reached No. 9, a career-high.
• Lucky loser Verdasco reached the third round here with a 63 64 62 win over No.
17 seed Tommy Robredo in the first round and a 76 76 46 63 win over Davide
Sanguinetti in the second round. He was one of 28 men making their US Open debut
this year and one of seven who managed to progress beyond the first round (the
others being qualifier Tomas Berdych, Gregory Carraz, qualifier Ivo Karlovic,
qualifier Wesley Moodie, Rafael Nadal, and qualifier Dmitry Tursunov).
• Verdasco is now bidding to become the first lucky loser to reach a Grand Slam
round of 16 since Dick Norman at Wimbledon in 1995.
• This is Verdasco’s best Grand Slam result to date, having only played one
Grand Slam main draw match prior to the US Open. At 2003 Wimbledon, he defeated
Tomas Zib 64 57 63 62 in the final round of qualifying, but lost in the opening
round of the main draw to No. 30 seed Jarkko Nieminen 67 64 46 63 63.
• Apart from 2003 Wimbledon, Verdasco attempted to qualify for a Grand Slam
event on two other occasions – at the 2003 Australian Open and 2003 Roland
Garros. In both of these qualifying events, he lost in the opening rounds (to
Joachim Johansson 46 64 75 in Australia and to Eric Prodon 75 26 86 in France).
• Including challengers, Verdasco had only played four hard court events this
year ahead of the US Open. His best result on the surface came at the 128-draw
TMS Miami in March, where as a qualifier he defeated Karol Kucera 62 40 ret. and
Max Mirnyi 16 76 64, before falling to Carlos Moya 76 63 in the third round.
• Verdasco had a poor warm-up to the 2003 US Open. Of the three summer hard
court tournaments he played, he secured just one victory – over Andrew Murray (GBR)
in the first round of the Segovia Challenger in Spain. He lost in the opening
rounds at both TMS Cincinnati (63 62 to eventual champion Andy Roddick) and Long
Island (67 64 60 to Younes El Aynaoui).
• In addition to Verdasco’s third round finish at TMS Miami, his best results of
the year have been two semifinal challenger appearances – at Wolfsburg (losing
to Arvind Parmar 64 63) and Zagreb (losing to Kristof Vliegen 36 76 64).
NO. 5 GUILLERMO CORIA (ARG) v GREGORY CARRAZ (FRA)
Head-to-head: first meeting
Coria v Carraz
21 Age 28
5 Entry Ranking 100
5 Titles 0
16-9 Career Grand Slam Record 3-3
4-1 US Open Record 2-0
103-48 Career Record 11-16
30-18 Career Record – Hard 7-9
52-13 2003 Record 8-6
14-7 2003 Record – Hard 5-4
1-1 Career Five-Set Record 2-0
0 Comebacks from 0-2 down 1
24-20 Career Tie-break Record 7-10
7-6 2003 Tie-break Record 6-3
• Coria has had a relatively easy ride into the 2003 US Open third round, having
won in straight sets in his first two matches. He defeated countryman Mariano
Puerta in the first round 64 63 61 and Bohdan Ulihrach 62 61 64 in the second
round. He has also yet to drop serve in the tournament.
• Having debuted here last year, Coria has now matched his best result at
Flushing Meadows. At last year’s event, he progressed to the third round where
he fell to Arnaud Clement 26 62 75 76.
• Coria has a good record against Frenchmen, having a 6-3 win-loss record
against the nation. He is on a four-match winning streak against Frenchmen,
going back to his victory over Anthony Dupuis 60 64 in the second round at TMS
Miami.
• Coria has played two hard court events in the run-up to the US Open. He lost
in the first round at TMS Montreal to Feliciano Lopez, but reached the
quarterfinals at TMS Cincinnati, losing to Max Mirnyi 62 75.
• 2003 has been Coria’s most successful year to date. So far, he has claimed
four tour titles (at TMS Hamburg, Stuttgart, Kitzbuhel and Sopot), reached two
finals (at Buenos Aires and TMS Monte Carlo) and progressed to the semifinals at
Roland Garros (his best Grand Slam performance to date).
• Although all of Coria’s 2003 highlights came on clay, he has found a degree of
success on hard court in 2003. As well as the quarterfinal appearance at TMS
Cincinnati described above, he reached the rounds of 16 at the Australian Open,
TMS Indian Wells and TMS Miami, as well as the quarterfinals at Auckland, early
in the year.
• Having claimed his fifth tour title at 2003 Sopot, Coria reached a career high
ranking of No. 5 on 11 August and has carried this ranking into the 2003 US
Open. By winning Stuttgart, Kitzbuhel and Sopot, he also became the first player
in seven years to win three ATP titles in three consecutive weeks (matching a
feat last achieved by Thomas Muster in 1996).
• Coria could make his Davis Cup debut for Argentina in the World Group
semifinals away to Spain in September.
• Having never played a five set match prior to this event, Carraz has now won
two five-setters in a row, having a 64 46 62 57 64 win over 1997 runner-up Greg
Rusedski in the first round and a 36 16 62 76 61 win over No. 31 seed Arnaud
Clement in the second round.
• This is only Carraz’s fourth Grand Slam event and his debut US Open. This is
the first major for which he gained direct acceptance (previously he was either
a wild card, qualifier or lucky loser).
• Following his two wins here this year, he now has three Grand Slam match wins
to his name. He his only previous win came at 2002 Wimbledon, when as a
qualifier he defeated Cecil Mamiit 62 64 67 75 in the first round before losing
to eventual champion Lleyton Hewitt 64 76 62.
• The best result of Carraz’s career so far came at Newport in July, when he
reached his first ever semifinal. He upset No. 1 seed James Blake 76 57 64 in
the first round, then defeated Christopher Guccione 67 76 64 and Justin
Gimelstob 26 61 76, before falling to eventual champion Robby Ginepri 63 76.
• Before Newport, Carraz had had no tour-level match wins this year, but he
followed up his semifinal showing with some encouraging performances on the
summer hard court circuit. At Indianapolis, Carraz defeated Noam Okun 46 63 64
and Kenneth Carlsen 64 36 76, before falling to Andy Roddick 63 64 in the round
of 16. He defeated Harel Levy 76 64 in the first round at Washington before
falling in the second round to James Blake 76 64, and qualified for TMS
Montreal, falling to Yevgeny Kafelnikov 16 62 64 in the first round.
• Carraz also won two challenger events on hard court this year: the Bangalore
Challenger in April, and the Andorra Challenger in June.
• Carraz has improved his ranking steadily in the past three years, from 580 at
the end of 2000, to 100 currently, a career-high which he first achieved on 28
July. His stated goal is a place in the Top 50.
COURT 11
JONAS BJORKMAN (SWE) v KAROL KUCERA (SVK)
Head-to-head: Kucera leads 4-3
1995 Long Island Hard (O) R32 Kucera 46 76 76
1996 US Open Hard (O) R128 Bjorkman 62 57 76 75
1996 Lyon Carpet (I) R32 Kucera 63 16 61
1997 Stockholm Hard (I) QF Bjorkman 63 62
1998 Vienna Carpet (I) QF Kucera 63 62
1999 Hopman Cup Hard (I) R1 Bjorkman 75 61
1999 ‘s-Hertogenbosch Grass (O) QF Kucera 62 63
This is the eighth head-to-head meeting between the two players. Although the
last win was to Kucera on grass, Bjorkman leads the head-to-head on hard court,
with a 3-1 advantage over the Slovak on the surface.
Bjorkman V Kucera
31 Age 29
44 Entry Ranking 37
5 Titles 6
66-39 Career Grand Slam Record 35-34
24-10 US Open Record 7-7
330-256 Career Record 286-221
198-147 Career Record – Hard 116-88
21-15 2003 Record 22-13
7-7 2003 Record – Hard 18-6
20-11 Career Five-Set Record 11-8
1 Comebacks from 0-2 down 2
95-91 Career Tie-break Record 87-85
7-5 2003 Tie-break Record 13-6
• Bjorkman defeated Filippo Volandri 61 64 60 in the first round and qualifier
Ramon Delgado 46 64 64 36 63 in the second round, to set up his first US Open
third round appearance since 1999.
• This is Bjorkman’s 11th consecutive US Open, having made his debut here in
1993. Of his 10 previous Flushing Meadows appearances, his best result was a
semifinal finish in 1997. Then, he defeated Petr Korda 76 62 10 ret. in the
quarterfinals, before falling to eventual runner-up Greg Rusedski 61 36 36 63
75.
• In addition to his 1997 semifinal showing, Bjorkman reached the quarterfinals
here in 1994 (falling to Michael Stich 64 64 67 64) and 1998 (falling to
eventual champion Patrick Rafter 62 63 75). In last year’s event, he fell to
Marcelo Rios 16 62 64 61 in the first round.
• From the 1993 US Open to the 2002 US Open, Bjorkman played 37 consecutive
Grand Slam events. The only event he has missed since his Slam debut at the 1993
US Open was the 2003 Australian Open (his wife gave birth to son Max on 15
January). He returned to Grand Slam action at Roland Garros and is now playing
his 40th Slam event.
• Bjorkman has only played one summer hard court tournament in preparation for
the US Open. He elected to play at Long Island last week, but fell in the
opening round to eventual finalist James Blake 61 76.
• Bjorkman’s highlights this year have been a final appearance at Marseille, a
semifinal showing at Nottingham and a quarterfinal finish at Wimbledon. He also
teamed with Todd Woodbridge to win his second consecutive Wimbledon doubles
title, defeating Max Mirnyi and Mahesh Bhupathi 36 63 76 63 in the final.
• Kucera defeated Alexander Popp 62 75 63 in the first round and No. 24 seed
Mardy Fish 64 76 64 in the second round to set up his first US Open third round
appearance since 1998.
• This is Kucera’s eighth appearance at the US Open. He lost in the second round
here last year, falling to No. 3 seed Tommy Haas 61 64 64.
• Of Kucera’s eight US Open appearances, he has progressed beyond the first
round on three occasions (including this year). The first four times he played
(1994-1997), Kucera was defeated in the opening round, and he had another
first-round loss in 2000. Kucera missed both the 1999 and 2001 US Open due to
right wrist injuries.
• Kucera’s best showing here was a quarterfinal finish in 1998. As No. 9 seed,
he defeated Andre Agassi 63 63 67 16 63 in the round of 16 before losing to Pete
Sampras 63 75 64.
• Kucera has a 22-16 record against Swedish players. His last match against a
Swede, however, was over two years ago when he lost 75 76 to Magnus Gustafsson
in the round of 16 at St Polten.
• The highlight of Kucera’s hard court summer was a quarterfinal finish at TMS
Montreal, where he lost to Andy Roddick 76 63. Kucera had good results earlier
in the season on hard court, reaching the final at Chennai at the start of the
year (losing to Paradorn Srichaphan 63 61) and winning his first title for over
three years indoors at Copenhagen in March.
• Kucera has had problems with his right wrist on and off during the past three
years. After winning Copenhagen, where he defeated Olivier Rochus 76 64 in the
final for his sixth career title, Kucera said: “The last two, three years have
been really tough for me. I had a lot of injuries and it was tough to start over
and be focused again. Now I’ve been healthy for almost nine months.”
Top of Page
2003 US OPEN
DAY FIVE MEN’S NOTES
Friday 29 August 2003
Second Round Bottom Half
Show court matches
ARTHUR ASHE STADIUM: James Blake (USA) v Sargis Sargsian (ARM)
No. 4 Andy Roddick (USA) v Ivan Ljubicic (CRO)
LOUIS ARMSTRONG No. 13 David Nalbandian (ARG) v Jarkko Nieminen (FIN)
STADIUM: No. 2 Roger Federer (SUI) v Jean-Rene Lisnard (FRA)
No. 10 Jiri Novak (CZE) v Jan-Michael Gambill (USA)
GRANDSTAND: No. 20 Mark Philippoussis (AUS) v Anthony Dupuis (FRA)
No. 22 Younes El Aynaoui (MAR) v Rafael Nadal (ESP)
No. 7 Carlos Moya (ESP) v (Q) Wesley Moodie (RSA)
COURT 10: No. 12 Sjeng Schalken (NED) v Lars Burgsmuller (GER)
No. 8 Rainer Schuettler (GER) v Nicolas Kiefer (GER)
Flavio Saretta (BRA) v Nicolas Lapentti (ECU)
COURT 11: No. 19 Agustin Calleri (ARG) v Xavier Malisse (BEL)
Thomas Enqvist (SWE) v Nicolas Massu (CHI)
On court today…
• Andy Roddick hopes to extend his winning streak to 14 match victories when he
plays Croat Ivan Ljubicic, who was the scourge of U.S. tennis earlier this year.
• Long Island runner-up James Blake faces Sargis Sargsian for a place in the
third round. This would equal the American’s best result so far in his home
Slam.
• Wimbledon champion Roger Federer meets Jean-Rene Lisnard, who defeated Magnus
Norman from match point down in the first round.
• An all-German clash between No. 8 seed Rainer Schuettler and Nicolas Kiefer,
in the pair’s second US Open meeting. Schuettler won their first round match
here two years ago when Kiefer retired with heat stress and dehydration.
• An all-Spanish meeting of the two Alberts: No. 25 seed Albert Costa plays
Alberto Martin on Court 4.
• No. 22 Younes El Aynaoui takes on the youngest man in the draw, 17-year-old
Spaniard Rafael Nadal, who has shot 168 places up the Entry Ranking so far this
year.
• No. 7 seed Carlos Moya meets qualifier Wesley Moodie, who reached the third
round at Wimbledon recently in his Grand Slam debut.
• 2002 semifinalist Sjeng Schalken looks to extend his winning streak against
Lars Burgsmuller, having won his last three matches against the German.
• Jiri Novak looks to turn around a dismal record against Jan-Michael Gambill.
The American has won all three of their previous meetings, all on hard court,
without dropping a set.
ARTHUR ASHE STADIUM
JAMES BLAKE (USA) v SARGIS SARGSIAN (ARM)
Head-to-head: Sargsian leads 1-0
2003 Wimbledon Grass (O) R64 Sargsian 62 76 62
Blake v Sargsian
23 Age 30
35 Entry Ranking 52
1 Titles 1
12-9 Career Grand Slam Record 27-27
4-3 US Open Record 6-6
84-66 Career Record 136-168
58-40 Career Record – Hard 56-82
33-22 2003 Record 18-21
26-12 2003 Record – Hard 9-9
0-4 Career Five-Set Record 7-4
0 Comebacks from 0-2 down 3
29-24 Career Tie-break Record 53-51
16-9 2003 Tie-break Record 4-6
• Blake defeated No. 27 seed Mariano Zabaleta 76 63 62 in his first round match
on Wednesday evening.
• Blake is making his fourth appearance at Flushing Meadows. Having debuted in
1999 as a wildcard, he missed the 2000 event but returned in 2001 (again as a
wildcard) and 2002. Last year was the first time he gained direct acceptance to
the main draw.
• Blake is attempting to equal his best US Open performance today. Last year he
reached the third round, defeating Brian Vahaly 67 63 63 76 and Nikolay
Davydenko 63 46 61 63 en route to a 67 63 64 36 63 loss to No. 1 seed and
eventual semifinalist Lleyton Hewitt.
