2017 Australian Open

DAY 9 MEN’S NOTES

Tuesday 24 January

Quarterfinals Top Half

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga

Featured matches

No. 4 Stan Wawrinka (SUI) v No. 12 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA)

No. 17 Roger Federer (SUI) v Mischa Zverev (GER)

On court today…

Stan Wawrinka and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga will meet at a Grand Slam for the 4th time – but the first time away from Roland Garros – on Rod Laver Arena today. While they are more than familiar with each other’s games, this will be their first meeting on a hard court in almost a decade having contested their last 6 encounters on a clay court. Tsonga is aiming to end a 3-match losing streak against the 2014 Australian Open champion and earn a place in the semifinals here for the first time since 2010.

Roger Federer will be looking to avoid becoming the latest of Mischa Zverev’s victims when the pair go head-to-head in the night match on Rod Laver Arena. Another surprise win for Zverev, who dropped as low as No. 1067 in the rankings in March 2015, would see him become the first German man to reach the semifinals at a Grand Slam since Tommy Haas at 2009 Wimbledon. Federer won their last meeting 60 60 in summer 2013 and, while much has changed since then, the Swiss will have high hopes of reaching his 41st Grand Slam semifinal and his 13th here.

For the 10th time in the Open Era – and for the first time since the 2015 US Open – Switzerland’s Federer and Wawrinka are both through to the quarterfinals at the same Grand Slam event. When they have both featured in the quarterfinals at the same Grand Slam, Federer has gone on to reach the last 4 on 7 occasions, while Wawrinka has won his quarterfinal on just 3 occasions with Federer still left in the draw.

4 STAN WAWRINKA (SUI) v NO. 12 JO-WILFRIED TSONGA (FRA)

Head-to-head: Wawrinka leads 4-3

2007 Metz Hard (I) R32 Tsonga 67(6) 64 64

2011 Roland Garros Clay (O) R32 Wawrinka 46 67(3) 76(5) 62 63

2012 Roland Garros Clay (O) R16 Tsonga 64 76(6) 36 36 64

2013 Monte Carlo-1000 Clay (O) QF Tsonga 26 63 64

2013 Madrid-1000 Clay (O) QF Wawrinka 62 67(9) 64

2014 Davis Cup (WG-FR) Clay (I) R1 Wawrinka 61 36 63 62

2015 Roland Garros Clay (O) SF Wawrinka 63 67(1) 76(3) 64

An 8th career meeting for these 2 players, and their 4th at a Grand Slam.

This is just their 2nd meeting on a hard court – having not played each other on a hard court since their first meeting 10 years ago at 2007 Metz. Their last 6 encounters have come on clay.

All 3 of their Grand Slam meetings came at Roland Garros, with 2 of those 3 meetings going to 5 sets.

Tsonga is bidding to end a 3-match losing streak against Wawrinka, having not defeated the Swiss player since their quarterfinal meeting at 2013 Monte Carlo-1000.

Tsonga and Wawrinka are 2 of the 4 players aged 30 or over to reach the quarterfinals here from the 46 who started the men’s main draw – the most 30-somethings to reach the last 8 at the Australian Open since 1977, when there were 5. The Open Era record for the most 30-somethings in the semifinals at a Grand Slam is 3 – at 1968 Roland Garros.

Despite being separated in age by just 20 days, the 2 players never met at junior level.

