2017 Roland Garros – Day 9 Men’s Preview

Kei Nishikori

2017 ROLAND GARROS

Day 9 Men’s Preview

Monday 5 June

Featured matches

Round of 16 Top Half

No. 1 Andy Murray (GBR) v Karen Khachanov (RUS)

No. 3 Stan Wawrinka (SUI) v No. 15 Gael Monfils (FRA)

No. 7 Marin Cilic (CRO) v Kevin Anderson (RSA)

No. 8 Kei Nishikori (JPN) v Fernando Verdasco (ESP)

On court today…

World No. 1 Andy Murray is looking to record a milestone 650th Tour-level match-win – and earn a place in the quarterfinals here for the 7th time – when he takes on 21-year-old Karen Khachanov in the 2nd match on Court Phillipe-Chatrier. Khachanov, featuring in just his 3rd Grand Slam event having made his debut at a major at the 2016 US Open, is looking to pull off a huge upset-win over Murray and become the first player to reach the last 8 on his Roland Garros debut since Rafael Nadal in 2005.

2015 Roland Garros champion Stan Wawrinka will take on a French opponent at Roland Garros for the 10th time when he plays Gael Monfils in the 3rd match on Court Phillipe-Chatrier. He has won 8 of his 9 meetings with French players at their home Grand Slam, with his only defeat coming against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in 2012. Monfils himself is seeking a slice of history as he bids to reach his 5th Roland Garros quarterfinal and equal Henri Leconte and Yannick Noah in 1st place on the list for most Roland Garros quarterfinals reached by a Frenchman.

Marin Cilic, one of the 5 Grand Slam champions to reach the round of 16 here, will look to complete his set of Grand Slam quarterfinal appearances when he faces Kevin Anderson in the 3rd match on Court Suzanne Lenglen. Cilic is the highest-ranked player Anderson has defeated on clay, and will hope to avoid a repeat of his loss to the South African at Rome-1000 four years ago and become the first Croatian man to reach the last 8 here since Mario Ancic and Ivan Ljubicic in 2006.

1 ANDY MURRAY (GBR) v KAREN KHACHANOV (RUS)

Head-to-head: first meeting

Murray has not lost to a player ranked as low as No. 53 today’s opponent at a Grand Slam since falling to No. 91 Arnaud Clement in the 2nd round at the 2005 US Open. The lowest-ranked player to have defeated Murray at Roland Garros is No. 28 Gael Monfils, who won in 5 sets in the 1st round in 2006.

Khachanov has never faced a player ranked as high as No. 1 today’s opponent. The highest-ranked opponent he has faced previously is No. 7 Kei Nishikori in the 2nd round at the 2016 US Open, where he lost in 4 sets. Khachanov earned his career-best victory earlier this year when he defeated No. 10 David Goffin in the 3rd round at Barcelona.

At 21 years old, Khachanov is the youngest man to reach the round of 16 here this year – and the youngest man to reach this stage at Roland Garros since 20-year-olds Marin Cilic and Juan Martin del Potro both reached the round of 16 here in 2009.

MURRAY v KHACHANOV

30 Age 21

1 ATP Ranking 53

45 Titles 1

182-41 Career Grand Slam Record 5-2

37-9 Roland Garros Record 3-0

649-181 Career Record 30-30

105-45 Career Record – Clay 15-9

19-7 2017 Record 13-15

7-4 2017 Record – Clay 10-5

23-9 Career Five-Set Record 0-1

9 Comebacks from 0-2 Down 0

188-110 Career Tiebreak Record 17-23

8-3 2017 Tiebreak Record 8-15

MURRAY is bidding to record his 650th Tour-level match-win and become the 15th man to reach the milestone.

Murray advanced to the round of 16 after defeating Andrey Kuznetsov 64 46 62 60, Martin Klizan 67(3) 62 62 76(3) and No. 29 seed Juan Martin del Potro 76(8) 75 60 in the opening 3 rounds here.

Murray is bidding to reach the quarterfinals here for the 4th consecutive year and the 7th time in total. This is his 10th Roland Garros appearance and his 45th Grand Slam overall. [NB Murray has reached the quarterfinals on his last 5 appearances here – he missed the 2013 event with a back injury.]

Murray is bidding to reach the quarterfinals here for the 7th time and extend the record he set in 2016 for most Roland Garros quarterfinals reached by a British man. Last year, Murray took sole occupancy of 1st place on the list for most Roland Garros quarterfinal appearances by a British man, ahead of Fred Perry (5) and Bunny Austin (4).

Murray is aiming to take sole ownership of 4th place on the list for most Roland Garros quarterfinal appearances among active players. He is currently tied in 4th place with David Ferrer. [NB Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal tied Federer in 1st place on the list by reaching the last 8 on Sunday. Gael Monfils is also looking to climb the list today.]

No. of Roland Garros quarterfinal appearances (active players)

Roger Federer	11
Novak Djokovic	11
Rafael Nadal Andy Murray	11 *7??*
David Ferrer Tommy Robredo Gael Monfils	6 5 5??