• Blake has played four summer hard court events in preparation for the 2003 US
Open. His best result came last week at Long Island, where he defeated Younes El
Aynaoui 63 61 in the semifinals before falling to Paradorn Srichaphan 62 64 in
the final.
• Blake’s Long Island final appearance is his best result so far this season. He
has also secured one semifinal (San Jose) and four quarterfinal spots
(Scottsdale, TMS Indian Wells, Houston and Washington) in 2003.
• Blake has now reached a total of four finals, winning his lone title to date
at Washington in 2002 (where he defeated Paradorn Srichaphan 16 76 64 in the
final).
• Blake has yet to win a five-set match in four played. Two of those five-set
losses came at the US Open, and both were to Lleyton Hewitt. In 2002 he lost in
the third round to Hewitt 67 63 64 36 63 as stated above, and before that, in
2001, he was defeated by Hewitt in the second round 64 36 26 63 60).
• Sargsian defeated wild card Amer Delic 46 63 67 62 75 in the first round,
saving one match point on Delic’s serve at 5-4 40-30 in the fifth set.
• Sargsian is making his sixth appearance at Flushing Meadows, having debuted in
1995. He reached the third round last year, defeating David Nalbandian 61 64 64
in his opening match and Alexander Popp 26 63 64 67 64 in the second before
falling to eventual semifinalist Sjeng Schalken 75 63 36 61.
• Sargsian’s third round showing here last year was his best US Open
performance. He also reached the third round at the 1995 and 1997 events.
• Sargsian’s best result in a Grand Slam tournament came earlier this year, when
he reached the round of 16 at the Australian Open, defeating local favourite
Mark Philippoussis 57 75 60 64 in the third round before losing to Wayne
Ferreira 63 64 36 63.
• Sargsian has played three summer hard court events in the run up to this
year’s US Open. Playing at Washington, TMS Montreal and Long Island, he secured
just to wins – against Jiri Vanek 63 64 in the second round at Washington
(following a bye in the first round) and against Alex Corretja 75 62 in the
first round at Long Island.
• In addition to his round of 16 showing at this year’s Australian Open,
Sargsian’s other highlights this season are two quarterfinals, at Chennai
(losing to Paradorn Srichaphan 64 64) and Valencia (losing to Christophe Rochus
62 62).
• Sargsian owns one title, winning Newport in 1997 in his only career final.
NO. 4 ANDY RODDICK (USA) v IVAN LJUBICIC (CRO)
Head-to-head: Roddick leads 3-1
2002 Australian Open Hard (O) R64 Ljubicic 76 32 ret.
2002 TMS Paris Carpet (I) R32 Roddick 76 76
2003 TMS Hamburg Clay (O) R64 Roddick 64 64
2003 TMS Cincinnati Hard (O) R32 Roddick 61 64
Roddick v Ljubicic
20/21* Age 24
4 Entry Ranking 43
10 Titles 1
26-11 Career Grand Slam Record 10-16
9-3 US Open Record 4-4
158-56 Career Record 117-114
96-33 Career Record – Hard 55-55
56-13 2003 Record 21-19
35-7 2003 Record – Hard 7-9
3-2 Career Five-Set Record 1-7
1 Comebacks from 0-2 down 1
69-39 Career Tie-break Record 62-82
27-11 2003 Tie-break Record 5-11
* turns 21 on 30 August
• Roddick defeated Tim Henman, the highest ranked non-seed in the draw, in the
first round 63 76 63. This avenged Roddick’s loss to the Briton in the
semifinals at Washington earlier in the summer, 16 63 76, his only loss on the
summer hard court circuit.
• This is Roddick’s fourth US Open. For the past two years he has reached the
quarterfinals here, and each time has been stopped by the eventual champion.
• At the 2001 US Open, Roddick advanced to his first Grand Slam quarterfinal by
defeating Tommy Robredo 62 62 64 in the round of 16, then lost to eventual
champion Lleyton Hewitt 67 63 64 36 64. In 2002, Roddick defeated Juan Ignacio
Chela 57 64 64 64 in the round of 16, then lost in the quarters to eventual
champion Pete Sampras 63 62 64.
• Until the start of 2003, Roddick’s best Grand Slam performances had all come
at Flushing Meadows. However this year he has advanced to semifinals at the
Australian Open (losing to Rainer Schuettler 75 26 63 63) and at Wimbledon
(losing to eventual champion Roger Federer 76 63 63).
• Roddick has now compiled a 13-match winning streak, having won back-to-back
Masters Series titles at TMS Montreal and TMS Cincinnati (he did not play last
week). He needs two more wins to match the year’s best winning streak, 15,
jointly held by Roger Federer and Guillermo Coria. In Montreal, Roddick defeated
David Nalbandian 61 63 in the final; in Cincinnati, Roddick overcame good friend
Mardy Fish 46 76 76, Fish having held two match points on Roddick’s serve at 4-5
in the third set.
• Roddick has lost just one of 22 hard court matches played since the start of
the summer hard court circuit, that loss being to Tim Henman in the semifinals
at Washington, 16 63 76. Roddick won the title a week before that at
Indianapolis, defeating Paradorn Srichaphan 76 64 in the final.
• For the year, Roddick has tour-best 35 hard court match wins (and seven
losses). But in the past 13 years, only one player has entered the US Open
leading the tour in hard court match wins and gone on to win the tournament.
Pete Sampras achieved this feat in 1993. On three other occasions, the tour’s
hard court wins leader entering the US Open has been runner-up. [More details
can be found on pages 10-11 of the Preview.]
• The last man to turn multiple titles during the summer hard court season into
complete US Open success was Patrick Rafter, who in 1998 won at Toronto,
Cincinnati and Long Island then successfully defended his US Open crown. On the
other hand, in the last 15 years, there have been four instances of a player
winning multiple summer hard court tournaments only to lose in the first round
of the US Open. [More details on pages 11-12 of the Preview.]
• Having also won titles at St Polten (clay) and at Queen’s (grass) earlier in
the season, Roddick jointly leads the tour for titles won so far in 2003. He and
Roger Federer both have five.
• Ljubicic defeated France’s Paul-Henri Mathieu in the first round 64 62 75.
• Ljubicic has never been beyond the second round here, although he has now
reached this stage four times. He previously reached the second round in 1999,
2001 and 2002. Last year he defeated Fabrice Santoro 76 64 67 75 in the first
round, before falling to No. 24 seed Sjeng Schalken 63 63 64.
• This is Ljubicic’s fifth consecutive US Open. Aside from the second round
finishes described above, Ljubicic lost in the first round in 2000.
• Ljubicic has never been past the third round at a Grand Slam event, although
he has reached that stage twice, at the 2002 Australian Open, and this year at
Roland Garros.
• Ljubicic reached the semifinals on hard court earlier in the year at Dubai,
defeating Rainer Schuettler in the quarterfinals 63 64 before falling to
eventual champion Roger Federer 63 62. Along with a semifinal showing indoors on
carpet at Milan, this is Ljubicic’s best result of the year so far.
• Apart from the semifinal at Dubai as described above, Ljubicic has had
disappointing results on hard court this year. He won only two matches on hard
court away from Dubai in the early part of the year: at Adelaide where he
defeated Jeff Morrison 64 63 in the first round, before falling to Nikolay
Davydenko 46 64 76; and at Rotterdam, where he defeated Tim Henman 64 62 in the
Briton’s first match back after injury, before falling to Max Mirnyi 4-2 ret.
due to an injured finger.
• Ljubicic played two summer hard court events, falling in the first round at
TMS Canada to Ramon Delgado 76 76, and in the second round at TMS Cincinnati to
today’s opponent Andy Roddick 61 64. Ljubicic’s only summer hard court win came
in the first round at TMS Cincinnati, where he defeated Nicolas Lapentti 36 75
63.
• Ljubicic has scored some important wins over American players this year. In
February, he played a major role in Croatia’s World Group first round 4-1 win
over the United States in Zagreb. He won all three of his matches, defeating
Mardy Fish in the first singles 75 63 64, teaming with Goran Ivanisevic to
defeat James Blake and Mardy Fish 36 46 76 64 64 64 in the doubles, and then
defeating James Blake in 63 67 64 63 in a decisive fourth rubber to hand Croatia
victory.
• Ljubicic has also defeated American players in the last two Grand Slam events,
James Blake 63 46 76 64 in the second round at Roland Garros, and Taylor Dent 75
36 63 75 in the first round at Wimbledon.
LOUIS ARMSTRONG STADIUM
NO. 13 DAVID NALBANDIAN (ARG) v JARKKO NIEMINEN (FIN)
Head-to-head: Nalbandian leads 2-1
2002 Estoril Clay (O) FR Nalbandian 64 76
2002 TMS Cincinnati Hard (O) R64 Nieminen 36 63 64
2003 TMS Montreal Hard (O) R64 Nalbandian 76 76
Nalbandian v Nieminen
21 Age 22
13 Entry Ranking 39
2 Titles 0
20-8 Career Grand Slam Record 11-7
3-2 US Open Record 1-1
86-52 Career Record 73-53
27-19 Career Record – Hard 25-26
33-17 2003 Record 36-22
16-7 2003 Record – Hard 10-10
5-1 Career Five-Set Record 6-1
0 Comebacks from 0-2 down 1
32-19 Career Tie-break Record 20-17
12-6 2003 Tie-break Record 9-10
• Nalbandian defeated Grand Slam debutant and qualifier Philip Kohlschreiber in
the first round 64 76 63.
• Nalbandian is playing his third successive US Open. Last year, as Wimbledon
runner-up and No. 16 seed, he was upset in the first round by Sargis Sargsian 61
64 64.
• Nalbandian made a solid Grand Slam debut as a qualifier at the 2001 US Open,
advancing to the third round by defeating No. 31 seed Nicolas Escude 46 63 46 63
75 in the second round, then losing to No. 7 Yevgeny Kafelnikov 36 64 62 62.
• Nalbandian has won nine of eleven matches played on the summer hard court
circuit, including his first round match here. He reached his first final of the
year at TMS Montreal, defeating Rainer Schuettler 36 62 62 in the semifinals
before losing to Andy Roddick 61 63. The following week, Nalbandian advanced to
the quarterfinals at TMS Cincinnati, losing to eventual runner-up Mardy Fish 76
63.
• Apart from TMS Montreal, Nalbandian’s other stand-out hard court result of
2003 was at the Australian Open, where he advanced to the quarterfinals before
losing to eventual champion Rainer Schuettler 63 57 61 60.
• Nalbandian also reached the semifinals on clay at TMS Hamburg (losing to
Agustin Calleri 64 61), and advanced to the last 16 at this year’s Wimbledon
(falling to Tim Henman 62 67 75 63).
• Like his opponent today, Nieminen defeated a qualifier in the first round,
Nicolas Mahut 62 64 75. Nieminen had previously defeated Mahut here at Flushing
Meadows in the semifinals of the Boys’ tournament in 1999, on his way to the
junior title. Nieminen defeated Kristian Pless in the final 67 63 64.
• This is Nieminen’s second US Open, and he has already bettered last year’s
performance when on his debut he fell in the first round to Fernando Vicente 16
63 60 62.
• Nieminen is today bidding to match what he has done at every other Grand Slam
in 2003: reach at least the third round. Nieminen’s best career Grand Slam
result came at Roland Garros this year, when he reached the round of 16, falling
to Fernando Gonzalez 63 63 62.
• Nieminen’s best results this year have come away from hard court. In February
he reached the semifinals indoors on carpet at Milan, falling to Yevgeny
Kafelnikov 76 63, and in May he was runner-up at Munich on clay, falling to
Roger Federer in the final 61 64.
• After reaching the third round at the Australian Open, Nieminen failed to win
back-to-back matches on hard court until last week at Long Island. On the summer
hard court circuit he fell in the first round at TMS Montreal to today’s
opponent Nalbandian 76 76, then at TMS Cincinnati he defeated Fernando Vicente
75 36 64 in the first round before falling to Rainer Schuettler 36 63 76.
However last week at Long Island he reached the quarterfinals, defeating
Feliciano Lopez 63 11 ret., and Agustin Calleri 61 64, before falling to
eventual runner-up James Blake 46 62 63.
NO. 2 ROGER FEDERER (SUI) v JEAN-RENE LISNARD (FRA)
Head-to-head: Federer leads 1-0
2003 Gstaad Clay (O) R16 Federer 61 62
Federer v Lisnard
22 Age 23
2 Entry Ranking 94
9 Titles 0
37-16 Career Grand Slam Record 5-9
9-3 US Open Record 2-1
221-108 Career Record 24-32
115-53 Career Record – Hard 11-13
59-12 2003 Record 15-16
30-8 2003 Record – Hard 8-7
6-6 Career Five-Set Record 3-2
2 Comebacks from 0-2 down 0
87-69 Career Tie-break Record 6-14
17-12 2003 Tie-break Record 2-5
• Federer defeated Jose Acasuso 57 63 63 20 ret. in the first round, Acasuso
suffering from an upper right hamstring strain.
• Federer is playing his fourth straight US Open. Last year, he lost in the
round of 16 to Max Mirnyi 63 76 64.
• The round of 16 represents Federer’s best result to date at the US Open – he
also reached the last 16 in 2001, losing to Andre Agassi 61 62 64.
• As Wimbledon champion, Federer is attempting to become the first man to win
Wimbledon and the US Open back-to-back since Pete Sampras in 1995. [More details
can be found on pages 2-3 of the Preview.]
• Federer won his first major at Wimbledon this year by defeating Andy Roddick
76 63 63 in the semifinals and Mark Philippoussis 76 62 76 in the final,
becoming the first Swiss man ever to win a Grand Slam title. He had previously
never got beyond the quarterfinals of any Grand Slam event.
• Federer has played just two pre-US Open hard court events, advancing to the
semifinals at TMS Montreal before losing to Andy Roddick 64 36 76. He lost to
David Nalbandian 76 76 in the second round at TMS Cincinnati.
• With Guillermo Coria, Federer owns the joint-longest winning streak of the
season, having 15 consecutive victories through his titles at Halle, Wimbledon,
and his runner-up finish on clay at Gstaad (where he lost in the final to Jiri
Novak 57 63 63 16 63).
• Federer has won a total of five titles in 2003, winning at Marseille (indoor
hard court), Dubai (outdoor hard court) and Munich (clay) as well as at Halle
and Wimbledon. This ties Andy Roddick for the tour record for the season.
• Federer is one of four men who own one Grand Slam title who have advanced to
the second round. The other three are all one-time Roland Garros champions: 1998
winner Carlos Moya, 2002 winner Albert Costa and 2003 winner Juan Carlos Ferrero.
• Lisnard defeated Magnus Norman 62 62 67 06 76 in the first round, having saved
one match point on Norman’s serve at 5-3 advantage in the fifth set. The match
lasted three hours 41 minutes.
• This is Lisnard’s second US Open. As a qualifier here last year, he won his
first round match 36 67 64 40 ret. when Rainer Schuettler suffered a left leg
strain. Lisnard lost in the second round to Guillermo Coria 61 63 64.
• This is Lisnard’s tenth Grand Slam tournament overall and he has yet to pass
the second round. In addition to here last year, Lisnard had second-round
finishes at 2001 Roland Garros as a wild card, the 2003 Australian Open and 2003
Roland Garros.
• Lisnard has not played since Umag the week of 21 July, having opted to play
three clay court events after Wimbledon. He had second round finishes at Gstaad,
Amersfoort and Umag.