WAWRINKA v TSONGA

31 Age 31

4 ATP Ranking 12

15 Titles 12

123-44 Career Grand Slam Record 112-35

35-10 Australian Open Record 34-9

445-253 Career Record 394-181

249-141 Career Record – Hard 264-117

6-1 2017 Record 6-1

6-1 2017 Record – Hard 6-1

25-19 Career Five-Set Record 15-9

6 Comebacks from 0-2 Down 4

185-172 Career Tiebreak Record 183-136

5-2 2017 Tiebreak Record 1-3

Possible semifinal head-to-heads

	Federer	Zverev
Wawrinka	3-18	1-1
Tsonga	6-11	2-0

Road to the Quarterfinals

WAWRINKA	Time		Time	TSONGA
d. Martin Klizan 46 64 75 46 64	3:24	1st round	2:23	d. Thiago Monteiro 61 63 67(5) 62
d. Steve Johnson 63 64 64	1:52	2nd round	1:46	d. Dusan Lajovic 62 62 63
d. No. 29 Viktor Troicki 36 62 62 76(7)	2:32	3rd round	3:33	d. No. 23 Jack Sock 76(4) 75 67(8) 63
d. Andreas Seppi 76(2) 76(4) 76(4)	2:44	Round of 16	2:53	d. Daniel Evans 67(4) 62 64 64

total time on court	10:32	(IBM time)	10:35	total time on court

2014 Australian Open champion WAWRINKA is bidding to record his 250th Tour-level hard court match-win today. If he wins today, he would become the 12th (or 13th if Monfils defeated Nadal on Monday) active player to record 250 Tour-level hard court match-wins. [NB written prior to Monfils’s match against Nadal]

Wawrinka is bidding to reach to reach the semifinals here for the 3rd time. He is looking to reach his 8th Grand Slam semifinal overall. Just 3 Swiss men have reached a Grand Slam semifinal in history – Federer (40 semifinals), Wawrinka (7) and Marc Rosset (1).

The Australian Open is Wawrinka’s 2nd most successful Grand Slam in terms of matches won. He has a 35-10 win-loss record here, compared with 38-11 at the US Open, 32-11 at Roland Garros and 18-12 at Wimbledon.

By defeating Martin Klizan in 5-sets in the 1st round here, Wawrinka improved his overall 5-set win-loss record to 25-19. He has a 2-3 win-loss record in 5-set matches at the Australian Open.

Last year here as No. 4 seed, Wawrinka fell to Milos Raonic 64 63 57 46 63 in the round of 16. This is his 12th Australian Open appearance and his 48th Grand Slam overall.

Wawrinka’s best Australian Open result is winning the title in his first Grand Slam final in 2014 (d. Rafael Nadal 63 62 36 63). He was the first player to defeat the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds en route to a Grand Slam title since Sergei Bruguera won 1993 Roland Garros.

Aged 31 years 307 days, Wawrinka is bidding to become just the 3rd man in the Open Era to win 3 or more Grand Slam titles after turning 30 (see Preview page 4). Rod Laver and Ken Rosewall are the only players to have won more than 2 majors after turning 30, with each winning a total of 4 after the age of 30.

As well as the 2014 Australian Open, Wawrinka also won 2015 Roland Garros and the 2016 US Open, defeating Djokovic in both finals. At 30 years 71 days, he was the oldest man to win in Paris since Andres Gomez in 1990. At the US Open, aged 31 years 167 days, he became the oldest US Open champion since Ken Rosewall in 1970 and just the 5th man to win multiple Grand Slam titles after turning 30.

Elsewhere at the Grand Slams in 2016, Wawrinka reached the semfinals at Roland Garros (l. Andy Murray) but fell in the 2nd round at Wimbledon (l. Juan Martin del Potro).

In 2016, Wawrinka won a career-best 4 titles for the 2nd straight year. As well as winning the US Open, he won his 3rd straight title at Chennai (d. Borna Coric) and won the titles at Dubai (d. Marcos Baghdatis) and Geneva (d. Marin Cilic). He also finished runner-up at St. Petersburg (l. Alexander Zverev).

Wawrinka warmed up for the Australian Open by reaching the semifinals as No. 2 seed at Brisbane, where he fell to Kei Nishikori 76(3) 63.

Wawrinka is coached by Magnus Norman, who reached the semifinals here in 2000.

2008 Australian Open runner-up TSONGA is bidding to reach the semifinals here for the first time since 2010.

Tsonga is bidding to reach his 7th Grand Slam semifinal and close the gap on Rene Lacoste in 3rd place on the list for most Grand Slam semifinals reached by a Frenchman in history.

Grand Slam semifinals reached by a Frenchman (all-time)

Jean Borotra

Henri Cochet

Rene Lacoste

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga

7??