Murray is bidding to avoid becoming the first top seed to lose in the round of 16 at Roland Garros since Rafael Nadal lost to Robin Soderling at this stage in 2009. Since then, the top seed here has always reached at least the quarterfinals.
Last year here Murray recorded his best Roland Garros performance by reaching the final, where he lost to Djokovic 36 61 62 64. He was the 3rd British man in history – and the first since Austin in 1937 – to reach the Roland Garros final. He also became the 10th man in the Open Era to reach the final at all 4 Grand Slam events.

Murray is a 3-time Grand Slam champion. He won the 2012 US Open title (d. Djokovic) and became the first British man to win the Wimbledon singles title in 77 years in 2013 (d. Djokovic) before winning the title again in 2016 (d. Milos Raonic). He is one of 5 Grand Slam champions to reach the round of 16 here from the 6 that started in the men’s main draw.

If he wins today, Murray will play either No. 8 seed Kei Nishikori or Fernando Verdasco in the quarterfinals. He leads Nishikori 8-2 and Verdasco 13-1 in their previous meetings.

Murray is one of the 8 men aged 30 or over to reach the round of 16 here from the 49 who started in the main draw – the joint-highest number of 30-somethings to reach the last 16 at a Grand Slam in the Open Era. There were also 8 at 1969 Roland Garros. The most 30-somethings to reach the quarterfinals at a Grand Slam in the Open Era is 4, which has happened 10 times.

Murray is bidding to become just the 2nd British man to win Roland Garros after Perry, who won the title here in 1935.

Murray is bidding to add to his US Open and 2 Wimbledon titles and become the 17th man in the Open Era to win at least 3 of the 4 Grand Slam titles (see Preview page 4).

Murray warmed up for Roland Garros by reaching the semifinals at Barcelona (l. Dominic Thiem) and the 3rd round at both Monte Carlo-1000 (l. Albert Ramos-Vinolas) and Madrid-1000 (l. Borna Coric). He lost to Fabio Fognini in the 2nd round at Rome-1000 (after receiving a 1st round bye).

Also in 2017, Murray won his 45th Tour-level title at Dubai (d. Verdasco). He finished runner-up at Doha (l. Novak Djokovic) but fell in the round of 16 at the Australian Open, where world No. 50 Mischa Zverev became the lowest-ranked player to defeat Murray at a major since No. 51 Juan Ignacio Chela at the 2006 Australian Open.

Murray is seeded No. 1 at a Grand Slam for the 2nd time, having also been seeded No. 1 at this year’s Australian Open. He is the first British man to be seeded No. 1 at Roland Garros since Austin in 1937.

Murray is coached by Ivan Lendl, who won Roland Garros in 1984, 1986 and 1987, and former world No. 121 Jamie Delgado.

KHACHANOV is bidding to become the first man to reach the quarterfinals on his Roland Garros debut since Rafael Nadal in 2005.

At 21 years 21 days, Khachanov is bidding to become the youngest man to reach the quarterfinals at Roland Garros since Juan Martin del Potro (20 years 257 days) reached the last 8 here in 2009. He would be the youngest man to reach the quarterfinals at a Grand Slam since Nick Kyrgios (19 years 280 days) at the 2015 Australian Open.

Khachanov defeated qualifier Nicolas Jarry 64 36 76(4) 61, No. 13 seed Tomas Berdych 75 64 64 and No. 21 seed John Isner 76(1) 63 67(5) 76(3) in the opening 3 rounds.

By reaching the round of 16 here on his 3rd Grand Slam appearance, Khachanov has recorded his best Grand Slam result. His previous best result at a major was reaching the 2nd round on his Grand Slam debut as a qualifier at the 2016 US Open (d. Thomas Fabbiano, l. Kei Nishikori) and as a direct acceptance at the 2017 Australian Open (d. Adrian Mannarino, l. Jack Sock).

Last year here, Khachanov fell to Jordi Samper-Montana in the 2nd round of qualifying – one of his 5 unsuccessful attempts to qualify for the majors in 6 attempts.

Khachanov is bidding to record 4 consecutive Tour-level match-wins for the 2nd time. He achieved the feat for the first time in his career by winning his first Tour-level title at 2016 Chengdu (d. Albert Ramos-Vinolas).

If he wins today, Khachanov will play either No. 8 seed Kei Nishikori or Fernando Verdasco in the quarterfinals. He lost his only previous meeting with Nishikori at the 2016 US Open and has never played Verdasco.

Khachanov warmed up for Roland Garros by reaching the quarterfinals at both Barcelona and Lyon (l. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga). He also reached the 2nd round at Monte Carlo-1000 (l. Pablo Carreno Busta) and Istanbul (l. Viktor Troicki) but fell in the 1st round at Madrid-1000 (l. Goffin).

Also in 2017, Khachanov reached the 2nd round at Doha (d. Mubarak Shannan Zayid, l. Ivo Karlovic), the Australian Open and Indian Wells-1000 (d. Tommy Robredo, l. Goffin). He fell in the 1st round at the other 6 hard court Tour-level tournaments he has contested this year – at Auckland, Montpellier, Rotterdam, Marseille, Dubai and Miami-1000.

Khachanov broke into the Top 100 for the first in June 2016 after reaching the semifinals at the Prostejov Challenger (CZE). Having started 2016 at No. 152, he climbed 99 places to finish the year at No. 53 and went on to reach a career-high ranking of No. 42 last month after reaching the quarterfinals at Barcelona. He plays here at No. 53.