• Lisnard’s first round defeat of Norman was his first hard court match since
TMS Miami (where he lost in the second round to Sjeng Schalken 63 64). Lisnard
had more success on the surface during the first part of the season: he reached
his first career semifinal at Chennai, defeating Rainer Schuettler 62 75 in the
quarterfinals before falling to Paradorn Srichaphan 62 61.
• With his defeat of Norman, Lisnard has now won his last three five-set
matches, of a total of five played. He defeated Andrea Gaudenzi 64 26 61 46 61
in the first round at the 2003 Australian Open, and before that defeated
Vladimir Voltchkov 67 75 67 75 62 in the opening round at 2001 Roland Garros.
• Lisnard has won one challenger title, at Montauban (FRA) in July 2000, and
reached four further finals.
NO. 10 JIRI NOVAK v JAN-MICHAEL GAMBILL (USA)
Head-to-head: Gambill leads 3-0
1999 TMS Indian Wells Hard (O) R64 Gambill 62 76
2001 TMS Cincinnati Hard (O) R32 Gambill 76 62
2002 TMS Indian Wells Hard (O) R32 Gambill 63 62
Novak v Gambill
28 Age 26
10 Entry Ranking 50
5 Titles 3
39-29 Career Grand Slam Record 21-24
13-8 US Open Record 10-6
253-192 Career Record 179-158
116-83 Career Record – Hard 144-98
36-20 2003 Record 18-20
15-7 2003 Record – Hard 16-12
11-8 Career Five-Set Record 3-7
4 Comebacks from 0-2 down 1
75-95 Career Tie-break Record 71-80
11-9 2003 Tie-break Record 8-8
• Novak defeated Mario Ancic in the first round 36 63 57 62 62. This win
extended his perfect record in five-set matches this year: he has now played
four and won four (he defeated Olivier Rochus in the second round at the
Australian Open 76 76 46 46 63; Marc Lopez in the second round at Roland Garros
64 36 06 61 63; and Roger Federer in the final at Gstaad 57 63 63 16 63).
• Novak is playing his ninth US Open. By reaching the round of 16 last year, he
equalled his best showing at the event.
• At the 2002 US Open, Novak benefited from two retirements, advancing to the
second round when Richard Krajicek retired with a left heel injury and going on
to the round of 16 when Marcelo Rios retired due to tendonitis in his right
knee. Novak lost his round of 16 match to No. 1 seed Lleyton Hewitt, 64 62 64.
• Novak first reached the round of 16 here in 1999, losing to Slava Dosedel 64
75 57 75.
• Novak won his first title of the year on clay in Gstaad in July, the fifth of
his career. He defeated Roger Federer 57 63 63 16 63 in the final, ending the
Wimbledon champion’s 15-match winning streak. It was Novak’s first win in four
finals, having won his last title at Gstaad two years previously.
• Novak played two hard court events coming into the US Open, his best showing
being a round of 16 finish at TMS Montreal (losing to Rainer Schuettler 75 60).
He performed better on the surface earlier in the season, reaching the final at
Dubai in February, before losing on that occasion to Roger Federer 61 76.
• Gambill defeated David Sanchez, the Spaniard who has now played at the US Open
four times without winning a match, in the first round 76 62 62.
• Gambill’s first round win was only his second hard court win of the summer. In
five US Open warm-up events, he lost in the opening round at all but one, the
sole win coming in the second round at Indianapolis when he defeated Thomas
Enqvist 62 62 (he received a bye in the first round).
• Gambill is playing his seventh consecutive US Open, having debuted as a
wildcard in 1997.
• Of his six previous appearances at Flushing Meadows, his best result was a
round of 16 appearance at the 2002 event. Last year he defeated Carlos Moya 63
63 61 in the second round and Gaston Gaudio 60 62 60 in the third round before
falling to eventual finalist Andre Agassi 62 63 63.
• Gambill’s highlight of the year so far came at Delray Beach in March, when he
claimed his third career title with a 60 76 win over Mardy Fish in the final. In
addition to his Delray Beach win, he has also reached one tour final this year –
at Doha (losing to Stefan Koubek 64 64).
• In fact, since Gambill’s Delray Beach win, he has won only five matches and
lost 15.
GRANDSTAND
NO. 20 MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS (AUS) v ANTHONY DUPUIS (FRA)
Head-to-head: first meeting
Philippoussis v Dupuis
26 Age 30
20 Entry Ranking 64
9 Titles 0
60-28 Career Grand Slam Record 8-13
15-6 US Open Record 2-2
280-161 Career Record 54-86
167-90 Career Record – Hard 31-37
29-14 2003 Record 16-19
18-9 2003 Record – Hard 6-6
14-6 Career Five-Set Record 2-4
3 Comebacks from 0-2 down 0
144-124 Career Tie-break Record 40-34
13-10 2003 Tie-break Record 11-10
• Philippoussis defeated Serbian qualifier Janko Tipsarevic 62 76 64 in the
first round.
• This is Philippoussis’s seventh appearance at the US Open, having been
runner-up in 1998.
• Last year Philippoussis retired in the first round here, trailing 67 46 63 53
against No. 24 Sjeng Schalken, after suffering a left knee injury as a result of
jumping for an overhead.
• Although Philippoussis made his US Open debut here in 1995, he missed both
1999 and 2001 due to a left knee injury which has required surgery three times
in his career. After the injury he sustained on the same knee at the 2002 US
Open, Philippoussis was out for the remainder of the season.
• Philippoussis reached the US Open final in 1998, defeating Carlos Moya 61 64
57 64 in the semifinals before losing to compatriot Patrick Rafter 63 36 62 60.
That was his best performance in a Grand Slam tournament until he reached the
final at this year’s Wimbledon.
• At 2003 Wimbledon, Philippoussis defeated No. 2 seed Andre Agassi 63 26 67 63
64 in the round of 16, Alexander Popp 46 46 63 63 86 in the quarterfinals and
No. 14 Sebastien Grosjean 76 63 63 in the semifinals to become the sixth
unseeded finalist there in the Open Era. He lost in the final to No. 4 Roger
Federer 76 62 76.
• In his round of 16 defeat of Agassi at Wimbledon, Philippoussis served 46
aces, equalling the Wimbledon record set by Goran Ivanisevic in the second round
in 1997. This is three aces short of the all-time record, set when Richard
Krajicek served 49 aces against Yevgeny Kafelnikov in the 1999 US Open
quarterfinals (Krajicek lost 76 76 36 16 76).
• Phillipoussis has played just two tournaments since Wimbledon, reaching the
semifinals at Los Angeles, where he lost to eventual champion Wayne Ferreira 64
75. He lost in the first round at TMS Cincinnati to eventual runner-up Mardy
Fish 16 63 64.
• In addition to his runner-up finish at Wimbledon, Philippoussis was a finalist
on hard court at Scottsdale in March, losing to countryman Lleyton Hewitt 64 64.
• Dupuis defeated Mikhail Youzhny 57 64 36 63 75 in the first round.
• This is Dupuis’s third US Open and he has yet to pass the second round. Last
year, he defeated Andrea Gaudenzi 63 63 42 ret. (headache) then lost in the
second round to No. 32 seed Max Mirnyi 64 63 36 62. In 2001, he lost in the
first round to Chris Woodruff 61 63 36 61.
• Dupuis has only once reached the third round at any Grand Slam tournament,
having played 13 majors before this one. At 2001 Roland Garros, he defeated
countryman Nicolas Escude then Tommy Haas before losing to another countryman,
Sebastien Grosjean, 64 26 36 64 62.
• Dupuis had not played at all on the summer hard court circuit ahead of the
2003 US Open, having played his last match on clay at Kitzbuhel the week of 21
July.
• Dupuis’s first round victory over Youzhny here broke a three-match losing
streak, going back to his first-round win over Nikolay Davydenko at Gstaad.
• Dupuis’s best hard court result of the season was his quarterfinal finish at
Adelaide the first week of the year, where he advanced to the quarterfinals
before losing to Adrian Voinea 76 64.
• The quarterfinals represent Dupuis’s best showing on any surface all season.
He also reached the last eight at St Polten (falling to Nikolay Davydenko 75 61)
and at Queen’s (falling to Tim Henman 61 64).
NO. 22 YOUNES EL AYNAOUI (MAR) v RAFAEL NADAL (ESP)
Head-to-head: Nadal leads 1-0
2003 Bastad Clay (O) R32 Nadal 63 46 63
El Aynaoui v Nadal
31 Age 17
21 Entry Ranking 45
5 Titles 0
36-28 Career Grand Slam Record 3-1
6-6 US Open Record 1-0
247-199 Career Record 15-8
79-72 Career Record – Hard 1-0
34-20 2003 Record 14-7
17-9 2003 Record – Hard 1-0
11-5 Career Five-Set Record 0-0
2 Comebacks from 0-2 down 0
114-97 Career Tie-break Record 0-2
19-16 2003 Tie-break Record 0-2
• El Aynaoui defeated wild card Alex Kim 75 76 63 in the first round.
• El Aynaoui is playing his seventh US Open. In last year’s event, he secured
his best performance here with a quarterfinal finish, defeating Wayne Ferreira
36 75 75 76 in the round of 16 before falling to No. 1 seed and eventual
semifinalist Lleyton Hewitt 61 76 46 62.
• Prior to last year’s quarterfinal finish, El Aynaoui had a poor US Open
record. He fell in the opening round in 1994 (his debut) and 1996, reached the
second round in 1999, and posted two more first round losses in 2000 and 2001.
• El Aynaoui’s run-up to the 2003 US Open has included playing three US hard
court events – TMS Montreal, TMS Cincinnati and Long Island. He posted second
round losses in Montreal (to Juan Carlos Ferrero 63 64) and Cincinnati (to
Zabaleta 67 64 75) but won three consecutive matches at Long Island last week,
falling to James Blake 63 61 in the semifinals.
• El Aynaoui has had a successful year. He reached the final at Casablanca
(losing to Julien Boutter 62 26 61), the semifinals at Doha (losing to Stefan
Koubek 76 76) and Long Island (losing to James Blake 63 61) and reached the
quarterfinals at TMS Miami (losing to Andre Agassi 76 46 61).
• El Aynaoui was involved in an epic match at this year’s Australian Open. In
his quarterfinal against Andy Roddick, he lost 46 76 46 64 2119 in exactly five
hours, producing the longest fifth set (in number of games) in men’s singles in
all-time Grand Slam history. In total number of games played (83) it was the
joint-longest men’s singles match in a Grand Slam tournament since the
introduction of the tiebreak (tying with Philippoussis v Schalken at 2000
Wimbledon).
• Playing his first US Open match, Nadal defeated countryman Fernando Vicente 64
63 63 in the first round.
• This is just Nadal’s second Grand Slam tournament. He played at 2003
Wimbledon, also as a direct entrant, and advanced to the third round. Nadal
defeated Mario Ancic 63 64 46 64 in the first round, wild card Lee Childs 62 64
63 in the second round, then fell to No. 12 seed Paradorn Srichaphan 64 64 62.
• Nadal had never previously tried to qualify for here, or any other Grand Slam
event.
• Nadal’s first-round defeat of Vicente marked the first hard court tour-level
match of his career. He has played eight previous tour-level matches in his
career, and all except Wimbledon have been on clay.
• Nadal did however play a hard court challenger in preparation for the US Open,
winning the title at Segovia (ESP) three weeks ago (defeating Tomas Zib 62 76 in
the final).
• Nadal burst onto the scene at TMS Monte Carlo and has followed up with
consistent results, improving his Entry Ranking from No. 213 at the end of last
year to a career-high No. 45 on 18 August, the ranking he has brought into this
event.
• In his first tour-level event of this year and the second tour-level event of
his career (he previously played 2002 Mallorca), Nadal qualified at TMS Monte
Carlo, defeating Roland Garros champion Albert Costa 75 63 in the second round
before losing in the round of 16 to Guillermo Coria 76 62. He matched this round
of 16 finish at TMS Hamburg, also as a qualifier, and had a quarterfinal finish
at Bastad, before reaching his first career semifinal at Umag a month ago.
There, Nadal lost to his mentor and eventual champion Carlos Moya 64 64.
• In addition to Segovia, Nadal won the Barletta (ITA) Challenger on clay
earlier in the season, and has reached four further challenger finals.
• At 17 years two months, Nadal was the youngest player starting in the men’s
draw.
NO. 7 CARLOS MOYA (ESP) v (Q) WESLEY MOODIE (RSA)
Head-to-head: first meeting
Moya v Moodie
27 Age 24
7 Entry Ranking 95
14 Titles 0
50-27 Career Grand Slam Record 3-1
14-7 US Open Record 1-0
369-202 Career Record 10-7
118-81 Career Record – Hard 8-5
45-16 2003 Record 9-5
10-6 2003 Record – Hard 7-4
12-14 Career Five-Set Record 1-0
4 Comebacks from 0-2 down 0
136-111 Career Tie-break Record 8-4
15-16 2003 Tie-break Record 5-3
• Moya celebrated his 27th birthday on Wednesday by winning his first round
match against Scott Draper 46 64 75 76.
• Moya is playing his eighth consecutive US Open, having debuted in 1996. As No.
9 seed, Moya suffered a second round exit in last year’s event, losing to
Jan-Michael Gambill 63 63 61.
• Moya’s best US Open result came five years ago when he reached the semifinals
of the 1998 event. Surviving two five-set matches in the second and third rounds
(against Michael Chang and Jan-Michael Gambill respectively), he then defeated
Magnus Norman 64 63 63 in the quarterfinals before falling to Mark Philippoussis
61 64 57 64 in the semifinals.
• Moya won the title at 1998 Roland Garros, defeating countryman Alex Corretja
63 75 63 in the final. He reached his first Grand Slam final at the 1997
Australian Open, losing to Pete Sampras 62 63 63.
• Moya had disappointing results on the US summer hard court circuit, losing in
the first round at both TMS Montreal (falling to Arnaud Clement 76 46 63) and at
TMS Cincinnati (losing to Fabrice Santoro 36 63 64). In fact, Moya was on a
three-match losing streak coming into the 2003 US Open, having also lost on clay
in the first round at Sopot (to Albert Portas 76 67 75) the week before TMS
Montreal.
• Moya performed well on hard court earlier in the season, reaching the final of
128-draw TMS Miami in March. Defeating Robby Ginepri 76 36 76 in the
quarterfinals and Paradorn Srichaphan 64 62 in the semifinals, he lost in the
final to Andre Agassi 63 63.
• Moya has won three titles this year, all on clay. He claimed victories at
Buenos Aires (defeating Guillermo Coria 63 46 64), Barcelona (defeating Marat
Safin 57 62 62 30 ret.) and Umag (defeating Filippo Volandri 64 36 75).
• Qualifier Moodie defeated Albert Montanes 76 62 62 in the first round.
• Moodie is making his US Open debut this year. He entered the main draw by
defeating Frantisek Cermak (CZE) 63 67 61 in the first round, Jan Hajek (CZE) 67
76 76 in the second round and Zack Fleishman (USA) 63 75 in the third round of
last week’s qualifying competition.
• Moodie had never played US Open qualifying before this year.
• This is just Moodie’s second Grand Slam tournament. He qualified for this
year’s Wimbledon, and, playing in just his second tour-level tournament,
advanced to the third round, defeating Marc Rosset 64 64 64 in the first round
and fellow qualifier Frederic Niemeyer 76 46 26 61 75 in the second before
losing to No. 13 seed Sebastien Grosjean 67 62 64 64.