Tsonga is looking to reach his 3rd semifinal here. He also reached the last 4 in 2010 and en route to the final in 2008. Tsonga is the only Frenchman to have made the semifinals at the Australian Open more than once.

Tsonga has lost 5 of his last 6 matches against Top 10 opposition at the Grand Slams. His only win over a Top 10 player at a major in that time came at 2016 Wimbledon, when No. 10 Richard Gasquet retired with a back injury in their round of 16 match. 6 of his 13 career wins over Top 10 opposition at the majors have come at the Australian Open.

The Australian Open is Tsonga’s most successful Grand Slam in terms of matches won. He has a 34-9 win-loss record here, compared with 28-9 at Wimbledon, 27-9 at Roland Garros and 23-8 at the US Open.

By reaching his 5th quarterfinal here, Tsonga overtook Sebastien Grosjean (4 Australian Open quarterfinals) to take sole occupancy of 1st place on the list for the most Australian Open quarterfinal appearances by a Frenchman.

Tsonga has lost in the quarterfinals here on 2 occasions – in 2009 (l. Fernando Verdasco) and in 2013, when he lost to Roger Federer in 5 sets. Tsonga has a 15-9 win-loss record in 5-set matches and a 3-3 win-loss record in 5-set matches at the Australian Open.
Tsonga’s best Grand Slam result to date is a runner-up finish at the 2008 Australian Open (l. Novak Djokovic). He defeated three Top 10 players (Andy Murray, Gasquet and Rafael Nadal) en route to the final.

By defeating Thiago Monteiro in the 1st round here, Tsonga claimed the record for the most Grand Slam match-wins by a Frenchman ahead of Jean Borotra (108-23). He has a 112-35 win-loss record at the majors.
Tsonga warmed up for the Australian Open by reaching the quarterfinals at Doha, where he lost to Tomas Berdych in straight sets. He also played a match at the Kooyong Exhibition Event, defeating Borna Coric 63 76.
Last year here Tsonga reached the round of 16, falling to Kei Nishikori in straight sets. This is his 10th appearance at Melbourne Park and his 36th Grand Slam overall.
Elsewhere in Grand Slam play in 2016, Tsonga reached the quarterfinals at both Wimbledon (l. Murray) and the US Open, where he retired with a left knee injury while trailing Djokovic 63 62. He reached the 3rd round at Roland Garros, where he retired with an adductor injury when leading Ernests Gulbis 5-2 in the first set.
Away from the Grand Slams, Tsonga’s best result in 2016 came at Vienna, where he reached the final
(l. Murray). He also reached the semifinals at Auckland (l. Roberto Bautista Agut) and Monte Carlo-1000
(l. Gael Monfils). Last year was the first year he did not win a title since 2010.
Tsonga is a former Top 5 player. He reached a career-high No. 5 in the world in February 2012 and plays here at No. 12.
Tsonga has played Davis Cup for France since 2008. He has played a total of 17 ties, achieving an 18-7 win-loss record in singles and a 24-8 win-loss record overall. France take on Japan at the Ariake Coliseum in Tokyo in the 2017 World Group first round on 3-5 February.
Tsonga is coached by Thierry Ascione.

17 ROGER FEDERER (SUI) v MISCHA ZVEREV (GER)

Head-to-head: Federer leads 2-0

2009 Rome-1000 Clay (O) QF Federer 76(3) 62

2013 Halle Grass (O) QF Federer 60 60

A 3rd Tour-level meeting for the 2 players, but their first on a hard court and their first at a Grand Slam.

Zverev didn’t register a game in their most recent meeting at 2013 Halle – one of only 2 Tour-level double bagels Federer has recorded in best-of-3 set matches during his career. The other came against Gaston Gaudio in the semifinals at the 2005 Masters Cup.

Federer has lost to a player ranked as low as today’s opponent at the Australian Open just once before – on his debut here in 2000, when he fell to No. 54 Arnaud Clement in the 3rd round.