Khachanov entered the men’s doubles event here alongside Mikhail Elgin. The pair defeated Steve Darcis/Benoit Paire 62 63 in the 1st round before falling to No. 5 seeds Jamie Murray/Bruno Soares 61 76(2) in the 2nd.

Khachanov won the boys’ doubles silver medal alongside Andrey Rublev at the 2014 Youth Olympic Tennis Event in Nanjing, China. The pair fell to Orlando Luz/Marcelo Zormann in the gold medal match.

Khachanov is coached by Galo Blanco.

3 STAN WAWRINKA (SUI) v NO. 15 GAEL MONFILS (FRA)

Tour-level head-to-head: tied 2-2

2004 Lyon Qualifying Draw Carpet (I) R32 Wawrinka 75 64

2007 New Haven Hard (O) R32 Wawrinka 76(5) 64

2009 Tokyo Hard (O) QF Monfils 26 63 64

2010 Valencia Hard (O) R16 Monfils 62 64

2011 Australian Open Hard (O) R32 Wawrinka 76(4) 62 63

A 5th Tour-level meeting for the 2 players, and their 2nd at a Grand Slam, but their first since the 2011 Australian Open.

This is Wawrinka’s 10th meeting with a French opponent at Roland Garros. He has an 8-1 win-loss record against French players at their home Grand Slam, with his only defeat coming against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the round of 16 here in 2012.

Wawrinka and Monfils are 2 one of the 8 men aged 30 or over to reach the round of 16 here from the 49 who started in the main draw – the joint-highest number of 30-somethings to reach the last 16 at a Grand Slam in the Open Era. There were also 8 at 1969 Roland Garros. The most 30-somethings to reach the quarterfinals at a Grand Slam in the Open Era is 4 – on 10 occasions.

WAWRINKA v MONFILS

32 Age 30

3 ATP Ranking 16

16 Titles 6

127-45 Career Grand Slam Record 88-40

35-11 Roland Garros Record 31-10

462-260 Career Record 402-227

170-82 Career Record – Clay 113-66

23-8 2017 Record 11-6

9-3 2017 Record – Clay 3-2

25-20 Career Five-Set Record 15-12

6 Comebacks from 0-2 Down 2

192-174 Career Tiebreak Record 161-111

12-4 2017 Tiebreak Record 3-1

WAWRINKA is bidding to reach the quarterfinals here for the 4th time.

Wawrinka is bidding to reach his 15th Grand Slam quarterfinal and move into joint-18th place on the list for the most Grand Slam quarterfinals reached in the Open Era with 6 other men – Arthur Ashe, Tomas Berdych, Jim Courier, Lleyton Hewitt, Ken Rosewall and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

Wawrinka advanced to the round of 16 here for the 7th time after defeating qualifier Jozef Kovalik 62 76(6) 63, Alexandr Dolgopolov 64 76(5) 75 and No. 28 seed Fabio Fognini 76(2) 60 62 in the opening 3 rounds.

If he wins today, Wawrinka will play either No. 7 seed Marin Cilic or Kevin Anderson in the quarterfinals. Wawrinka leads Cilic 11-2 and Anderson 5-4 in their previous meetings.

Wawrinka’s best Roland Garros performance is winning the title in 2015, defeating Novak Djokovic 46 64 63 64 in the final. He was the first man to win Roland Garros a year after losing in the 1st round since 2002 champion Albert Costa, who had lost in the 1st round in Paris in 2001.

Wawrinka, who won the junior title here in 2003, was also the first former boys’ champion to win the title here since Mats Wilander in 1988 and at 30 years 71 days was the oldest male champion since Andres Gomez in 1990. Along with today’s opponent and Marin Cilic, he is one of the 3 former boys’ singles champions through to the round of 16 here from the 8 who started in the men’s main draw.

Wawrinka has won 3 Grand Slam titles at 3 different majors. He also won the 2014 Australian Open
(d. Rafael Nadal) and the 2016 US Open (d. Djokovic). At the Australian Open, he was the first player to defeat the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds en route to a Grand Slam title since Sergi Bruguera won 1993 Roland Garros. At the US Open, aged 31 years 167 days, he became the oldest US Open champion since Ken Rosewall in 1970.
Wawrinka is looking to become the 3rd man in the Open Era to win 3 or more Grand Slam titles after turning 30. Rod Laver and Ken Rosewall are the only men to have won 3 or more Grand Slam titles after turning 30 [see Preview page 8]. He is one of 5 Grand Slam champions to reach the round of 16 here from the 6 who started in the men’s main draw.

On his title defence here last year, Wawrinka lost to Andy Murray in 4 sets in the semifinals.

Wawrinka warmed up for Roland Garros by defending his title at Geneva (d. Mischa Zverev) after 3rd round finishes at Monte Carlo-1000 (l. Pablo Cuevas) and Rome-1000 (l. John Isner). He lost his opening match at Madrid-1000 (l. Benoit Paire). 7 of his 16 career titles have come on clay.