• Since 2003 Wimbledon, which was Moodie’s first tour level event of the year,
he has played three tournaments on the summer hard court season. At
Indianapolis, he had an impressive run to the round of 16, defeating Ramon
Delgado 64 26 64 in the first round and Brian Vahaly 63 46 76 in the second
round before losing to Nicolas Thomann 63 64. Moodie lost in the first round at
Washington, but as a qualifier at TMS Cincinnati he upset No. 10 seed Sebastien
Grosjean 63 67 63 in the first round before falling in the second round to
Mikhail Youzhny 64 76.
• Moodie has played mainly on the challenger circuit this year, winning his
first two titles, both in Britain, at Wrexham (indoor hard) and at Surbiton
(grass).
COURT 10
NO. 8 RAINER SCHUETTLER (GER) v NICOLAS KIEFER (GER)
Head-to-head: Schuettler leads 2-1
1999 Halle Grass (O) R32 Kiefer 64 61
2001 US Open Hard (O) R128 Schuettler 57 64 10 ret.
2002 Sydney Hard (O) R32 Schuettler 62 62
This is the pair’s second meeting at the US Open, Schuettler winning their first
round encounter here two years ago when Kiefer, the No. 29 seed, retired with
heat stress and dehydration.
Schuettler v Kiefer
27 Age 26
8 Entry Ranking 62
2 Titles 6
28-20 Career Grand Slam Record 34-25
4-4 US Open Record 9-5
184-159 Career Record 219-168
114-75 Career Record – Hard 124-81
47-22 2003 Record 15-12
27-9 2003 Record – Hard 10-6
3-1 Career Five-Set Record 5-6
0 Comebacks from 0-2 down 2
60-58 Career Tie-break Record 60-54
13-5 2003 Tie-break Record 2-1
• Schuettler defeated Wayne Arthurs 46 63 62 64 in the first round.
• This is Schuettler’s fifth US Open. He was forced to retire in the first round
here last year due to a left leg strain, qualifier Jean-Rene Lisnard winning the
match 36 67 64 40 ret.
• The US Open is the only Grand Slam tournament where Schuettler has yet to
reach the round of 16. His best result to date is a third round finish in 2000,
where he defeated countryman Tommy Haas 76 62 64 in the second round before
falling to qualifier Hyung-Taik Lee 62 36 64 64.
• In preparation for the 2003 US Open, Schuettler reached back-to-back
semifinals at TMS Montreal and TMS Cincinnati. In Montreal, he defeated Andre
Agassi 26 62 63 in the quarterfinals then lost to David Nalbandian 36 62 62; in
Cincinnati, he defeated Robby Ginepri 62 63 in the quarters before losing to
Mardy Fish 76 76.
• Schuettler has been impressive on hard courts all year. He reached his first
Grand Slam final at the Australian Open, losing to Andre Agassi 62 62 61. He had
previously reached the semifinals at Sydney, and went on to reach the semifinals
at Indian Wells.
• Schuettler followed up his Australian Open final appearance with further Grand
Slam success: he made the last 16 for the first time at both Roland Garros
(losing to eventual runner-up Martin Verkerk 63 63 75) and Wimbledon (losing to
Sjeng Schalken 75 64 75).
• Kiefer defeated Franco Squillari 63 50 ret. in the first round, Squillari
conceding the match because of a left ankle injury.
• By advancing to the second round, Kiefer has broken a run of two straight
first-round losses at the US Open. Last year, he lost in the first round to No.
2 seed Marat Safin; in 2001, he retired in the first round against today’s
opponent Schuettler as described in the head-to-head above.
• Kiefer reached the quarterfinals here in 2000, his best result at the US Open.
Then, he defeated Magnus Norman 62 67 61 63 in the round of 16 before falling to
eventual champion Marat Safin 75 46 76 63.
• A quarterfinal finish is Kiefer’s best result at any Slam. In addition to the
2000 US Open, he reached the last eight at 1997 Wimbledon, and the 1998 and 2000
Australian Opens.
• After missing the first two months of the season due to a heel injury, Kiefer
did not win consecutive matches until he advanced to the final at Halle, losing
there to Roger Federer 61 63. It was his first final since Halle a year
previously.
• Although his runner-up finish at Halle remains his best result of the season,
Kiefer has shown good form on the US summer hard court circuit. He reached
semifinals at Los Angeles and Long Island, losing to eventual runner-up Lleyton
Hewitt 62 64 in Los Angeles and eventual winner Paradorn Srichaphan 60 62 in
Long Island. Kiefer also reached the quarterfinals at Indianapolis, losing to
Nicolas Thomann 76 75.
NO. 12 SJENG SCHALKEN (NED) v LARS BURGSMULLER (GER)
Head-to-head: Schalken leads 3-2
1998 Moscow Carpet (I) R16 Burgsmuller 63 57 75
1999 Madras Hard (O) R32 Burgsmuller 46 63 61
2000 US Open Hard (O) R128 Schalken 61 76 62
2003 Munich Clay (O) R32 Schalken 63 61
2003 Indianapolis Hard (O) R16 Schalken 64 62
Schalken v Burgsmuller
26 Age 27
12 Entry Ranking 85
7 Titles 1
38-33 Career Grand Slam Record 10-17
13-8 US Open Record 2-4
254-230 Career Record 69-99
126-114 Career Record – Hard 38-50
30-18 2003 Record 14-20
14-9 2003 Record – Hard 6-9
8-14 Career Five-Set Record 3-3
0 Comebacks from 0-2 down 1
89-95 Career Tie-break Record 17-29
8-5 2003 Tie-break Record 4-4
FLAVIO SARETTA (BRA) v NICOLAS LAPENTTI (ECU)
Head-to-head: Lapentti leads 1-0
2002 Vina Del Mar Clay (O) QF Lapentti 36 63 76
Saretta v Lapentti
23 Age 27
49 Entry Ranking 57
0 Titles 5
9-7 Career Grand Slam Record 34-29
1-1 US Open Record 6-7
40-36 Career Record 250-197
12-13 Career Record – Hard 86-80
22-17 2003 Record 21-19
7-5 2003 Record – Hard 6-6
4-2 Career Five-Set Record 21-11
0 Comebacks from 0-2 down 3
12-24 Career Tie-break Record 86-86
9-11 2003 Tie-break Record 7-6
COURT 11
NO. 19 AGUSTIN CALLERI (ARG) v XAVIER MALISSE (BEL)
Head-to-head: first meeting
Calleri v Malisse
26 Age 23
19 Entry Ranking 67
1 Titles 0
9-14 Career Grand Slam Record 25-14
3-3 US Open Record 9-4
83-66 Career Record 116-93
23-26 Career Record – Hard 59-52
30-18 2003 Record 16-20
5-8 2003 Record – Hard 9-11
0-5 Career Five-Set Record 5-3
0 Comebacks from 0-2 down 1
32-31 Career Tie-break Record 47-32
9-8 2003 Tie-break Record 8-9
(Q) THOMAS ENQVIST (SWE) v NICOLAS MASSU (CHI)
Head-to-head: tied 1-1
2000 Long Island Hard (O) R16 Enqvist 63 62
2003 World Team Cup Clay (O) R1 Massu 62 63
Enqvist v Massu
29 Age 23
143 Entry Ranking 42
19 Titles 2
56-37 Career Grand Slam Record 9-12
15-8 US Open Record 4-3
423-260 Career Record 104-91
275-134 Career Record – Hard 41-39
8-21 2003 Record 20-13
7-12 2003 Record – Hard 3-3
11-10 Career Five-Set Record 1-2
3 Comebacks from 0-2 down 0
135-142 Career Tie-break Record 39-38
4-12 2003 Tie-break Record 5-5
Top of Page
2003 US OPEN
DAY THREE MEN’S NOTES
Wednesday 27 August 2003
Show court matches
ARTHUR ASHE STADIUM: No. 2 Roger Federer (SUI) v Jose Acasuso (ARG)
No. 27 Mariano Zabaleta (ARG) v James Blake (USA)
LOUIS ARMSTRONG No. 20 Mark Philippoussis (AUS) v (Q) Janko Tipsarevic (SER)
STADIUM: David Sanchez (ESP) v Jan-Michael Gambill (USA)
GRANDSTAND: No. 22 Younes El Aynaoui (MAR) v (WC) Alex Kim (USA)
No. 7 Carlos Moya (ESP) v Scott Draper (AUS)
(WC) Amer Delic (USA) v Sargis Sargsian (ARM)
COURT 10: No. 30 Gaston Gaudio (ARG) v Nicolas Massu (CHI)
No. 13 David Nalbandian (ARG) v (Q) Philipp Kohlschreiber (GER)
COURT 11: No. 10 Jiri Novak (CZE) v Mario Ancic (CRO)
On court today…
• Roger Federer, against Jose Acasuso, starts his quest to become the first man
to win Wimbledon and the US Open back-to-back since Pete Sampras in 1995.
• Local favourite James Blake, born in Yonkers, NY, starts his 2003 US Open
campaign against No. 27 seed Mariano Zabaleta.
• 1998 runner-up Mark Philippoussis looks to keep his Grand Slam revival on
track. The Wimbledon finalist plays a first round match against 19-year-old
qualifier Janko Tipsarevic.
• Carlos Moya marks his 27th birthday with a first round match against Scott
Draper.
• No. 13 seed David Nalbandian meets Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber, who has
been successful in his first attempt at qualifying for a Grand Slam event.
• Wildcard Amer Delic, the 2003 NCAA champion, makes his Grand Slam tournament
debut against Sargis Sargsian.
• No. 10 seed Jiri Novak and Mario Ancic in a rematch of their first meeting at
TMS Montreal three weeks ago, which was won by Novak.
• David Sanchez, without a win in three previous US Opens, bids to break his
first round jinx against Jan-Michael Gambill.
ARTHUR ASHE STADIUM
NO. 2 ROGER FEDERER (SUI) v JOSE ACASUSO (ARG)
Head-to-head: first meeting
Federer v Acasuso
22 Age 20
9 Titles 1
36-16 Career Grand Slam Record 3-10
8-3 US Open Record 0-2
220-108 Career Record 38-47
114-53 Career Record – Hard 5-14
58-12 2003 Record 7-16
29-8 2003 Record – Hard 3-7
6-6 Career Five-Set Record 1-0
2 Comebacks from 0-2 down 1
87-69 Career Tie-break Record 12-15
17-12 2003 Tie-break Record 0-6
• Federer is playing his fourth straight US Open. Last year, he lost in the
round of 16 to Max Mirnyi 63 76 64.
• The round of 16 represents Federer’s best result to date at the US Open – he
also reached the last 16 in 2001, losing to Andre Agassi 61 62 64.
• As Wimbledon champion, Federer is attempting to become the first man to win
Wimbledon and the US Open back-to-back since Pete Sampras in 1995. [More details
can be found on pages 2-3 of the Preview.]
• Federer won his first major at Wimbledon this year by defeating Andy Roddick
76 63 63 in the semifinals and Mark Philippoussis 76 62 76 in the final,
becoming the first Swiss man ever to win a Grand Slam title. He had previously
never got beyond the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam event.
• Federer has played just two pre-US Open hard court events, advancing to the
semifinals at TMS Montreal before losing to Andy Roddick 64 36 76. He lost to
David Nalbandian 76 76 in the second round at TMS Cincinnati.
• With Guillermo Coria, Federer owns the joint-longest winning streak of the
season, having 15 consecutive victories through his titles at Halle, Wimbledon,
and his runner-up finish on clay at Gstaad (where he lost in the final to Jiri
Novak 57 63 63 16 63). He has won a total of five titles in 2003, winning at
Marseille (indoor hard court), Dubai (outdoor hard court) and Munich (clay) as
well as at Halle and Wimbledon, tying Andy Roddick for the tour record for the
season.
• This is Acasuso’s third consecutive US Open appearance and today he is
attempting to win his first match at the event.
• Last year, Acasuso lost in the first round here to Michael Llodra 61 62 62; on
his debut in 2001, he lost in the first round to Felix Mantilla 63 63 64.
• In ten previous Grand Slam tournaments played, Acasuso has lost in the first
round seven times and in the second round on the other three occasions.
• Acasuso has lost his last three matches, all on hard court. Having defeated
Fabrice Santoro 26 63 64 in the first round at TMS Montreal at the start of his
pre-US Open warm-up, Acasuso lost in the second round to Simon Larose 76 16 75.
He went on to lose in the first round at TMS Cincinnati (to Todd Martin 63 64)
and at Long Island (to Tommy Robredo 26 63 75).
• Acasuso has won just three matches on hard court all year. In addition to his
first round victory at TMS Montreal described above, he won his first round
match against at the Australian Open against lucky loser Gregory Carraz 57 43
ret. when the Frenchman suffered from an abdominal injury, and defeated David
Ferrer 63 64 in the opening round at TMS Miami.
• Acasuso’s best result of the year was a round of 16 finish on clay at
Barcelona, the only time he has won consecutive matches all season. There he
defeated Fernando Gonzalez and Paul-Henri Mathieu before falling to Nikolay
Davydenko 64 63. He has also played two clay court challengers, reaching the
final at Biella, Italy (losing to Filippo Volandri 26 76 64).
NO. 27 MARIANO ZABALETA (ARG) v JAMES BLAKE (USA)
Head-to-head: tied 1-1
2002 Wimbledon Grass (O) R128 Blake 62 62 ret.
2003 Scottsdale Hard (O) QF Zabaleta 36 64 64
Zabaleta v Blake
25 Age 23
2 Titles 1
17-19 Career Grand Slam Record 11-9
4-3 US Open Record 3-3
143-151 Career Record 91-66
43-62 Career Record – Hard 61-40
33-19 2003 Record 36-22
13-8 2003 Record – Hard 29-12
3-7 Career Five-Set Record 0-4
0 Comebacks from 0-2 down 0
56-62 Career Tie-break Record 29-24
7-11 2003 Tie-break Record 16-9
• No. 27 seed Zabaleta is playing for the fourth time at the US Open. At the
2002 event, he lost in the opening round to Tommy Robredo in five close sets 62
67 75 46 76.
• Zabaleta debuted here in 1999, losing in the opening round to Peter Wessels 46
63 36 76 62. He was forced to withdraw from the 2000 tournament due to an ankle
injury but returned the following year to secure his best Grand Slam result to
date, defeating Xavier Malisse 64 76 75 in the round of 16 before falling to No.
3 seed Marat Safin 64 64 62 in the quarterfinals.
• Zabaleta has played two hard court events in preparation for the 2003 US Open.
He followed up his 61 61 second round exit to Karol Beck at TMS Montreal with a
quarterfinal finish at TMS Cincinnati. There he defeated Gustavo Kuerten 64 60,
Younes El Aynaoui 67 64 75 and Flavio Saretta 67 62 64 en route to a 76 64 loss
to eventual champion Andy Roddick.
• 2003 has been a fruitful year for Zabaleta. He claimed the second title of his
career at Bastad in July with a 63 64 win over Nicolas Lapentti, and reached the
final at Acapulco, losing to countryman Agustin Calleri 75 36 63. He has also
secured three semifinal (Auckland, Scottsdale and Kitzbuhel) and two
quarterfinal finishes (Adelaide and Cincinnati).
