No. 3 seed and 2001 champion Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia meets wild card and Frenchman Michael Llodra on Sunday in the Grand Prix de Tennis de Lyon championship. Llodra won the previous meeting in the first round of Halle in June 2008. Both players have dropped one set and their serve once en route to the final. A Frenchman has reached the Lyon final for the fifth consecutive year and seventh time in the past eight years. The winner will earn his first ATP World Tour title of the season. Ljubicic is 8-12 in his career in ATP World Tour finals and Llodra is 3-3.

WHAT’S AT STAKE –
Winner:             €103,400 and 250 South African Airways 2009 ATP Ranking points                   Runner-up:        € 54,300 and 150 South African Airways 2009 ATP Ranking points
 
FINALS HISTORY –
 Ljubicic:            Appearing in his 21st ATP World Tour final……………..He is 8-12 in finals (0-0 in 2009)
 Llodra:              Appearing in his 7th ATP World Tour final……………….He is 3-3 in finals (0-1 in 2009) 

FRENCH WINNERS IN LYON –  Llodra is trying to become the seventh Frenchman in the 23-year history of the tournament to capture the singles title:
2007 - Sebastien Grosjean
2006 - Richard Gasquet
2002 - Paul-Henri Mathieu
2000 - Arnaud Clement
1997 - Fabrice Santoro
1987 - Yannick Noah

CHAMPIONSHIP HEAD-TO-HEADS –

(3) Ivan Ljubicic (CRO) vs (WC) Michael Llodra (FRA) Llodra Leads 1-0
08 Halle (Germany) Grass R32 Michael Llodra 6-7(6)   7-6(5)  7-5

Ljubicic FastFacts:
2009 Highlights:
QF: ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Indian Wells (l Murray); ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Monte Carlo (l Nadal); ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Madrid (l Djokovic); Eastbourne (l Santoro); Umag (l Melzer); Beijing (l Soderling); ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Shanghai (l Nadal)
YTD W-L: 30-21
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 8
Date of Birth: March 19, 1979
South African Airways 2009 ATP Ranking: 29

• Ljubicic, 30, is appearing in his first ATP World Tour final of the season and his final came in February 2008 in Zagreb (l. to Stakhovsky)…His last title came in ‘s-Hertogenbosch in June 2007 (d. Wessels)…
       He is 8-12 lifetime in ATP World Tour finals
• He is trying to become the third player 30-over to win an ATP World Tour title this season, joining  Radek Stepanek (30), who won in Brisbane and San Jose, and Tommy Haas (31), a winner in Halle
• The Monte-Carlo resident is making his second final showing in Lyon (14-6 record)…He won his first ATP World Tour title here in 2001 (d. El Aynaoui)
• He enters with a 30-21 match record, including 17-13 on hard courts after posting wins over Martin Vassallo Arguello 63 64, German Nicolas Kiefer 63 36 63, Florent Serra 76(6) 62 and wild card Arnaud Clement 62 64…Has held serve 42 of 43 games and fired 56 aces this week, second to Llodra’s 59
• His previous best result this year was seven quarter-finals, most recently at ATP Shanghai Masters 1000 (l. to Nadal) along with Indian Wells (l. to Murray), Monte-Carlo (l. to Nadal), Madrid (l. to Djokovic), Eastbourne (ret. vs. Santoro), Umag (l. to Melzer) and Beijing (l. to Soderling)
• He began the season at No. 58 and dipped as low as No. 76 for week of March 2 but has improved to No. 29 this week…Has spent 84 career weeks inside Top 10, all consecutive, between October 31, 2005 and June 10, 2007 (peaked at No. 3 for 11 non-consecutive weeks)

Llodra FastFacts:
2009 Highlights:
F: Marseille (l Tsonga); QF: s-Hertogenbosch (l Becker)
YTD W-L: 17-14
Career Titles: 3
Date of Birth: May 18, 1980
South African Airways 2009 ATP Ranking: 107

• Llodra, 29, is appearing in his first final in Lyon in eight attempts (7-7 record)...He has only lost one set and been broken once (holding 45 of 46 games) en route to the final…He also leads the tournament with 59 aces
• This week he posted wins over Lamine Ouahab 61 62 in the first round, No. 4 seed Juan Monaco 63 64, countrymen Marc Gicquel 76(5) 64 and No. 2 seed Gilles Simon 67(4) 63 76(1) en route to his second ATP World Tour final this year…In February he was runner-up in Marseille (l. to Tsonga)
• He has a 3-3 career record in ATP World Tour finals…His last title came in Rotterdam in Feb. 2008 when he defeated Swede Robin Soderling
• Left-handers are 7-11 in finals this year on the ATP World Tour and two other lefties are in finals Sunday (Jurgen Melzer in Vienna and Horacio Zeballos in St. Petersburg)…This year’s left-handed winners are Rafael Nadal (5), Thomaz Bellucci (1) and Fernando Verdasco (1)
• In June he advanced to the quarter-finals in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, losing to eventual champion Benjamin Becker… He comes in with a 17-14 match record on the season, including 13-10 on hard courts
• He fell to a season-low ranking of No. 144 on June 15 and came in this week No. 107…He will move back into the Top 100 next week for the first time since May 25 (at No. 78) to around No. 71 if he loses and to around No. 61 if he wins the title

2009 French Title Winners on ATP World Tour
                                    No. 
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga        3
Jeremy Chardy              1
Gael Monfils                  1
Gilles Simon                  1

DOUBLES FINAL – FRENCH WILD CARD TEAMS MEET IN TITLE MATCH
A pair of French wild card teams will battle for the Grand Prix de Tennis de Lyon title on Sunday as Julien Benneteau and Nicolas Mahut take on Arnaud Clement and Sebastien Grosjean.

Both teams knocked off a No. 1 or 2 seed in the first round en route to the final. Benneteau-Mahut defeated top seeds Wesley Moodie and Dick Norman in two tie-breaks while Clement-Grosjean beat No. 2 Bruno Soares and Kevin Ullyett 6-4, 7-6(1).

Benneteau and Mahut are appearing in their first ATP World Tour final together since reaching the final in Lyon six years ago. They are 1-1 in finals together with their lone title coming in Metz in 2003. Benneteau is 4-2 in doubles finals, winning the title two weeks ago at ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Shanghai (w/Tsonga). Mahut is 2-3 in finals with his last title coming in Metz in 2004.

Clement and Grosjean are 2-1 in ATP World Tour finals together, winning in Casablanca in 2000 and ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Indian Wells in March 2004. They also were finalists in Lyon in 2001. They are playing together for the first time since June 2007 in Nottingham.

Clement is making his 21th career ATP World Tour level final showing (12-8) and his last final came in Metz (w/Llodra) a little over a month ago. His last title came in Marseille in February (w/Llodra). Grosjean is 5-1 lifetime in doubles finals and his last title came in Lyon two years ago (w/Tsonga).