Wawrinka is on a 7-match winning streak having defended his title at Geneva prior to coming here. His career-best Tour-level winning streak on clay is 9 straight wins which he achieved on 3 occasions – in winning the title at 2013 Oeiras through to the final at 2013 Madrid-1000, in winning the title at 2015 Roland Garros through to the quarterfinals at 2016 Monte Carlo-1000, and in winning the title at 2016 Geneva through to the semifinals at 2016 Roland Garros.

Also in 2017 Wawrinka reached his 4th Masters-1000 final at Indian Wells, falling to Roger Federer, the semifinals at both the Australian Open (l. Federer) and Brisbane (l. Kei Nishikori), and the round of 16 at Miami-1000 (l. Alexander Zverev).

Wawrinka has played in every major since making his Grand Slam debut at 2005 Roland Garros. This is his 13th straight Roland Garros appearance and his 49th consecutive Grand Slam appearance, which puts him in 10th place on the list for the most consecutive appearances at the majors in history.

Wawrinka is coached by 2000 Roland Garros finalist Magnus Norman.

MONFILS is bidding to reach the quarterfinals here for the 5th time and equal Henri Leconte and Yannick Noah in 1st place on the list for the most Roland Garros quarterfinals reached by a Frenchman in the Open Era.

Roland Garros quarterfinals reached by a Frenchman (Open Era)

Henri Leconte

Gael Monfils??

Yannick Noah

5??

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga

Sebastien Grosjean

Francoise Jauffret

Cedric Pioline

Patrick Proisy

Monfils is bidding to reach his 9th Grand Slam quarterfinal and equal Sebastien Grosjean and Leconte in joint-3rd place on the Open Era list for most Grand Slam quarterfinals reached by a Frenchman.

Grand Slam quarterfinals reached by a Frenchman (Open Era)

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga	15
Yannick Noah	10
Sebastien Grosjean Henri Leconte *Gael Monfils??*	9 9 *9??*
Cedric Pioline	8

Monfils advanced to the round of 16 here for the 7th time after defeating Dustin Brown 64 75 60 in the 1st round for his 400th Tour-level match-win and Thiago Monteiro 61 64 61 in the 2nd. He was leading Richard Gasquet 76(5) 57 4-3 when Gasquet retired with a right thigh injury in the 3rd round.

Monfils is bidding to defeat a Top 3 opponent at a Grand Slam for the first time at the 10th attempt. All 4 of his losses against a Top 3 opponent at Roland Garros came against Roger Federer – in 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2015.

Monfils is bidding to end a 7-match losing streak against Top 10 opposition. He has not defeated a Top 10 opponent since defeating No. 7 Milos Raonic in the quarterfinals at 2016 Toronto-1000.

If he wins today, Monfils will play either No. 7 seed Marin Cilic or Kevin Anderson in the quarterfinals. Monfils has never lost to either player – leading Cilic 2-0 and Anderson 5-0 in their previous meetings.

By defeating Gasquet in the 3rd round here, Monfils took sole ownership of 5th place on the list for most Grand Slam match-wins by a Frenchman ahead of Christian Boussus (87). He has an 88-40 win-loss record at the majors, behind only Jo-Wilfred Tsonga (112 Grand Slams match-wins), Jean Borotra (103), Henri Cochet (102) and Gasquet (99).

Monfils’ 1st round win over Brown here was his first clay court match-win of the year. He lost his opening match at both Munich (l. Hyeon Chung) and Madrid-1000 (l. Gilles Simon) and withdrew from Monte Carlo-1000 and Rome-1000 with a left knee injury.

Monfils’ best performance here – and at a Grand Slam – is a semifinal finish in 2008, where ranked No. 59 he lost to Federer. He also reached the last 4 at the 2016 US Open (l. Novak Djokovic).

Monfils missed the event here last year with a virus. He is making his 11th appearance at Roland Garros and his 41st appearance at a major.

Earlier in 2017, Monfils reached the quarterfinals at Marseille (l. Gasquet) and Dubai (l. Fernando Verdasco) and the round of 16 at the Australian Open (l. Rafael Nadal) and Indian Wells-1000 (l. Dominic Thiem). He withdrew from Miami-1000 with an achilles injury.

Monfils has played 13 of the 27 five-set matches he has contested at Roland Garros. He has a 10-3 win-loss record in 5-set matches at Roland Garros and a 15-12 win-loss record in 5-set matches overall.

Monfils reached a career-high ranking of No. 6 on 7 November 2016, finishing a season inside the Top 10 for the first time. He plays here ranked No. 16.

Monfils has won 6 career titles, most recently at 2016 Washington. 5 of his titles have come on hard courts but his first Tour-level title came on clay at 2005 Sopot.

Monfils is coached by Mikael Tillstrom, who reached the round of 16 here in 1994.

7 MARIN CILIC (CRO) v KEVIN ANDERSON (RSA)

Head-to-head: Cilic leads 5-1

2009 Australian Open Hard (O) R128 Cilic 63 62 67(4) 63

2011 Beijing Hard (O) QF Cilic 76(4) 46 61

2013 Monte Carlo-1000 Clay (O) R32 Cilic 62 63

2013 Rome-1000 Clay (O) R32 Anderson 63 76(7)

2014 Delray Beach Hard (O) FR Cilic 76(6) 67(7) 64

2014 US Open Hard (O) R32 Cilic 63 36 63 64

A 7th meeting for the 2 players, their 3rd at a Grand Slam and their 3rd meeting on clay.