• Zabaleta also secured his first ever Davis Cup win this year, defeating
Mikhail Youzhny 61 64 in the fourth rubber of Argentina’s quarterfinal tie
against Russia in April.
• Blake is making his fourth appearance at Flushing Meadows. Having debuted in
1999 as a wildcard, he missed the 2000 event but returned in 2001 (again as a
wildcard) and 2002. Last year was the first time he gained direct acceptance to
the main draw.
• Blake’s best US Open performance was a third round finish last year. He
defeated Brian Vahaly 67 63 63 76 and Nikolay Davydenko 63 46 61 63 en route to
a 67 63 64 36 63 loss to No. 1 seed and eventual semifinalist Lleyton Hewitt.
• Blake has played four summer hard court events in preparation for the 2003 US
Open. His best result came last week at Long Island where he defeated Younes El
Aynaoui 63 61 in the semifinals before falling to Paradorn Srichaphan 62 64 in
the final.
• In addition to his Long Island final appearance, Blake has secured one
semifinal (San Jose) and four quarterfinal spots (Scottsdale, Indian Wells,
Houston and Washington) this year.
LOUIS ARMSTRONG STADIUM
NO. 29 MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS (AUS) v (Q) JANKO TIPSAREVIC (SER)
Head-to-head: first meeting
Philippoussis v Tipsarevic
26 Age 19
9 Titles 0
59-28 Career Grand Slam Record 0-0
14-6 US Open Record 0-0
279-161 Career Record 8-4
166-90 Career Record – Hard 2-3
28-14 2003 Record 4-2
17-9 2003 Record – Hard 1-1
14-6 Career Five-Set Record 1-1
3 Comebacks from 0-2 down 0
143-124 Career Tie-break Record 3-3
12-10 2003 Tie-break Record 1-0
• This is Philippoussis’s seventh appearance at the US Open, having been
runner-up in 1998.
• Last year Philippoussis retired in the first round here, trailing 67 46 63 53
against No. 24 Sjeng Schalken, after suffering a left knee injury as a result of
jumping for an overhead.
• Although Philippoussis made his US Open debut here in 1995, he missed both
1999 and 2001 due to a left knee injury which has required surgery three times
in his career. After the injury he sustained on the same knee at the 2002 US
Open, Philippoussis was out for the remainder of the season.
• Philippoussis reached the US Open final in 1998, defeating Carlos Moya 61 64
57 64 in the semifinals before losing to compatriot Patrick Rafter 63 36 62 60.
That was his best performance in a Grand Slam tournament until he reached the
final at this year’s Wimbledon, where he lost to Roger Federer 76 62 76.
• Phillipoussis has played just two tournaments since Wimbledon, reaching the
semifinals at Los Angeles, where he lost to eventual champion Wayne Ferreira 64
75. He lost in the first round at TMS Cincinnati to eventual runner-up Mardy
Fish 16 63 64.
• In addition to his runner-up finish at Wimbledon, Philippoussis was a finalist
on hard court at Scottsdale in March, losing to countryman Lleyton Hewitt 64 64.
• Qualifier Tipsarevic is making his US Open debut, one of 27 men to do so this
year.
• This is also Tipsarevic’s first Grand Slam tournament, having reached the main
draw by defeating Marcos Baghdatis (CYP) 76 57 76, Matias Boeker (USA) 64 62
then Arvind Parmar (GBR) 75 57 61 in last week’s qualifying competition.
• Tipsarevic had previously attempted to qualify for 2003 Roland Garros and 2003
Wimbledon without success.
• Tipsarevic played his first tour-level match outside Davis Cup competition at
Indianapolis a month ago, where as a direct entrant he reached the second round,
defeating countryman Nenad Zimonjic 76 64 in the first round before losing to
Yevgeny Kafelnikov 75 63.
• In challenger play, Tipsarevic won his first title on clay in Zell, Germany in
July, defeating Norway’s Jan-Frode Andersen 76 57 64 in the final.
• Tipsarevic has represented his country in six Davis Cup ties. (He still plays
for Yugoslavia rather than Serbia, since the Yugoslavian Tennis Federation has
not yet officially changed its name.) He has a 7-3 singles record in the
competition.
• As a junior, Tipsarevic won the 2001 Australian Open boys’ tournament,
defeating Yeu-Tzuoo Wang of Chinese Taipei 36 75 60 in the final. He finished
that year at No. 2 in the ITF Junior World Rankings, having been in the No. 1
spot for 35 weeks. He did not play the US Open as a junior.
DAVID SANCHEZ (ESP) v JAN-MICHAEL GAMBILL (USA)
Head-to-head: first meeting
Sanchez v Gambill
25 Age 26
1 Titles 3
4-12 Career Grand Slam Record 20-24
0-3 US Open Record 9-6
53-72 Career Record 178-158
4-21 Career Record – Hard 143-98
18-22 2003 Record 17-20
3-8 2003 Record – Hard 15-12
3-1 Career Five-Set Record 3-7
1 Comebacks from 0-2 down 1
14-17 Career Tie-break Record 70-80
5-2 2003 Tie-break Record 7-8
• Sanchez is making his fourth straight appearance at Flushing Meadows. In all
three of his previous US Open events, he has fallen in the opening round. Last
year, he lost in five sets to No. 3 seed Tommy Haas 76 36 36 64 75.
• Sanchez has had an undistinguished Grand Slam record. Since making his Slam
debut at the 2000 US Open, he has only posted four wins in total, with his best
performance coming at 2001 Roland Garros. Then he defeated Magnus Norman 46 46
76 61 62 and Carlos Moya 16 61 76 67 62 before falling to Roger Federer 64 63 16
63.
• Sanchez reached a career high ranking of No. 41 in February this year, having
claimed his first tour title at Vina del Mar with a 16 63 63 victory over
Marcelo Rios in the final. Since that win, however, he has only posted one
result of note – a semifinal berth at St. Polten (where he retired 62 20 down
against Andy Roddick with a right calf muscle strain).
• A clay court specialist, Sanchez has only played two summer hard court events
in his warm-up to the 2003 US Open – at both TMS Cincinnati and Long Island he
lost in the opening rounds (to Flavio Saretta 67 61 62 and Karol Beck 26 64 63
respectively).
• Gambill is playing his seventh consecutive US Open, having debuted as a
wildcard in 1997.
• Of his six previous appearances at Flushing Meadows, his best result was a
round of 16 appearance at the 2002 event. Last year he defeated Carlos Moya 63
63 61 in the second round and Gaston Gaudio 60 62 60 in the third round before
falling to eventual finalist Andre Agassi 62 63 63.
• Gambill’s highlight of the year so far came at Delray Beach in March, when he
claimed his third career title with a 60 76 win over Mardy Fish in the final. In
addition to his Delray Beach win, he has also reached one tour final this year –
at Doha (losing to Stefan Koubek 64 64).
• Gambill has played five US Open warm-up events, but has lost in the opening
round at all but one. His only hard court win of the summer came in the second
round at Indianapolis when he defeated Thomas Enqvist 62 62 (he received a bye
in the first round).
• In fact, since Gambill’s Delray Beach win, he has won only four matches and
lost 15, including his last four matches.
GRANDSTAND
NO. 22 YOUNES EL AYNAOUI (MAR) v (WC) ALEX KIM (USA)
Head-to-head: first meeting
El Aynaoui V Kim
31 Age 24
5 Titles 0
35-28 Career Grand Slam Record 2-5
5-6 US Open Record 0-2
246-199 Career Record 8-23
78-72 Career Record – Hard 7-17
33-20 2003 Record 3-8
16-9 2003 Record – Hard 2-5
11-5 Career Five-Set Record 0-1
2 Comebacks from 0-2 down 0
113-97 Career Tie-break Record 4-3
18-16 2003 Tie-break Record 2-0
• No. 22 seed El Aynaoui is playing his seventh US Open. In last year’s event,
he secured his best Flushing Meadows performance with a quarterfinal finish,
defeating Wayne Ferreira 36 75 75 76 in the round of 16 before falling to No. 1
seed and eventual semifinalist Lleyton Hewitt 61 76 46 62.
• Prior to last year’s quarterfinal finish, El Aynaoui had a poor US Open
record. He fell in the opening round in 1994 (his debut) and 1996, reached the
second round in 1999, and posted two more first round losses in 2000 and 2001.
• El Aynaoui’s run-up to the 2003 US Open has included appearances at three hard
court events – TMS Montreal, TMS Cincinnati and Long Island. He posted second
round losses in Montreal (to Juan Carlos Ferrero 63 64) and Cincinnati (to
Zabaleta 67 64 75) but won three consecutive matches at Long Island last week,
falling to James Blake 63 61 in the semifinals.
• El Aynaoui has had a successful year. He reached the final at Casablanca
(losing to Julien Boutter 62 26 61), the semifinals at Doha (losing to Stefan
Koubek 76 76) and Long Island (losing to James Blake 63 61) and reached the
quarterfinals at TMS Miami (losing to Andre Agassi 76 46 61).
• El Aynaoui was involved in an epic match at this year’s Australian Open. In
his quarterfinal match against Andy Roddick, he lost 46 76 46 64 2119 in exactly
five hours, producing the longest fifth set (in number of games) in men’s
singles in all-time Grand Slam history. In total number of games played (83) it
was the joint-longest men’s singles match in a Grand Slam tournament since the
introduction of the tiebreak (tying with Philippoussis v Schalken at 2000
Wimbledon).
• Kim is making his third appearance here as a wildcard. He debuted in 2000 and
played again last year, but failed on both occasions to progress beyond the
opening round, falling to No. 1 seed Andre Agassi 64 62 60 in 2000 and to Greg
Rusedski 61 46 76 63 in 2002.
• This is Kim’s sixth Grand Slam event, and on only one occasion has he managed
to progress beyond the first round. At the 2002 Australian Open, he qualified
for the main draw and defeated Davide Sanguinetti and Yevgeny Kafelnikov before
falling to Fernando Gonzalez 62 62 63 in the third round.
• At tour level, Kim has had a very quiet year, failing to progress beyond the
second round at any event. He has, however, had a more fruitful season at
challenger level, having reached the final of the Birmingham (GBR) and
Tallahassee Challengers.
• Playing for Stanford University, Kim was the 2000 NCAA Division I men’s
singles champion.
NO. 7 CARLOS MOYA (ESP) v SCOTT DRAPER (AUS)
Head-to-head: Moya leads 1-0
2003 Hamburg Clay(O) R64 Moya 63 57 63
Moya v Draper
26* Age 29
14 Titles 1
49-27 Career Grand Slam Record 20-30
13-7 US Open Record 6-5
368-202 Career Record 102-122
117-81 Career Record – Hard 59-67
44-16 2003 Record 8-13
9-6 2003 Record – Hard 6-8
12-14 Career Five-Set Record 4-6
4 Comebacks from 0-2 down 1
135-111 Career Tie-break Record 59-51
14-16 2003 Tie-break Record 6-4
* turns 27 on 27 August
• Celebrating his 27th birthday today, Moya is playing his eighth consecutive US
Open, having debuted in 1996.
• As No. 9 seed, Moya suffered a second round exit in last year’s event,
succumbing to Jan-Michael Gambill 63 63 61.
• Moya’s best US Open result came five years ago when he reached the semifinals
of the 1998 event. Surviving two five-set matches in the second and third rounds
(against Michael Chang and Jan-Michael Gambill respectively), he progressed to
the final four, defeating Magnus Norman 64 63 63 in the quarterfinals before
falling to Mark Philippoussis 61 64 57 64 in the semifinals.
• Moya, the 1998 Roland Garros champion, has had a poor run of form in the
run-up to this year’s US Open. Having selected to play two summer hard court
events (TMS Montreal) and (TMS Cincinnati), he fell to Frenchmen on both
occasions. In Canada, he fell to Arnaud Clement 76 46 63 and at Cincinnati to
Fabrice Santoro 36 63 64.
• Despite Moya’s poor run of form coming into the 2003 US Open, he has,
nonetheless, had success on hard court this year, having reached the final of
the 128-draw TMS Miami in March. Defeating Robby Ginepri 76 36 76 in the
quarterfinals and Paradorn Srichaphan 64 62 in the semifinals, he succumbed to
Andre Agassi 63 63.
• Moya has won three titles this year – all on clay. He claimed victories at
Buenos Aires (defeating Guillermo Coria 63 46 64), Barcelona (defeating Marat
Safin 57 62 62 30 ret.) and Umag (defeating Filippo Volandri 64 36 75).
• Draper is playing his sixth US Open event. He played for five years in a row
from 1995 to 1999, but missed the 2000, 2001 and 2002 events (failing to qualify
in 2000 and 2002 and electing not to play in 2001).
• Draper’s best US Open performance came in 1997 when he reached the round of
16. Having defeated Jeff Tarango 76 36 26 64 64 in the third round, he fell to
eventual semifinalist Jonas Bjorkman 63 63 16 76.
• Having had a poor start to the season with five first round and four second
round exits, he regained some form this summer with a quarterfinal berth at
Indianapolis, defeating Greg Rusedski 36 76 76 in the second round and Mardy
Fish 36 76 63 in the round of 16 before falling to Paradorn Srichaphan 64 62. He
also qualified for TMS Cincinnati, nearly beating Roger Federer in the first
round. He held seven match points against the Swiss before falling 46 63 76.
• Draper has had a poor Grand Slam record since the 1997 US Open. Following his
round of 16 appearance here six years ago, he has won just six matches in 18
Slam events.
(WC) AMER DELIC (USA) v SARGIS SARGSIAN (ARM)
Head-to-head: first meeting
Delic v Sargsian
21 Age 30
0 Titles 1
0-0 Career Grand Slam Record 26-27
0-0 US Open Record 5-6
1-2 Career Record 135-168
1-2 Career Record – Hard 55-82
1-2 2003 Record 17-21
1-2 2003 Record – Hard 8-9
0-0 Career Five-Set Record 6-4
0 Comebacks from 0-2 down 3
1-3 Career Tie-break Record 53-50
1-3 2003 Tie-break Record 4-5
• Wildcard Delic is one of 27 men making their US Open debut this year.
• His wildcard into this year’s main draw is his first Grand Slam experience at
any level. He has not attempted to qualify for any of the other three Slam
events and did not play any junior Grand Slam tournaments.
• Delic won his first professional tournament at the 2003 $10,000 Futures event
in Peoria, USA, defeating Francisco Rodriguez 61 46 62 in the final.
• Delic made his professional tour debut at Indianapolis in July this year. He
defeated Brazil’s Ricardo Mello 67 64 75 in the opening round and held two match
points against Paradorn Srichaphan before falling to the then world No. 11 67 76
61.
• In his US Open warm-up, he has played four hard court events. In addition to
his Indianapolis second round berth, he reached the second round of the Bronx
Challenger (losing to Cecil Mamit 76 62), and lost in the opening rounds at
Washington (76 64 to Bob Bryan) and Long Island Qualifying (36 76 64 to Bohdan
Ulihrach).
• Representing the University of Illisnois, Delic won the 2003 NCAA men’s
singles title, defeating Benedikt Dorsch of Baylor 64 63 in the final.
• Sargsian is making his sixth Flushing Meadows appearance, having debuted in
1995. He reached the third round last year, defeating David Nalbandian 61 64 64
in the opening match and Alexander Popp 26 63 64 67 64 in the second before
falling to eventual semifinalist Sjeng Schalken 75 63 36 61.