Possible semifinal head-to-heads

	Wawrinka	Tsonga
Federer	18-3	11-6
Zverev	1-1	0-2

FEDERER v ZVEREV

35 Age 29

17 ATP Ranking 50

88 Titles 0

311-51 Career Grand Slam Record 9-17

84-13 Australian Open Record 5-5

1084-245 Career Record 86-125

668-135 Career Record – Hard 57-71

4-0 2017 Record 6-2

4-0 2017 Record – Hard 6-2

25-20 Career Five-Set Record 1-3

10 Comebacks from 0-2 Down 1

396-216 Career Tiebreak Record 49-54

1-1 2017 Tiebreak Record 2-3

Road to the Quarterfinals

FEDERER	Time		Time	ZVEREV
d. (Q) Jurgen Melzer 75 36 62 62	2:06	1st round	2:22	d. Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 63 76(5) 64
d. (Q) Noah Rubin 75 63 76(3)	2:03	2nd round	4:10	d. No. 19 John Isner 67(4) 67(4) 64 76(7) 97
d. No. 10 Tomas Berdych 62 64 64	1:30	3rd round	2:22	d. Malek Jaziri 61 46 63 60
d. No. 5 Kei Nishikori 67(4) 64 61 46 63	3:24	Round of 16	3:34	d. No. 1 Andy Murray 75 57 62 64

total time on court	9:03	(IBM time)	12:28	total time on court

4-time Australian Open champion FEDERER is looking to reach his 13th Australian Open semifinal and extend his record for most Australian Open semifinals reached in the Open Era.

Australian Open semifinals reached (Open Era)

Player	No. of AO semifinals
*Roger Federer??*	*13??*
Stefan Edberg	8
Ivan Lendl	7
Andre Agassi Novak Djokovic Andy Murray	6 6 6

Active players in bold

Federer is bidding to reach his 13th Australian Open semifinal and close the gap on Jimmy Connors in 1st place on the Open Era list for the most semifinals reached at any one Grand Slam event. Last year here, Federer took sole occupancy of 2nd place on the list after reaching his 12th semifinal here.

No. of semifinals reached at any one Grand Slam event (Open Era)

Player	No. of semifinals
Jimmy Connors	14 (US Open)
*Roger Federer??*	*13?? (Australian Open)*
Jimmy Connors Roger Federer	11 (Wimbledon) 11 (Wimbledon)

Federer is bidding to reach his 41st Grand Slam semifinal to extend the record he broke at 2012 Wimbledon for the most Grand Slam semifinal appearances:

Grand Slam semifinals reached (Open Era)

Player	No. of GS semifinals
*Roger Federer*	*41??*
Jimmy Connors Novak Djokovic	31 31
Ivan Lendl	28
Andre Agassi	26

Federer is bidding to record his 85th match-win at Melbourne Park and make the Australian Open his most successful Grand Slam event in terms of matches won and semifinals reached.

	Titles won	Win-loss record	Semifinals reached
Australian Open	4	84-13	*13??*
Roland Garros	1	65-16	7
Wimbledon	7	84-11	11
US Open	5	78-11	10

At 35 years 174 days, Federer is bidding to become the oldest man to reach the semifinals at a Grand Slam since Jimmy Connors (39 years 6 days) reached the semifinals at the 1991 US Open. By reaching the quarterfinals here, he has become the oldest man to reach the last 8 at a major since Connors at the 1991 US Open.

At 35 years 174 days, Federer is bidding to become the oldest man to reach the semifinals at the Australian Open since Arthur Ashe (35 years 177 days) reached the semifinals here in 1978. By reaching the quarterfinals here, he has become the oldest man to reach the last 8 at a major since Ashe in 1978.

Federer is one of the 4 players aged 30 or over to reach the quarterfinals here from the 46 who started the men’s main draw – the most 30-somethings to reach the last 8 at the Australian Open since 1977, when there were 5. The Open Era record for the most 30-somethings in the semifinals at a Grand Slam is 3 – at 1968 Roland Garros.
By reaching the quarterfinals here for the 13th time, Federer has extended his record for most Australian Open quarterfinals in the Open Era ahead of Stefan Edberg (10 Australian Open quarterfinals).