Cilic has won both of their previous 2 Grand Slam meetings in 4 sets – at the 2009 Australian Open and at the 2014 US Open.

Cilic is the highest-ranked player Anderson has defeated on clay, having defeated the then-world No. 13 at 2013 Rome-1000. Anderson is bidding to defeat a Top 10 player on clay for the first time at the 12th attempt today.

CILIC v ANDERSON

28 Age 31

8 ATP Ranking 56

17 Titles 3

87-35 Career Grand Slam Record 47-31

19-10 Roland Garros Record 14-7

406-220 Career Record 251-189

100-63 Career Record – Clay 49-43

16-10 2017 Record 12-9

11-3 2017 Record – Clay 10-5

24-12 Career Five-Set Record 10-7

5 Comebacks from 0-2 Down 2

149-132 Career Tiebreak Record 143-126

5-5 2017 Tiebreak Record 7-7

CILIC is bidding to reach the quarterfinals here and complete a set of Grand Slam quarterfinal appearances. He would be just the 2nd Croatian man to achieve the feat in the Open Era after Goran Ivanisevic.

Cilic is bidding to become the first Croatian man to reach the Roland Garros quarterfinals since Mario Ancic and Ivan Ljubicic reached the last 8 here in 2006.

Cilic is looking to reach his 9th Grand Slam quarterfinal. The only Croatian player to reach more Grand Slam quarterfinals is Ivanisevic, who made 14 appearances in the last 8 at the majors.
If he wins today and reaches the quarterfinals for the first time at his 11th Roland Garros, Cilic would enter the Open Era list for the most attempts before reaching the quarterfinals here. [Fernando Verdasco could top the list if he defeats Nishikori in the round of 16 here]

Attempts to reach Roland Garros quarterfinals (Open Era)

*Fernando Verdasco??*	*14??*
Richard Gasquet	13
Tommy Haas	12
*Marin Cilic??*	*11??*
Marcelo Filippini Mikhail Youzhny	10 10

Cilic advanced to the round of 16 after defeating Ernests Gulbis 63 63 63, Konstantin Kravchuk 63 62 62 and Feliciano Lopez 61 63 63 in the opening 3 rounds here.

By defeating Lopez in the 3rd round here, Cilic recorded his 100th Tour-level match-win on clay and became the 3rd Croatian man to record 100 Tour-level clay court match-wins – after Ivanisevic (119) and Ljubicic (105).

By reaching the round of 16 here for the 4th time, Cilic has equalled his best Roland Garros result. He also reached the round of 16 here in 2009 (l. Andy Murray), 2010 (l. Robin Soderling) and 2015 (l. David Ferrer). This is his 11th appearance at Roland Garros and 38th Grand Slam overall.

Last year here Cilic lost in the 1st round, falling to qualifier Marco Trungelliti in 4 sets.

Cilic is one of 5 Grand Slam champions to reach the round of 16 from the 6 who started in the men’s main draw here. He won his first major title at the 2014 US Open, defeating Kei Nishikori in the final. He was the first Croatian to win a Grand Slam title since Ivanisevic at 2001 Wimbledon.

Cilic warmed up for Roland Garros by winning the title at Istanbul, defeating Milos Raonic in the final. The victory maintained his record of winning at least one Tour-level title every year since 2008. He also reached the quarterfinals at Monte Carlo-1000 (l. Albert Ramos-Vinolas) and Rome-1000 (l. John Isner), but lost his opening match at Madrid-1000 (l. Alexander Zverev).

Cilic’s other highlights in 2017 include reaching the semifinals at Acapulco (l. Rafael Nadal) and the quarterfinals at Rotterdam (l. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga). However, he fell in the 2nd round at the Australian Open
(l. Dan Evans) and lost his opening matches at both Indian Wells-1000 (l. Taylor Fritz) and Miami-1000 (l. Jeremy Chardy).

Cilic won the only 5-set match he has contested at Roland Garros – he defeated Leonardo Mayer in 5 sets in the 3rd round in 2010. He has a 25-12 win-loss record in 5-set matches overall.

Cilic has won 17 career titles including 2 on clay – at 2012 Umag (d. Marcel Granollers) and Istanbul this year.

Cilic reached a career-high ranking of No. 6 in November 2016. He plays here at No. 8.

Cilic is one of 3 junior Roland Garros champions to reach the round of 16 here from the 8 who started the men’s draw along with Stan Wawrinka (2003) and Gael Monfils (2004). He won the boys’ singles at 2005 Roland Garros (d. Anton van der Duim) and finished the year at No. 2 in the ITF Junior rankings behind Donald Young, having reached the quarterfinals at the other 3 Grand Slams.

Cilic is coached by Jonas Bjorkman, who reached the round of 16 here in 1996 and 2007, and Ivan Cinkus.

ANDERSON is bidding to record his 50th Tour-level match-win on clay. Just 4 South African men have recorded 50 Tour-level match-wins on clay – Wayne Ferreira (95), Bob Hewitt (77), Cliff Drysdale (68) and Ray Moore (66).