• Sargsian’s third round showing here last year was his best US Open
performance. He also matched this result at the 1995 and 1997 events. His best
Grand Slam performance to date remains a round-of-16 appearance at this year’s
Australian Open, where he fell to Wayne Ferreira 63 64 36 63.
• Sargsian has played three summer hard court events in the run up to this
year’s US Open. Playing at Washington, TMS Montreal and Long Island, he secured
just to wins – against Jiri Vanek 63 64 in the second round at Washington
(following a bye in the first round) and against Alex Corretja 75 62 in the
first round at Long Island.
• In addition to his round of 16 showing at this year’s Australian Open,
Sargsian has reached two tour quarterfinals, at Chennai (losing to Paradorn
Srichaphan 64 64) and Valencia (losing to Christophe Rochus 62 62).
COURT 10
NO. 30 GASTON GAUDIO (ARG) v NICOLAS MASSU (CHI)
Head-to-head: Gaudio leads 2-1
2002 Kitzbuhel Clay (O) QF Gaudio 64 63
2003 Vina Del Mar Clay (O) R32 Gaudio 60 26 61
2003 TMS Miami Hard (O) R64 Massu 64 57 63
Gaudio v Massu
24 Age 23
2 Titles 2
14-18 Career Grand Slam Record 8-12
2-4 US Open Record 3-3
143-101 Career Record 103-91
25-34 Career Record – Hard 40-39
37-20 2003 Record 19-13
4-6 2003 Record – Hard 2-3
1-8 Career Five-Set Record 1-2
1 Comebacks from 0-2 down 0
48-39 Career Tie-break Record 39-38
6-12 2003 Tie-break Record 5-5
• Gaudio is making his fifth US Open appearance, having not won a match here
before last year.
• At the 2002 US Open, seeded No. 21, Gaudio advanced to the third round,
falling to Jan-Michael Gambill 60 62 60. From 1999-2001, he suffered first-round
exits at Flushing Meadows.
• Gaudio played two events during the summer hard court season, losing in the
first round at TMS Montreal (to Roger Federer 64 36 75) and reaching the round
of 16 at TMS Cincinnati, where he defeated Juan Carlos Ferrero 67 76 64 in the
second round before losing to Robby Ginepri 61 76. Gaudio played three clay
court tournaments after Wimbledon, reaching the semifinals at Gstaad (losing to
Roger Federer 61 76) and the quarterfinals at Kitzbuhel (falling to Feliciano
Lopez 62 67 75).
• TMS Cincinnati is the only time to date this season that Gaudio has won
back-to-back matches on hard court. He has played predominantly on clay, his
best showing being a semifinal finish at TMS Hamburg (losing to Guillermo Coria
63 67 60) and at Vina Del Mar, Buenos Aires and Gstaad as mentioned above.
• Gaudio has a 4-0 singles record in Davis Cup this year, helping Argentina to
reach the World Group semifinals. They play Spain away in Malaga in September.
• This is Massu’s fourth appearance at the US Open and so far his results have
got better each year he has played.
• On his US Open debut in 2000, Massu lost in the first round to countryman
Marcelo Rios 63 75 16 76. At the 2001 US Open, he lost in the second round to
No. 2 seed Andre Agassi 67 64 62 76. Last year here, he reached the third round
before retiring against Gustavo Kuerten trailing 16 45 due to a right hamstring
and groin injury.
• Massu played just one summer hard court event, losing in the first round at
TMS Montreal as a lucky loser to Max Mirnyi 64 76. However he had an impressive
run on the post-Wimbledon clay court circuit, reaching finals in consecutive
weeks at Amersfoort and Kitzbuhel.
• Massu assembled a 10-match winning streak through winning his first title of
the season at Amersfoort (defeating local favourite Raemon Sluiter 64 76 62 in
the final) and finishing runner-up at Kitzbuhel (losing in the final to
Guillermo Coria 61 64 62).
• This is just the sixth hard court match of the year for Massu. He has two
match wins on the surface this season, both coming at TMS Miami, where he
defeated Kenneth Carlsen, then today’s opponent Gaudio 64 57 63 in the second
round before losing in the third round to Albert Costa 76 62.
NO. 13 DAVID NALBANDIAN (ARG) v (Q) PHILIPP KOHLSCHREIBER (GER)
Head-to-head: first meeting
Nalbandian v Kohlschreiber
21 Age 20
2 Titles 0
19-8 Career Grand Slam Record 0-0
2-2 US Open Record 0-0
85-52 Career Record 1-5
26-19 Career Record – Hard 0-0
32-17 2003 Record 1-2
15-7 2003 Record – Hard 0-0
5-1 Career Five-Set Record 0-0
0 Comebacks from 0-2 down 0
31-19 Career Tie-break Record 0-0
11-6 2003 Tie-break Record 0-0
• Nalbandian is playing his third successive US Open. Last year, as Wimbledon
runner-up and No. 16 seed, he was upset in the first round by Sargis Sargsian 61
64 64.
• Nalbandian made a solid Grand Slam debut as a qualifier at the 2001 US Open,
advancing to the third round by defeating No. 31 seed Nicolas Escude 46 63 46 63
75 in the second round, then losing to No. 7 Yevgeny Kafelnikov 36 64 62 62.
• Nalbandian has won eight of ten matches played on the summer hard court
circuit. He reached his first final of the year at TMS Montreal, defeating
Rainer Schuettler 36 62 62 in the semifinals before losing to Andy Roddick 61
63. The following week, Nalbandian advanced to the quarterfinals at TMS
Cincinnati, losing to eventual runner-up Mardy Fish 76 63.
• Apart from TMS Montreal, Nalbandian’s other stand-out hard court result of
2003 was at the Australian Open, where he advanced to the quarterfinals before
losing to eventual champion Rainer Schuettler 63 57 61 60.
• Nalbandian also reached the semifinals on clay at TMS Hamburg (losing to
Agustin Calleri 64 61), and advanced tothe last 16 at this year’s Wimbledon
(falling to Tim Henman 62 67 75 63).
• This is qualifier Kohlschreiber’s first appearance at the US Open, and he is
making his Grand Slam tournament debut.
• To advance to the main draw, Kohlschreiber had wins over Italy’s Leonardo
Azzaro 64 62 in the first round, Hermes Gamonal of Chile 64 62 in the second
round and Ireland’s Peter Clarke 67 63 76 in the third round of last week’s
qualifying competition.
• Kohlschreiber had never previously tried to qualify for any Grand Slam
tournament.
• This is only Kohlschreiber’s seventh tour-level match, and he is looking for
his second tour-level match win today. His only previous victory was as a
qualifier at St Polten earlier this year, where he defeated Jurgen Melzer 64 06
62 in the first round (falling to eventual champion Andy Roddick 63 64 in the
second).
• This is Kohlschreiber’s first tour-level match on hard court, all previous
having been on clay.
• Kohlschreiber has played mainly challengers this year, with his best result
being a quarterfinal finish on clay at Furth, Germany in June (he lost to
Spain’s Oscar Hernandez-Perez 76 63). This equalled his best ever result in
challenger play, having made the last eight at Yokohama in November 2002.
COURT 11
NO. 10 JIRI NOVAK (CZE) v MARIO ANCIC (CRO)
Head-to-head: Novak leads 1-0
2003 TMS Montreal Hard (O) R64 Novak 75 36 63
Novak v Ancic
28 Age 19
5 Titles 0
38-29 Career Grand Slam Record 5-5
12-8 US Open Record 0-1
252-192 Career Record 18-25
115-83 Career Record – Hard 7-14
35-20 2003 Record 11-17
14-7 2003 Record – Hard 5-9
10-8 Career Five-Set Record 1-2
4 Comebacks from 0-2 down 0
75-95 Career Tie-break Record 11-15
11-9 2003 Tie-break Record 8-12
• Novak is playing his ninth US Open. By reaching the round of 16 here last
year, he equalled his best performance at the event.
• At the 2002 US Open, Novak benefited from two retirements, advancing to the
second round when Richard Krajicek retired with a left heel injury and going on
to the round of 16 when Marcelo Rios retired due to tendonitis in his right
knee. Novak lost his round of 16 match to No. 1 seed Lleyton Hewitt, 64 62 64.
• Novak first reached the round of 16 here in 1999, losing to Slava Dosedel 64
75 57 75.
• Novak won his first title of the year on clay in Gstaad in July, the fifth of
his career. He defeated Roger Federer 57 63 63 16 63 in the final, ending the
Wimbledon champion’s 15-match winning streak. It was Novak’s first win in four
finals, having won his last title at Gstaad two years previously.
• Novak played two hard court events coming into the US Open, his best showing
being a round of 16 finish at TMS Montreal (losing to Rainer Schuettler 75 60).
He performed better on the surface earlier in the season, reaching the final at
Dubai in February, before losing on that occasion to Roger Federer 61 76.
• This is Ancic’s second appearance at the US Open. He made his debut as a lucky
loser last year, and stretched Dominik Hrbaty to five sets in his opening round
match before having to retire with leg cramps. Hrbaty won 46 63 76 57 32 ret.
• This is Ancic’s sixth Grand Slam tournament overall. He has played all four
majors in 2003 as a direct entrant, and had his best result to date at the 2003
Australian Open, where he advanced to the last 16 before falling to No. 4 seed
Juan Carlos Ferrero 60 63 62.
• His round of 16 finish at the Australian Open remains Ancic’s best result of
the season. In fact, he has not won consecutive matches on hard court since. In
his hard court preparation for the US Open, Ancic lost in the second round at
Indianapolis to Ivo Heuberger 63 26 75 (having received a bye in the first
round), fell in the round of 16 at Washington to Fernando Gonzalez 75 76 (having
received a bye in the first round then defeated Jeff Morrison in the second),
and lost in the first round at TMS Montreal to Jiri Novak 75 36 63.
• Ancic also won a challenger title on indoor carpet at Hamburg in February,
defeating Spanish teenager Rafael Nadal 62 63 in the final.
Top of Page
2003 US OPEN
DAY TWO MEN’S NOTES
Tuesday 26 August 2003
Show court matches
ARTHUR ASHE STADIUM: No. 15 Fernando Gonzalez (CHI) v (WC) Michael Chang (USA)
No. 1 Andre Agassi (USA) v Alex Corretja (ESP)
No. 4 Andy Roddick (USA) v Tim Henman (GBR)
LOUIS ARMSTRONG No. 11 Paradorn Srichaphan (THA) v Cyril Saulnier (FRA)
STADIUM: No. 32 Vince Spadea (USA) v Flavio Saretta (BRA)
No. 14 Gustavo Kuerten (BRA) v (Q) Dmitry Tursunov (RUS)
GRANDSTAND: No. 28 Yevgeny Kafelnikov (RUS) v Kristof Vliegen (BEL)
Xavier Malisse (BEL) v Olivier Rochus (BEL)
(Q) Jeff Salzenstein (USA) v Hicham Arazi (MAR)
COURT 10: Nicolas Kiefer (GER) v Franco Squillari (ARG)
No. 25 Albert Costa (ESP) v Raemon Sluiter (NED)
COURT 11: No. 8 Rainer Schuettler (GER) v Wayne Arthurs (AUS)
No. 12 Sjeng Schalken (NED) v Julien Boutter (FRA)
On court today…
• No. 4 seed Andy Roddick hoping to translate his outstanding hard court form
into success at the US Open. He starts his 2003 campaign against Tim Henman,
unseeded this year but the only man to win a match against Roddick during the
entire summer hard court season.
• Last year’s runner-up and two-time champion Andre Agassi meets Alex Corretja,
without a Grand Slam seeding for the first time in over three years and at his
lowest ranking for nearly ten years.
• Wild card Michael Chang, playing his last ever tournament, takes on 2002
quarterfinalist Fernando Gonzalez.
• No. 11 seed Paradorn Srichaphan, fresh from his title triumph in Long Island,
attempts to keep his winning streak going against Cyril Saulnier, whom the Thai
beat four weeks ago in Washington.
• All four Belgians in the men’s draw. On Grandstand there is and all-Belgian
clash between Xavier Malisse and Olivier Rochus. Meanwhile, Christophe Rochus
plays John Van Lottum and Grand Slam debutant Kristof Vliegen takes on No. 28
seed Yevgeny Kafelnikov.
ARTHUR ASHE STADIUM
NO. 15 FERNANDO GONZALEZ (CHI) v (WC) MICHAEL CHANG (USA)
Head-to-head: first meeting
Gonzalez v Chang
23 Age 31
3 Titles 34
17-10 Career Grand Slam Record 120-55
5-2 US Open Record 43-16
87-56 Career Record 662-311
33-23 Career Record – Hard 410-172
30-17 2003 Record 2-9
9-8 2003 Record – Hard 2-8
6-3 Career Five-Set Record 23-15
0 Comebacks from 0-2 down 6
37-22 Career Tie-break Record 153-155
13-6 2003 Tie-break Record 0-1
• Gonzalez is making his third appearance at the US Open, having reached the
quarterfinals in 2002 and the second round in 2000 (as a qualifier). Last year,
he defeated Arnaud Clement 64 62 63 in the round of 16 before falling to Sjeng
Schalken in an epic five-set quarterfinal 76 36 36 76 67.
• Gonzalez has had mixed success in his warm-up to the 2003 US Open. Having
reached his first final of the year at Washington (losing to Tim Henman 63 64),
he failed to impress in his next three summer hard court events, falling in the
first round at TMS Montreal, the second round at TMS Cincinnati, and the first
round at Long Island.
• Gonzalez had an indifferent start to the year but posted better results after
his quarterfinal appearance at TMS Hamburg in May. He guided Chile to victory at
the World Team Cup, reached the quarterfinals at Roland Garros (losing to
eventual champion Juan Carlos Ferrero 61 36 61 57 64) and progressed to the
semifinals at Stuttgart before his runner-up finish at Washington.
• Gonzalez reached a career-high ranking of No. 13 on 4 August.
• Chang has announced that the 2003 US Open will be his last professional
tournament.
• Like compatriot Andre Agassi, this year is Chang’s 17th straight appearance at
the US Open. In 2002, he fell here in the second round to Roger Federer 63 61
63.
• For the fourth time in his Grand Slam career, Chang is playing as a wildcard.
In addition to his wildcard at this year’s Roland Garros, he was offered
wildcards in his first two Slam events - at the 1987 US Open and 1988 Roland
Garros.
• In his 17 appearances at Flushing Meadows, Chang has reached the final once
(1996) and the semifinals twice (1992 and 1997). In the 1996 final, he lost to
Pete Sampras in straight sets 61 64 76.
• This is Chang’s 10th tournament of 2003 and eighth as a wildcard. As part of a
“farewell tour”, he has played a limited selection of tournaments, during which
he has posted only two wins – over Nicolas Kiefer at TMS Miami and Zack
Fleishman at Los Angeles.
NO. 1 ANDRE AGASSI (USA) v ALEX CORRETJA (ESP)
Head-to-head: Agassi leads 4-3
1993 Barcelona Clay (O) R32 Agassi 62 63
1995 US Open Hard (O) R64 Agassi 57 63 57 60 62
1997 Indianapolis Hard (O) R16 Agassi 75 61
1998 Miami Hard (O) SF Agassi 64 62
1998 Indianapolis Hard (O) FR Corretja 26 62 63
1998 ATP Finals Hard (I) RR Corretja 57 63 21 ret.
2000 Washington Hard (O) FR Corretja 62 63
This is their seventh meeting, but first for three years. It is their second
match-up at the US Open, Agassi having won their second round encounter in 1995.