By reaching the quarterfinals here, Federer has reached his 49th Grand Slam quarterfinal, extending his record for the most Grand Slam quarterfinal appearances in the Open Era ahead of Connors (41).

By defeating Nishikori in 5-sets in the round of 16 here, Federer improved his career 5-set win-loss record to 25-20. He has a 6-5 win-loss record in 5-set matches at the Australian Open.

Federer is looking to become the 3rd man in history to win 5 Australian Open singles titles after Novak Djokovic and Roy Emerson, who have both won 6 titles here [see Preview page 2].

At 35 years 174 days, Federer is looking to become the 2nd oldest man in the Open Era to win a Grand Slam title after Ken Rosewall, who won 3 Grand Slam titles after turning 35. Rosewall won the 1970 US Open (aged 35 years 315 days) and the Australian Open in 1971 (aged 36 years 73 days) and 1972 (aged 37 years 62 days).

Federer played just 7 Tour-level events in 2016 after injuring his knee the day after his Australian Open semifinal. He underwent arthroscopic knee surgery to repair a torn meniscus on 2 February and withdrew from tournaments at Rotterdam and Dubai. He returned with a quarterfinal finish at Monte Carlo-1000 (l. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga) but, despite playing 4 further tournaments, announced on 26 July that he would miss the rest of the season, including the Olympic Games in Rio, due to the knee injury.

Federer dropped out of the world’s Top 10 for the first time in 734 weeks (over 14 years) in November 2016 and did not qualify for the ATP World Tour Finals for the first time since 2001. He plays here ranked No. 17 – his lowest position since May 2001.

Federer made his comeback from injury at the 2017 Hopman Cup, defeating Daniel Evans 63 64 and Richard Gasquet 61 64, but losing to Alexander Zverev 76(1) 67(4) 76(4).

In Grand Slam play in 2016, Federer reached the semifinals at both the Australian Open and Wimbledon (l. Milos Raonic), where he saved 3 match points to recover from 0-2 down and defeat Marin Cilic in the quarterfinals. It was his 10th career-comeback from 0-2 down, equalling Aaron Krickstein and Boris Becker’s record for the most career comebacks from 0-2 down. He withdrew from Roland Garros, ending his record streak of 65 Grand Slam appearances, with a back injury.

Elsewhere in 2016, Federer finished runner-up at Brisbane (l. Raonic). He also reached back-to-back semifinals at Stuttgart (l. Dominic Thiem) and Halle (l. Alexander Zverev) and the 3rd round at Rome-1000 (l. Thiem). He failed to win a title during a season for the first time since winning his first at 2001 Milan.

This is Federer’s 69th major appearance. He is in 2nd place on the list for the most Grand Slams played in the Open Era behind Fabrice Santoro (70) [see Preview page 5].

Federer has won 4 titles here – in 2004 (d. Marat Safin 76(3) 64 62), 2006 (d. Marcos Baghdatis 57 75 60 62), 2007 (d. Fernando Gonzalez 76(2) 64 64) and 2010 (d. Murray 63 64 76(11)).

Federer is a 17-time Grand Slam singles champion. His last title at a major came at 2012 Wimbledon
(d. Murray).

Federer is coached by 2006 Australian Open quarterfinalist Ivan Ljubicic, and Severin Luthi.

Lefthander ZVEREV is bidding to become the lowest-ranked man to reach the semifinals here since No. 54 Marcos Baghdatis in 2006. If he wins today, he would become the lowest-ranked man to reach the semifinals at a Grand Slam since No. 75 Marat Safin and No. 94 Rainer Schuettler reached the last 4 at 2008 Wimbledon.

Zverev is aiming to become the first German man to reach a Grand Slam semifinal since Tommy Haas at 2009 Wimbledon. Haas was the last German man to reach the semifinals here in 2007.

Zverev is bidding to become the 2nd German player to defeat Federer at a Grand Slam after Haas, who defeated Federer in 5 sets here in 2002. Federer has a 19-1 win-loss record against German players at the majors overall.