Anderson is bidding to reach the quarterfinals and become the first South African man to reach the last 8 at Roland Garros since Drysdale in 1967.

Anderson is looking to become the 6th different South African man to reach the quarterfinals at Roland Garros and the first in the Open Era:

South Africans in Roland Garros quarterfinals

Year	Player	Eventual Finish
1927	Louis Raymond	Quarterfinalist
1927	Patrick Spence	Semifinalist
1947-1952	Eric Sturgess	Runner-up 1947, 1951, Semifinalist 1948-50, 1952
1959	Ian Vermaak	Runner-up
1964-1967	Cliff Drysdale	Quarterfinalist 1964, 1967, Semifinalist 1965-66

Anderson is bidding to reach his 2nd Grand Slam quarterfinal and become the 6th South African man to reach multiple Grand Slam quarterfinals after Johan Kriek (6 quarterfinals), Ferreira (5), Drysdale (3), Kevin Curren (2) and Moore (2). [NB Kriek and Curren both reached further quarterfinals while competing under the flag of USA]

Anderson’s best Grand Slam performance is reaching the quarterfinals at the 2015 US Open, where he became the first South African man to reach the quarterfinals at a Grand Slam since Ferreira at the 2003 Australian Open. He defeated Andy Murray in the round of 16 before falling to Stan Wawrinka in the last 8.

By reaching the round of 16 here for the 3rd time, Anderson has equalled his best Roland Garros performance. He also reached this stage in 2013, where he became the first South African man to reach the round of 16 since Ferreira in 1996, and 2014 – falling to David Ferrer on both occasions.

Anderson is bidding to defeat a Top 10 player at a Grand Slam for the 2nd time. His only win over a Top 10 player at a major came against No. 3 Murray in the round of 16 at the 2015 US Open. He has a 1-16 win-loss record against Top 10 players at the majors overall.

Anderson is bidding to record 4 straight Tour-level match-wins on clay for the first time. By reaching the round of 16 here, he has recorded 3 straight Tour-level match-wins on clay for the 5th time. As well as winning 3 straight matches here in both 2013 and 2014, he also achieved the feat in finishing runner-up at 2013 Casablanca (l. Tommy Robredo) and in reaching the semifinals at 2017 Estoril (l. Gilles Muller).

Roland Garros is Anderson’s most successful Grand Slam in terms of match-wins. He has a 14-7 win-loss record here, compared with 13-7 at the US Open, 11-9 at the Australian Open and 9-8 at Wimbledon.

Anderson advanced to the round of 16 after defeating Malek Jaziri 76(4) 63 76(4), No. 18 seed Nick Kyrgios 57 64 61 62 and Kyle Edmund 67(6) 76(4) 57 61 64 in the opening 3 rounds here. By defeating Kyrgios in the 2nd round, Anderson recorded his 250th Tour-level match-win.

By defeating Edmund in 5 sets in the 3rd round here, Edmund improved his win-loss record in 5-set matches at Roland Garros to 2-3 and to 10-7 in 5-set matches overall.

Last year here Anderson fell to Stephane Robert in 4 sets in the 1st round. This is his 8th straight Roland Garros and his 32nd Grand Slam overall.

Anderson warmed up for Roland Garros by reaching the semifinals at Estoril and the quarterfinals at Geneva (l. Kei Nishikori). He also reached the 3rd round at Barcelona (l. Rafael Nadal), but fell in the 1st round at Houston (l. Fernando Verdasco) and as a qualifier at Rome-1000 (l. Alexander Zverev).

Also in 2017, Anderson reached the 2nd round at Indian Wells-1000 (l. Steve Johnson) and Miami-1000 (l. Nishikori), but fell in the 1st round at Memphis and Delray Beach. He withdrew from the Australian Open due to a hip injury, ending his streak of 28 consecutive appearances at the Grand Slams.

Anderson is a former Top 10 player. He reached a career-high ranking of No. 10 in October 2015. He played a limited schedule in the first half of 2016 due to a shoulder injury and minor ankle surgery and fell to No. 80 in January this year – his lowest ranking since August 2010. He plays here at No. 56.

Anderson has won 3 career titles. He won his first career title in his hometown at 2011 Johannesburg
(d. Somdev Devvarman) and won the title as No. 7 seed at 2013 Delray Beach (d. Marinko Matosevic) and at 2015 Winston-Salem (d. Pierre-Hugues Herbert).

Anderson received travel grants from the ITF Grand Slam Development Fund to play junior events in 2004.

Anderson is coached by former world No. 90 Neville Godwin, who reached the quarterfinals of the men’s doubles here in 2000.

8 KEI NISHIKORI (JPN) v FERNANDO VERDASCO (ESP)

Head-to-head: Nishikori leads 3-2

2011 Australian Open Hard (O) R32 Verdasco 62 64 63

2012 Barcelona Clay (O) QF Verdasco 4-2 retired (abdominal injury)

2015 Indian Wells-1000 Hard (O) R32 Nishikori 67(6) 61 64

2016 Roland Garros Clay (O) R32 Nishikori 63 64 36 26 64

2017 Miami-1000 Hard (O) R32 Nishikori 76(2) 67(5) 61

A 6th meeting for the 2 players – and their 2nd at Roland Garros. Nishikori won their 3rd round match here last year, resisting a fightback from Verdasco to win in 5 sets.