Although Agassi has the advantage in their head-to-head, Corretja has won their
last three meetings. Two of these victories were in hard court finals, at 1998
Indianapolis and 2000 Washington, while the other came when Agassi retired with
a back injury at the 1998 ATP Tour World Championship.
Agassi v Corretja
33 Age 29
58 Titles 17
196-44 Career Grand Slam Record 58-32
62-15 US Open Record 16-10
777-238 Career Record 421-250
503-130 Career Record – Hard 122-90
39-7 2003 Record 10-17
24-3 2003 Record – Hard 3-7
23-19 Career Five-Set Record 14-7
5 Comebacks from 0-2 down 3
166-137 Career Tie-break Record 125-116
10-4 2003 Tie-break Record 5-7
• Agassi is playing his 17th consecutive US Open. This is a tie, along with
compatriot Michael Chang, for the most appearances by any man in the draw.
• Agassi reached his fifth US Open final last year, losing to Pete Sampras 63 64
57 64 in the 34th and last meeting between the great rivals. Agassi won the US
Open title in 1994 (defeating Michael Stich 61 76 75 in the final) and again in
1999 (defeating Todd Martin 64 67 67 63 62). The only other former US Open
champion in the draw is 2001 winner Lleyton Hewitt.
• This is the first time Agassi has been seeded No. 1 at a Grand Slam event
since the 2000 US Open. Then, he was upset in the second round by Arnaud Clement
63 62 64.
• The US Open top seed has lost in the opening round twice in the Open Era. In
1971, John Newcombe fell to Jan Kodes 26 76 76 63; in 1990, Stefan Edberg lost
to Alexander Volkov 63 76 62. In fact, the No. 1 seed has won the US Open title
only eight times in 35 meetings. The last top seed to win the title here was
Pete Sampras in 1996, when he successfully defended his US Open title. [For more
detail see page 9 of the Preview.]
• Agassi last played at TMS Montreal, where he lost in the quarterfinals to
Rainer Schuettler 26 62 63. He only played one other event on the summer hard
court circuit, reaching the semifinals at Washington the week previously before
losing to Fernando Gonzalez 36 64 76.
• This is only Agassi’s 12th tournament this year. Although he has a 39-7 record
to date and currently heads the ATP Entry Ranking, Agassi had more success in
the first half of the season, when he collected four titles. He won the
Australian Open for the fourth time, then claimed further hard court titles at
San Jose and TMS Miami before winning on clay at Houston.
• Agassi is the tour’s all-time leader in hard court tournament titles, having
won 44 tournaments (of 58 total) on hard courts.
• Agassi owns eight Grand Slam titles in total. A third US title would give him
sole possession of sixth place for the most all-time Grand Slam titles.
Top Grand Slam titleholders
1. Pete Sampras 14
2. Roy Emerson 12
3. Bjorn Borg 11
Rod Laver 11
5. Bill Tilden 10
6. Fred Perry 8
Ken Rosewall 8
Jimmy Connors 8
Ivan Lendl 8
Andre Agassi 8
• Corretja is making his 12th appearance at the US Open. He lost in the third
round here last year to Andy Roddick 64 61 76.
• Corretja’s best performance here was a quarterfinal finish in 1996. He
defeated Guy Forget 64 63 76 in the round of 16 before losing to eventual
champion Pete Sampras 76 57 57 64 76.
• This is the first time Corretja has not received a Grand Slam seeding since
the 2000 Australian Open (where he lost in the second round to Lleyton Hewitt 60
60 61).
• Corretja had an Entry Ranking of No. 85 on 18 August, his lowest for nearly
ten years. (He was ranked No. 90 on 1 November 1993.) He has not won consecutive
matches since the World Team Cup in May (defeating Radek Stepanek and Wayne
Arthurs in the round robin) and has only one back-to-back matches twice all
season, having reached the quarterfinals at Scottsdale in March before losing to
eventual champion Lleyton Hewitt 64 62.
• In Grand Slam play this year, Corretja lost in the first round at the
Australian Open (to Feliciano Lopez 67 76 76 63) and the first round at Roland
Garros (to Galo Blanco 57 63 60 75). He missed Wimbledon due to the birth of his
first child: his daughter, Aroa, was born on 19 June.
NO. 4 ANDY RODDICK (USA) v TIM HENMAN (GBR)
Head-to-head: Henman leads 1-0
2003 Washington Hard (O) SF Henman 16 63 76
Roddick v Henman
20/21* Age 28/29^
10 Titles 10
25-11 Career Grand Slam Record 73-33
8-3 US Open Record 14-8
157-56 Career Record 379-197
95-33 Career Record – Hard 204-100
55-13 2003 Record 19-12
34-7 2003 Record – Hard 7-6
3-2 Career Five-Set Record 12-12
1 Comebacks from 0-2 down 1
68-39 Career Tie-break Record 136-107
26-11 2003 Tie-break Record 5-5
* turns 21 on 30 August
^ turns 29 on 6 September
• This is Roddick’s fourth US Open. For the past two years he has reached the
quarterfinals here, and each time has been stopped by the eventual champion.
• At the 2001 US Open, Roddick advanced to his first Grand Slam quarterfinal by
defeating Tommy Robredo 62 62 64 in the round of 16, then lost to eventual
champion Lleyton Hewitt 67 63 64 36 64. In 2002, Roddick defeated Juan Ignacio
Chela 57 64 64 64 in the round of 16, then lost in the quarters to eventual
champion Pete Sampras 63 62 64.
• Until the start of 2003, Roddick’s best Grand Slam performances had all come
at Flushing Meadows. However this year he has advanced to semifinals at the
Australian Open (losing to Rainer Schuettler 75 26 63 63) and at Wimbledon
(losing to eventual champion Roger Federer 76 63 63).
• Roddick enters the 2003 US Open on a 12-match winning streak, having won
back-to-back Masters Series titles at TMS Montreal and TMS Cincinnati (he did
not play last week). In Montreal, Roddick defeated David Nalbandian 61 63 in the
final; in Cincinnati, Roddick overcame good friend Mardy Fish 46 76 76, Fish
having held two match points on Roddick’s serve at 4-5 in the third set.
• Roddick has lost just one of 21 hard court matches played since the start of
the summer hard court circuit, that loss being to today’s opponent Henman in the
semifinals at Washington, 16 63 76. Roddick won the title a week before that at
Indianapolis, defeating Paradorn Srichaphan 76 64 in the final.
• For the year, Roddick has tour-best 34 hard court match wins (and seven
losses) But in the past 13 years, only one player has entered the US Open
leading the tour in hard court match wins and gone on to win the tournament.
Pete Sampras achieved this feat in 1993. On three other occasions, the tour’s
hard court wins leader entering the US Open has been runner-up. [More details
can be found on pages 10-11 of the Preview.]
• The last man to turn multiple titles during the summer hard court season into
complete US Open success was Patrick Rafter, who in 1998 won at Toronto,
Cincinnati and Long Island then successfully defended his US Open crown. On the
other hand, in the last 15 years, there have been four instances of a player
winning multiple summer hard court tournaments only to lose in the first round
of the US Open. [More details on pages 11-12 of the Preview.]
• Having also won titles at St Polten (clay) and at Queen’s (grass) earlier in
the season, Roddick jointly leads the tour for titles won so far in 2003. He and
Roger Federer both have five.
• This is Henman’s ninth consecutive appearance at the US Open. He reached the
third round last year, losing to Juan Ignacio Chela 63 63 62.
• Henman has been stopped at the third round stage here for the past three
years. His best performances are two round of 16 finishes: in 1996, when he lost
to Stefan Edberg 67 76 64 64, and in 1998, losing to eventual runner-up Mark
Philippoussis 75 06 64 61.
• The highlight of Henman’s warm-up to the 2003 US Open – and the highlight of
his year to date - was at Washington, where he claimed his 10th career title by
handing today’s opponent Roddick his only loss of the summer hard court season,
defeating him 16 63 76 in the semifinals, then defeated Fernando Gonzalez 63 64
in the final.
• Since Washington, Henman’s results have been disappointing: he lost in the
second round at TMS Canada (to David Nalbandian 64 64) and in the first round at
TMS Cincinnati (to Guillermo Coria 63 46 64).
• Henman’s 2003 season got off to a slow start following his return from
shoulder surgery in February, having been out for two months. His form picked up
with the start of the grass court season, when he reached the semifinals at
Queen’s and went on to a quarterfinal finish at Wimbledon.
LOUIS ARMSTRONG STADIUM
NO. 11 PARADORN SRICHAPHAN (THA) v CYRIL SAULNIER (FRA)
Head-to-head: Srichaphan Leads 1-0
2003 Washington Hard (O) R32 Srichaphan 64 67 61
Srichaphan v Saulnier
24 Age 28
4 Titles 0
11-15 Career Grand Slam Record 2-11
1-3 US Open Record 1-3
128-91 Career Record 21-46
101-63 Career Record – Hard 11-29
35-20 2003 Record 9-10
27-11 2003 Record – Hard 4-5
11-3 Career Five-Set Record 0-2
1 Comebacks from 0-2 down 0
47-49 Career Tie-break Record 17-16
10-9 2003 Tie-break Record 8-4
• This is Srichaphan’s fourth US Open. Last year he reached the second round,
defeating wild card Prakash Amritraj 61 63 60 in the first round for his first
win at the US Open, falling to No. 33 seed Greg Rusedski in the second round 36
76 76 67 64.
• Srichaphan arrives here fresh from winning the title in Long Island. He
defeated James Blake in the final 62 64, defending the title he won there last
year, and claiming his second title – and also second hard court title – of
2003, after winning Chennai at the start of the year.
• Srichaphan has posted some strong results this year on hard court. He began
the year by winning the title in Chennai, defeating Karol Kucera 63 61 in the
final, and went on to reach the semifinals at TMS Miami, falling to Carlos Moya
64 62.
• During the summer hard court season, Srichaphan reached the final at
Indianapolis, falling to Andy Roddick 76 64, the quarterfinals at Washington
falling to Tim Henman 76 75, and the round of 16 at TMS Montreal falling to Max
Mirnyi 63 62, before winning at Long Island.
• However Srichaphan has also suffered some early defeats during the year on
hard court, falling in the first rounds at San Jose (indoors), Scottsdale, TMS
Indian Wells and TMS Cincinnati.
• In April 2003 Srichaphan reached No. 10 on the ATP Entry Ranking, becoming the
first Asian man to enter the world top ten since rankings were introduced in
August 1973. On 12 May he reached No. 9, a career-high.
• Saulnier is making his fourth appearance at the US Open, but this is the first
time he has not had to qualify. In fact, of 12 Grand Slam events he has played
in his career including this one, this is the first one for which he gained a
direct acceptance – for all the others he has either qualified, been a lucky
loser or received a wild card.
• Saulnier has won two career Grand Slam matches, here at the US Open in 2000
(defeating Attila Savolt 63 75 63) and at Wimbledon this year (defeating Xavier
Malisse 64 63 62).
• Saulnier has had most success this year on grass court, winning two rounds at
Queen’s to reach the round of 16 before falling to Tim Henman 67 63 63, and also
winning two matches at Newport to reach the quarterfinals before falling to Bob
Bryan 64 63. He qualified at Wimbledon before defeating Malisse in the first
round as described above, falling to eventual runner-up Mark Philippoussis in
the second round 63 62 76.
• Saulnier lists his preferred surface as hard court, and has had a degree of
success this year on that surface. He qualified for Marseille and TMS Miami at
the start of the year, winning a round at each, and also won first round matches
as a direct acceptance at Indianapolis and Washington in the summer, falling to
today’s opponent Srichaphan at Washington 64 67 61. Saulnier also qualified at
TMS Montreal, falling to Juan Carlos Ferrero 64 64 in the opening round.
• Saulnier achieved a career-high ranking of No. 100 on 14 July, and is
currently ranked 101.
NO. 32 VINCE SPADEA v FLAVIO SARETTA (BRA)
Head-to-head: Saretta leads 1-0
2003 Delray Beach Hard (O) R16 Saretta 64 36 64
Spadea v Saretta
29 Age 23
0 Titles 0
29-31 Career Grand Slam Record 8-7
10-9 US Open Record 0-1
182-214 Career Record 39-36
112-112 Career Record – Hard 11-13
24-18 2003 Record 21-17
17-11 2003 Record – Hard 6-5
9-3 Career Five-Set Record 4-2
1 Comebacks from 0-2 down 0
59-80 Career Tie-break Record 11-24
1-7 2003 Tie-break Record 8-11
• No. 32 seed Spadea is making his 10th appearance at the US Open. Apart from
2001, he has played every year at the Open since his debut in 1993.
• Spadea’s best result here has been two round of 16 finishes – in 1995 and
1999. In ’95 he lost to Petr Korda 62 75 64 and in ’99 to Richard Krajicek 62 76
62.
• Spadea has continued his comeback in 2003, during which he has reached three
semifinals (Memphis, TMS Indian Wells and TMS Monte Carlo) along with two
quarterfinals (San Jose and Los Angeles). He has also pulled his ranking back
into the top 40 for the first time since 2000. Having been as low as 237 in
October 2000, he is currently ranked No. 31 in the entry system.
• Spadea has played three summer hard court events in the run up to the 2003 US
Open. He posted a quarterfinal finish at Los Angeles (losing to Nicolas Kiefer
16 75 63), a round of 16 appearance at TMS Montreal (losing to David Nalbandian
64 62) and lost in the opening round at TMS Cincinnati to Younes El Aynaoui 75
64.
• Saretta is playing his second US Open having made his debut here last year.
• In 2002, he lost in the opening round to Kenneth Carlsen in five close sets 76
46 64 57 76.
• Saretta has now had two complete years of Grand Slam play, having played in
every Slam event since the 2002 Australian Open. His best Grand Slam result to
date has been a round of 16 appearance at this year’s Roland Garros, where he
fell to Andre Agassi 62 61 75.
• Saretta has played two hard court events in the run-up to this year’s US Open.
He defeated David Sanchez 67 61 62 and Fabrice Santoro 75 63 before falling to
Mariano Zabaleta 67 62 64 at TMS Cincinnati, and reached the second round at
Long Island, losing to Nicolas Kiefer 63 61.
• Following his third round appearance at TMS Cincinnati, Zabaleta reached a
career high ranking of No. 48 on 18 August 2003.
NO. 14 GUSTAVO KUERTEN (BRA) v DMITRY TURSUNOV (RUS)
Head-to-head: first meeting
Kuerten v Tursunov
26 Age 20
18 Titles 0
58-23 Career Grand Slam Record 0-0
14-6 US Open Record 0-0
316-155 Career Record 3-3
129-71 Career Record – Hard 3-3
30-16 2003 Record 0-2
15-7 2003 Record – Hard 0-2
15-10 Career Five-Set Record 0-0
4 Comebacks from 0-2 down 0
112-119 Career Tie-break Record 2-1
12-12 2003 Tie-break Record 0-1
• This is Kuerten’s seventh appearance at the US Open. Last year he reached the
round of 16, upsetting No. 2 seed Marat Safin 64 64 75 in the second round
before going on to lose to No. 24 Sjeng Schalken 63 76 67 76.