By reaching the quarterfinals here, Zverev has become the first German man to reach a Grand Slam quarterfinal since Haas at 2013 Roland Garros. He is the first German to progress to the last 8 here since Haas in 2007.

By reaching the quarterfinals here, Zverev is projected to rise to a career-high ranking of around No. 34 when the new ATP rankings are released on 30 January. If he reaches the semifinals here, he is projected to rise to around No. 23.

By reaching the quarterfinals here, Zverev has recorded 4 straight Tour-level match-wins for the 2nd time in his career. He also recorded 4 straight wins in finishing runner-up at 2010 Metz (l. Gilles Simon) – his best Tour-level result prior to coming here.

By defeating Murray in the round of 16 here, Zverev recorded his first career-victory over a world No. 1. Ranked No. 50, he became the lowest-ranked player to beat a top seed at a Grand Slam since No. 86 Marat Safin defeated Andy Roddick at the 2004 Australian Open.

Zverev’s wins against No. 1 Murray and No. 19 Isner here were his first match-wins against Top 20 opposition at the Grand Slams. He has a 2-4 win-loss record against Top 20 opposition at the majors overall.

Zverev’s 5-set win over Isner in the 2nd round was his first career comeback from 0-2 down and improved his 5-set win-loss record to 2-3. It was his first 5-set match-win since he won his first 5-set match in qualifying at 2007 Wimbledon (d. Stefano Galvani).
By reaching the quarterfinals here on his first Australian Open appearance since 2011, Zverev has recorded his best Grand Slam result. This is only the 5th time he has advanced beyond the 1st round at a Grand Slam in 18 appearances at the majors.

Zverev’s previous best Australian Open performance was reaching the 2nd round on his debut as a qualifier in 2007 (l. Robby Ginepri). He fell in the 1st round on his 4 other appearances here – in 2008 (l. Tommy Robredo), 2009 (l. Juan Martin del Potro), 2010 (l. Lukasz Kubot) and 2011 (l. Janko Tipsarevic). This is his 6th Australian Open appearance and his 18th Grand Slam overall.

At the Grand Slams in 2016, Zverev reached the 2nd round as a qualifier at the US Open (d. Pierre-Hugues Herbert, l. Jack Sock). It was his first Grand Slam appearance since 2012 Roland Garros and his first Grand Slam match-win since he reached the 2nd round at 2009 Wimbledon (d. Dmitry Tursunov, Philip Petzschner).

Zverev failed to qualify for the Grand Slams on 11 occasions after his main draw appearance at 2012 Roland Garros before finally qualifying successfully at the 2016 US Open. He has successfully qualified for the majors on just 4 occasions in 21 attempts – including on his debut here in 2007. He failed in his only other attempts to qualify for the Australian Open in 2013, 2014 and 2016.

Zverev warmed up for the Australian Open by reaching the 2nd round at both Brisbane (d. Alex De Minaur, l. Rafael Nadal) and Sydney (d. Nicolas Almagro, l. Pablo Carreno Busta).

Zverev dropped as low as No. 1067 in the rankings in March 2015 following injuries to his back, knee, ribs and wrist. He climbed back up to No. 50 in the rankings on 9 January 2017 after reaching the 2nd round at Brisbane and also plays here at No. 50 – his highest ranking since he reached a career-high ranking of No. 48 on 5 October 2009.

Zverev’s 2016 highlights include reaching the semifinals as a qualifier at Basel (l. Marin Cilic) and the quarterfinals as a qualifier at both Shanghai-1000 (l. Novak Djokovic) and Shenzhen (l. Richard Gasquet). He qualified for 10 Tour-level events in 2016 – the most of any player on record. He also won the title at the Sarasota Challenger (USA) (d. Gerald Melzer).

Zverev has won 2 career doubles titles – alongside Mikhail Youzhny at 2008 Halle and 2008 Tokyo. He entered the men’s doubles event here with Nenad Zimonjic – they defeated Dustin Brown/Albert Ramos-Vinolas 76(5) 62 in the 1st round, but fell to Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan 63 62 in the 2nd round.

Zverev is coached by his father, Alexander Zverev Sr.