Verdasco is looking to end a 3-match losing streak against Nishikori, having not defeated him since 2012 Barcelona, where Nishikori retired due to an abdominal injury in their quarterfinal match. The pair are level 1-1 in their previous clay court meetings.

Nishikori has lost to a player ranked as low as No. 37 today’s opponent at Roland Garros on just one occasion – when he fell to No. 59 Martin Klizan in straight sets in the 1st round here in 2014.

Verdasco has not recorded a clay court match-win against a player ranked as high as No. 9 today’s opponent since defeating No. 2 Rafael Nadal in the 3rd round at 2012 Madrid-1000.

At 33 years 208 days, Verdasco is the oldest man to reach the round of 16 here this year.

NISHIKORI v VERDASCO

27 Age 33

9 ATP Ranking 37

11 Titles 7

66-29 Career Grand Slam Record 97-55

14-6 Roland Garros Record 28-13

324-150 Career Record 475-347

72-28 Career Record – Clay 205-123

23-8 2017 Record 17-11

11-4 2017 Record – Clay 7-4

16-6 Career Five-Set Record 23-20

2 Comebacks from 0-2 Down 5

95-68 Career Tiebreak Record 186-189

5-5 2017 Tiebreak Record 9-4

NISHIKORI is bidding to reach his 7th Grand Slam quarterfinal and take sole ownership of the all-time record for most Grand Slam quarterfinal appearances by a Japanese man.

Most Grand Slam quarterfinal appearances by a Japanese man (all-time)

Kei Nishikori	*7??*
Jiro Satoh	6
Zenzo Shimizu Ichiya Kumagi	3 1
Shuzo Matsuoka Ryosuki Nunoi	1 1

Nishikori advanced to the 3rd round after defeating Thanasi Kokkinakis 46 61 64 64 in the 1st round, Jeremy Chardy 63 60 76(5) in the 2nd and Hyeon Chung 75 64 67(4) 06 64 in his 100th Tour-level clay court match in the 3rd.

Nishikori is aiming to reach the quarterfinal here for the 2nd time and equal his best Roland Garros performance by reaching the quarterfinals for the 2nd time. His only previous appearance in the last 8 came in 2015, when he fell to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in 5 sets. He was the 2nd Japanese man to reach the quarterfinals at Roland Garros after Jiro Satoh did so in 1931 and 1933.

This is Nishikori’s 7th appearance at Roland Garros and his 31st Grand Slam overall. Last year here as No. 5 seed he reached the round of 16 (l. Richard Gasquet).

Nishikori’s victory against Chung in the 3rd round improved his win-loss record in 5-set matches at Roland Garros to 3-1. He has a 16-6 win-loss record in 5-set matches overall.

Nishikori is bidding to extend a 5-match winning streak against lefthanded players at the Grand Slams. He has not lost to a lefthander at a major since falling to Martin Klizan in the 1st round here in 2014. He has a 7-6 win-loss record against lefthanded players at the Grand Slams overall.

If he wins today, Nishikori will face either No. 1 seed Andy Murray or Karen Khachanov in the quarterfinals. He won the only match he has played against Khachanov but trails Murray 2-8 in their previous meetings.

At the 2014 US Open, Nishikori became the first Asian male to contest a Grand Slam final after defeating 3 Top 10 players – Milos Raonic, Stan Wawrinka and Novak Djokovic – in consecutive matches before falling to Marin Cilic in the title match.

Nishikori’s best result on clay in 2017 is finishing runner-up as top seed at Buenos Aires (l. Alexandr Dolgopolov). He also reached the semifinals at Geneva (l. Mischa Zverev), the quarterfinals at Madrid-1000 (where he gave a walkover to Djokovic due to a right wrist injury) and the 3rd round at Rome-1000 (l. Juan Martin del Potro), but fell in the 1st round at Rio de Janeiro (l. Thomaz Bellucci).

Also in 2017, Nishikori finished runner-up at Brisbane (l. Grigor Dimitrov). He reached back-to-back quarterfinals at Indian Wells-1000 (l. Jack Sock) and Miami-1000 (l. Fabio Fognini), and the round of 16 at the Australian Open (l. Roger Federer).

Nishikori has won 11 career singles titles, 2 of which have come on clay – at Barcelona in 2014 (d. Santiago Giraldo) and 2015 (d. Pablo Andujar).

Nishikori is the highest-ranked Japanese man in ATP World Tour Rankings history (since 1973). He had the nickname ‘Project 45’ as a major goal was to get him to No. 45 in the rankings, which would be one spot better than the highest by any Japanese man (Shuzo Matsuoka). He plays here ranked No. 9, five spots lower than his career-high ranking of No. 4 which he achieved in March 2015 after reaching the final at Acapulco.

Nishikori plays here seeded No. 8 – his lowest Grand Slam seeding since he was seeded No. 10 at the 2014 US Open. It is his lowest seeding here since 2014, when he was seeded No. 9.