• Kuerten’s best US Open results are two quarterfinal finishes, in 1999 (losing
to Cedric Pioline 46 76 76 76) and again in 2001 (to Yevgeny Kafelnikov 64 60
63).
• Kuerten’s best result on the summer hard court circuit was last week at Long
Island, where he advanced to the quarterfinals before losing to Younes El
Aynaoui 76 64.
• Although he has built his reputation on his clay court results, Kuerten’s best
performances in 2003 have in fact been on hard courts. He won his only title to
date this season at Auckland in January, defeating Dominik Hrbaty 63 75 in the
final. He also reached the final at TMS Indian Wells, losing to Lleyton Hewitt
61 61.
• Qualifier Tursunov is making his Grand Slam tournament debut at the 2003 US
Open.
• In last week’s qualifying event, Tursunov defeated David Prinosil 64 62 in the
first round, Dennis Van Scheppingen 61 63 in the second round and Daniele
Bracciali of Italy 64 64 in the final round.
• Tursunov also attempted to qualify for the 2001 US Open, losing in the second
round of the qualifying tournament to Byron Black 62 62.
• Tursunov played hard court challengers in the run-up to this year’s US Open,
and had good results. He reached the final at Aptos, USA (losing to Jeff
Salzenstein 57 75 64) and at Bronx, USA just over a week ago (losing to Ivo
Karlovic 63 63).
• This is only Tursunov’s seventh tour-level match and all his previous matches
at this level have been on hard court. His three previous tour-level victories
on this surface all came indoors at Memphis in 2001, when as a qualifier he
advanced to the quarterfinals before losing to Mark Philippoussis 63 62.
GRANDSTAND
NO. 28 YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV (RUS) v KRISTOF VLIEGEN (BEL)
Head-to-head: first meeting
Kafelnikov v Vliegen
29 Age 23
26 Titles 0
97-35 Career Grand Slam Record 0-0
22-8 US Open Record 0-0
605-301 Career Record 5-6
247-116 Career Record – Hard 4-2
25-21 2003 Record 5-6
10-11 2003 Record – Hard 4-2
20-11 Career Five-Set Record 0-0
3 Comebacks from 0-2 down 0
216-169 Career Tie-break Record 1-1
7-8 2003 Tie-break Record 1-1
• Kafelnikov is playing his ninth US Open. Last year, as No. 4 seed, he lost in
the second round to Dominik Hrbaty 63 61 61.
• Kafelnikov has never lost in the first round here. He has twice advanced to
the semifinals, most recently in 2001. Then, he defeated Gustavo Kuerten 64 60
63 in the quarterfinals before falling to eventual champion Lleyton Hewitt 61 62
61. In 1999, Kafelnikov advanced to the last four by defeating Richard Krajicek
76 76 36 16 76 in the quarters, falling to eventual champion Andre Agassi 16 63
63 63.
• Kafelnikov has been unable to win consecutive matches during the summer hard
court circuit. He had byes in the first rounds at Indianapolis and Washington,
losing in the third round of both, and had second-round exits at both TMS
Montreal and TMS Cincinnati. In fact, Kafelnikov has not won consecutive matches
since TMS Rome, where he had a semifinal finish (losing to Felix Mantilla 46 76
64).
• Kafelnikov’s best result of 2003 so far is a runner-up finish on indoor carpet
at Milan, where he lost to Martin Verkerk 64 57 75 in the final.
• Having realised his long-cherished dream of helping Russia to a first Davis
Cup title at the end of 2002, Kafelnikov, who had said he would retire if his
country won the competition, decided to continue playing after all in 2003.
• Vliegen is making his first appearance at the US Open, one of 27 men to make
their debut in this year’s tournament.
• This is also Vliegen’s first appearance at any Grand Slam tournament. He had
tried to qualify for the first three Slams of 2003, but each time was
unsuccessful, despite being No. 2 seed in Australian Open qualifying, No. 3 seed
in Roland Garros qualifying, and No. 2 seed again in Wimbledon qualifying.
• Vliegen has one stand-out result on hard court in his career. As a qualifier
playing his first tour-level tournament, Vliegen reached the final at Adelaide
in January. He defeated Richard Krajicek 76 46 63 in the semifinals before
losing to Nikolay Davydenko 62 76.
• This is only the sixth tour-level tournament of Vliegen’s career. Apart from
Adelaide, the only other time he has won a match in a tour-level tournament was
on clay at Umag, where he defeated Michal Mertinak 60 26 63 in the first round
before retiring with a right groin injury against Fernando Gonzalez when
trailing 3-0.
• Vliegen has not played any pre-US Open hard court tournaments, haviong not
played at all since that retirement at Umag a month ago.
• Vliegen won his second challenger title at Zagreb in May, defeating Ruben
Ramirez-Hidalgo 61 46 60 in the final. (He also won the 2002 Geneva Challenger.)
XAVIER MALISSE (BEL) v OLIVIER ROCHUS (BEL)
Head-to-head: first meeting
Malisse v O. Rochus
23 Age 22
0 Titles 1
24-14 Career Grand Slam Record 12-13
8-4 US Open Record 0-3
115-93 Career Record 59-74
58-52 Career Record – Hard 20-30
15-20 2003 Record 20-23
8-11 2003 Record – Hard 12-9
5-3 Career Five-Set Record 4-6
1 Comebacks from 0-2 down 1
47-32 Career Tie-break Record 20-34
8-9 2003 Tie-break Record 7-10
• Malisse is playing his fifth straight US Open, having never yet lost in the
first round.
• Malisse had his best result here in 2001, reaching the round of 16 by
defeating No. 9 seed Tim Henman 67 63 75 46 64 in the third round before falling
to Mariano Zabaleta 64 76 75.
• Malisse played four events on the summer hard court circuit and had his best
result at Indianapolis, where he reached the quarterfinals before falling to
Andy Roddick 64 61. He also scored an impressive win at TMS Cincinnati where he
defeated Lleyton Hewitt 36 64 62 in the first round, before losing in the second
round to Mardy Fish 75 67 61.
• In addition to Indianapolis, Malisse also reached the quarterfinals at
Queen’s, losing to Andre Agassi 64 75. These are his best results of a rather
disappointing season to date. In fact, since achieving his best Grand Slam
result by reaching the semifinals at 2002 Wimbledon, Malisse has been unable to
reach the semifinals of any tournament.
• In Grand Slam play to date in 2003, Malisse lost in the third round at both
the Australian Open (to David Nalbandian 46 62 60 30 ret. due to a right forearm
injury) and at Roland Garros (to Andre Agassi 64 75 75), and the first round at
Wimbledon (to Cyril Saulnier 64 63 62).
• This is Rochus’s fourth US Open but he is looking to win his first match at
the tournament today.
• For the past three years, Rochus has suffered first-round losses here: in 2000
as a lucky loser to Richard Krajicek 67 61 61 64; in 2001 to Tommy Robredo 76 62
76; and in 2002 to Hicham Arazi 62 62 64.
• Rochus played one pre-US Open hard court event, at Long Island last week,
where he defeated Fernando Vicente 76 61 in the first round then lost in the
second to Juan Ignacio Chela 76 61. Rochus had more success on hard court in the
first half of the season, reaching the final indoors at Copenhagen but losing to
Karol Kucera 76 64.
• Apart from his runner-up finish at Copenhagen, Rochus’s other highlights in
2003 are his quarterfinal finish at TMS Hamburg and his round of 16 finish at
Wimbledon, his best Grand Slam result to date.
• Rochus’s older brother Christophe is also playing the 2003 US Open. He also
plays his first round match today, against John Van Lottum.
(Q) JEFF SALZENSTEIN (USA) v HICHAM ARAZI (MAR)
Head-to-head: first meeting
In a battle of the 29-year-olds, Salzenstein is five days younger than Arazi.
The American was born on 14 October 1973, the Moroccan on 19 October 1973.
Salzenstein v Arazi
29 Age 29
0 Titles 1
1-2 Career Grand Slam Record 38-30
1-1 US Open Record 7-8
9-22 Career Record 197-200
6-17 Career Record – Hard 70-72
2-1 2003 Record 15-16
0-0 2003 Record – Hard 5-5
0-1 Career Five-Set Record 10-7
0 Comebacks from 0-2 down 3
3-10 Career Tie-break Record 77-64
0-1 2003 Tie-break Record 7-4
• Qualifier Salzenstein is making his second appearance at Flushing Meadows,
having been offered a wildcard at the 1997 US Open. Then, he defeated Mikael
Tillstrom 64 16 76 75 before falling to Michael Chang 46 62 63 64.
• In this year’s US Open qualifying event (as No. 17 seed), he defeated Frederic
Niemeyer 26 61 63, George Bastl 61 64 and Fernando Verdasco 61 64.
• Salzenstein’s only other experience at Grand Slam level was qualifying for
1997 Wimbledon. Having defeated Australia’s Ben Ellwood in the final round of
qualifying, he fell in the opening round of the main draw to Germany’s Patrick
Baur in a tight five setter 76 36 36 64 97.
• Since 1995, Salzenstein has attempted to qualify for Slam events on 18
occasions in total and, apart from 1997 Wimbledon and this year’s US Open, he
has failed to make the main draw on every other occasion.
• Salzenstein’s year has consisted almost exclusively of challenger events. He
won the Aptos Challenger (USA) in July, defeating Justin Gimelstob 76 76 in the
semifinals and Dmitri Tursunov 57 75 64 in the final. His only experience at
tour level has been a quarterfinal showing at Newport, where he fell to Jurgen
Melzer 75 76.
• Arazi is making his ninth consecutive US Open appearance, having debuted in
1995.
• Following three consecutive first round exits from 1995 to 1998, he reached
the third round from 1999 to 2001 and fell in the second round last year.
• Last year, Arazi defeated Olivier Rochus 62 62 64 in the opening round, before
retiring against Younes El Aynaoui with a left ankle injury in the second round.
• Arazi has only played one summer hard court event prior to the US Open – TMS
Cincinnati. There, he defeated Michael Chang and Paul-Henri Mathieu before
succumbing to Max Mirnyi 64 67 64 in the round of 16.
• Arazi has posted mixed results this year. Despite losing in the first round at
seven tour-level events, he reached the semifinals at Casablanca in April and
Nottingham in June.
COURT 10
NICOLAS KIEFER (GER) v FRANCO SQUILLARI (ARG)
Head-to-head: first meeting
Kiefer v Squillari
26 Age 28
6 Titles 3
33-25 Career Grand Slam Record 17-22
8-5 US Open Record 1-3
218-168 Career Record 144-153
123-81 Career Record – Hard 24-42
14-12 2003 Record 14-16
9-6 2003 Record – Hard 6-5
5-6 Career Five-Set Record 2-4
2 Comebacks from 0-2 down 0
60-54 Career Tie-break Record 35-55
2-1 2003 Tie-break Record 3-7
NO. 25 ALBERT COSTA (ESP) v RAEMON SLUITER (NED)
Head-to-head: first meeting
Costa v Sluiter
28 Age 25
12 Titles 0
46-28 Career Grand Slam Record 6-12
5-8 US Open Record 1-2
346-226 Career Record 48-65
92-88 Career Record – Hard 14-24
20-16 2003 Record 18-22
8-8 2003 Record – Hard 7-9
9-12 Career Five-Set Record 4-2
3 Comebacks from 0-2 down 0
98-92 Career Tie-break Record 32-35
7-11 2003 Tie-break Record 9-13
COURT 11
NO. 8 RAINER SCHUETTLER (GER) v WAYNE ARTHURS (AUS)
Head-to-head: tied 2-2
2000 Nottingham Grass (O) R32 Arthurs 76 76
2001 Munich Clay (O) R16 Arthurs 64 64
2003 TMS Indian Wells Hard (O) R64 Schuettler 64 76
2003 Gstaad Clay (O) R32 Schuettler 62 63
Although the pair are tied 2-2 in their career head-to-head, this is their third
meeting this year, with Schuettler winning both previous 2003 encounters in
straight sets.
Schuettler v Arthurs
27 Age 32
2 Titles 0
27-20 Career Grand Slam Record 19-19
3-4 US Open Record 5-5
183-159 Career Record 88-104
113-75 Career Record – Hard 40-57
46-22 2003 Record 11-21
26-9 2003 Record – Hard 5-8
3-1 Career Five-Set Record 7-1
0 Comebacks from 0-2 down 2
60-58 Career Tie-break Record 79-89
13-5 2003 Tie-break Record 12-13
• This is Schuettler’s fifth US Open. He was forced to retire in the first round
here last year due to a left leg strain, qualifier Jean-Rene Lisnard winning the
match 36 67 64 40 ret.
• The US Open is the only Grand Slam tournament where Schuettler has yet to
reach the round of 16. His best result to date is a third round finish in 2000,
where he defeated countryman Tommy Haas 76 62 64 in the second round before
falling to qualifier Hyung-Taik Lee 62 36 64 64.
• In preparation for the 2003 US Open, Schuettler reached back-to-back
semifinals at TMS Montreal and TMS Cincinnati. In Montreal, he defeated Andre
Agassi 26 62 63 in the quarterfinals then lost to David Nalbandian 36 62 62; in
Cincinnati, he defeated Robby Ginepri 62 63 in the quarters before losing to
Mardy Fish 76 76.
• Schuettler has been impressive on hard courts all year. He reached his first
Grand Slam final at the Australian Open, losing to Andre Agassi 62 62 61. He had
previously reached the semifinals at Sydney, and went on to reach the semifinals
at Indian Wells.
• Schuettler followed up his Australian Open final appearance with further Grand
Slam success: he made the last 16 for the first time at both Roland Garros
(losing to eventual runner-up Martin Verkerk 63 63 75) and Wimbledon (losing to
Sjeng Schalken 75 64 75).
• Arthurs is playing his sixth US Open. He has suffered first-round losses here
for the past two years, having never fallen at this stage before 2001.
• At the 2002 US Open, Arthurs was defeated in the first round by No. 7 seed
Juan Carlos Ferrero 76 76 36 75. In 2001, he lost to No. 27 seed Guillermo Canas
61 63 67 62.
• Arthurs played just one tournament on the U.S. summer hard court circuit, at
TMS Cincinnati, where as a qualifier he lost in the first round to David
Nalbandian 60 64. Arthurs also tried unsuccessfully to qualify for TMS Montreal
a week earlier.
• Arthurs’s best hard court result this year was a semifinal finish indoors at
Copenhagen, where he lost to Kucera 62 64. That represents his best result on
any surface this season.
• With an Entry Ranking of No. 118 coming into the US Open, Arthurs is ranked 65
places lower than he was at the same time last year.
NO. 12 SJENG SCHALKEN (NED) v JULIEN BOUTTER (FRA)
Head-to-head: tied 1-1
2000 Stuttgart Indoor Hard (I) R32 Schalken 61 63
2003 TMS Monte Carlo Clay (O) R16 Boutter 76 64
Schalken v Boutter
26 Age 29
7 Titles 1
37-33 Career Grand Slam Record 5-17
12-8 US Open Record 1-4
253-230 Career Record 61-79
125-114 Career Record – Hard 21-37
29-18 2003 Record 8-6
13-9 2003 Record – Hard 0-1
8-14 Career Five-Set Record 2-3
0 Comebacks from 0-2 down 1
89-95 Career Tie-break Record 30-44
8-5 2003 Tie-break Record 4-2
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