Nishikori was born in Shimane, Japan, but moved to Florida aged 14. He is coached by Dante Bottini and trains at the Bollettieri Academy. Michael Chang, who won Roland Garros in 1989, joined his team in 2014.

Lefthander VERDASCO is bidding to reach the quarterfinals here for the first time at his 14th Roland Garros and top the Open Era list for the most attempts before reaching the quarterfinals here. [NB Marin Cilic could enter the list at 4th if he defeats Kevin Anderson in the round of 16 here]

Attempts to reach Roland Garros quarterfinals (Open Era)

*Fernando Verdasco??*	*14??*
Richard Gasquet	13
Tommy Haas	12
*Marin Cilic??*	*11??*
Marcelo Filippini Mikhail Youzhny	10 10

Verdasco advanced to the 3rd round after defeating No. 9 seed Alexander Zverev 64 36 64 62, Pierre-Hugues Herbert 63 36 46 63 63 and No. 22 seed Pablo Cuevas 62 61 63 in the opening 3 rounds here.

Verdasco is bidding to reach the quarterfinals for the first time and record his best Roland Garros performance. He is through to the last 16 here for the 6th time – he also reached this stage in 2007 (l. Novak Djokovic), 2008 (l. Rafael Nadal), 2009 (l. Nikolay Davydenko), 2010 (l. Nicolas Almagro) and 2014 (l. Andy Murray).

Verdasco is bidding to record his 2nd victory against a Top 10 player at Roland Garros. His victory against Zverev was the first time that he had defeated a Top 10 player here in 6 attempts and ended an 8-match Tour-level losing streak against Top 10 opposition. Verdasco has a 5-20 win-loss record against Top 10 players at the Grand Slams.

By defeating Herbert in 5-sets in the 2nd round here, Verdasco improved his win-loss record in 5-set matches at Roland Garros to 4-5 and to 23-20 in 5-set matches overall.

Verdasco is bidding to defeat 3 seeded players at a Grand Slam for the 2nd time in his career. He defeated No. 22 Radek Stepanek, No. 4 Andy Murray and No. 5 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga en route to the semifinals at the 2009 Australian Open.

Verdasco is bidding to become the first man to reach the quarterfinals in both men’s singles and men’s doubles at Roland Garros since Tommy Robredo (with Marc Lopez) and Fernando Gonzalez (with Jose Acasuso) achieved the feat in 2009. Verdasco and Nenad Zimonjic defeated No. 13 seeds Florin Mergea/Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi 63 76(2), Julian Knowle/Florian Mayer 62 26 62, and Sam Groth/Robert Lindstedt in the 3rd round. They play Rogerio Dutra Silva/Paolo Lorenzi in the last 8.

Verdasco is bidding to become the 3rd Spanish man to reach the quarterfinals here this year after Pablo Carreno Busta and Rafael Nadal reached the last 8 on Sunday – the most since 2013 when there were also 3.

Verdasco is bidding to record 4 consecutive Tour-level match-wins on clay for the first time since finishing runner-up at 2016 Bastad (l. Albert Ramos-Vinolas).

Verdasco is one of the 8 men aged 30 or over to reach the round of 16 here from the 49 who started in the main draw – the joint-highest number of 30-somethings to reach the last 16 at a Grand Slam in the Open Era. There were also 8 at 1969 Roland Garros. The most 30-somethings to reach the quarterfinals at a Grand Slam in the Open Era is 4, which has happened 10 times.

If he wins today, Verdasco will face either No. 1 seed Andy Murray or Karen Khachanov in the quarterfinals. He trails Murray 1-13 in their previous meetings and has never played Khachanov.

Verdasco’s best Grand Slam result is reaching the semifinals as No. 14 seed at the 2009 Australian Open, losing to countryman Nadal 67(4) 64 76(2) 67(1) 64 in 5 hours 14 minutes.

Last year here Verdasco reached the 3rd round, where he fell to today’s opponent in 5 sets.

Prior to coming here Verdasco reached the quarterfinals at both Houston (l. Steve Johnson) and Budapest (l. Laslo Djere) and the 2nd round at Rome-1000 (l. David Goffin), but fell to Alexander Zverev in the 1st round at Madrid-1000.

Also in 2017, Verdasco finished runner-up at Dubai (l. Murray) and reached the semifinals at Doha (l. Djokovic). He fell in the 3rd round at both Indian Wells-1000 (l. Nadal) and Miami-1000 (l. today’s opponent) and lost in the 1st round at the Australian Open (l. Djokovic).

Verdasco has won 7 career singles titles, most recently at 2016 Bucharest. 5 of his titles have come on clay. He is a former Top 10 player, having reached a career-high ranking of No. 7 in 2009, but plays here at No. 37.

Verdasco has played at every Grand Slam event since making his debut at 2003 Wimbledon. This is his 56th straight major – putting him in equal 3rd position with Wayne Ferreira on the list of most consecutive Grand Slams played in history behind Roger Federer (65) and Feliciano Lopez (61*). (*streak active)

Verdasco is coached by Nacho Truyol, Sergio Perez and Emilio Sanchez. His fitness trainers are Jesus Rivera-Huidobro and Claudio Soliva.

*** All statistics courtesy of Grand Slam Media and the ITF.