Ernests Gulbis looks to remain the highest seed standing through the quarter finals against Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky at the Medibank International on Thursday. With the top two seeds gone, the field opens up with unseeded Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov (fresh off his victory over No. 1 seed Sam Querrey) facing Frenchman Gilles Simon for a spot in the semifinals. 

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The fourth seed, Viktor Troicki, is looking to improve his record to 2-0 against fifth seed Richard Gasquet at the first evening match in Ken Rosewall Arena. The evening ends with German Florian Mayer, fresh off Wednesday’s straight set victory over Del Potro, facing the Italian Potito Starace in another matchup between unseeded players. 

THURSDAY THIRD ROUND FedEx ATP Head 2 Head – In Order of Play by Court
 
Ken Rosewall Arena

Gilles Simon (FRA) vs Alexandr Dolgopolov (UKR)  First Meeting

Simon FastFacts:
2010 Highlights:
W: Metz (d. Zverev) SF: Valencia (l. Granollers); QF: Montpellier (l. Tsonga); Beijing (l. Djokovic); Washington (l. Nalbandian); Eastbourne (l. Llodra)
YTD W-L: 1-1
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 7
Date of Birth: December 27, 1984
South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking: 41

• Simon, 26, defeated Gil 6-1 6-3 on Wednesday to reach QF
• Has been ranked in the Top 100 since 2005, breaking into the Top 10 in 2009
• Won 2010 title in Metz and posted two Top 10 wins against Verdasco (Valencia) and Roddick (Washington)
• Reached SF in Valencia (d. No. 7 Verdasco, No. 11 Davydenko) and four QF appearances in 2010
• Has a career record of 108-72 on hard courts and a 143-20 record after winning the first set

Dolgopolov FastFacts:
2010 Highlights:
SF: Eastbourne (l Llodra); QF: Umag (l Ferrero); Moscow (l Baghdatis); St. Petersburg (l Tursunov)
YTD W-L: 2-1
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 0
Date of Birth: November 7, 1988
South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking: 49

• Dolgopolov, 22, Defeated No. 1 seed Sam Querrey 6-4 6-3 on Wednesday
• The top player from Ukraine this week, split the first two sets on Tuesday in his Sydney debut with Aussie qualifier Bernard Tomic before play was halted due to rain…Last week he opened the season in Brisbane, losing in the second round to Andy Roddick
• Last season he climbed over 80 spots to finish in Top 50 for the first time at No. 48, highlighted by personal-high 21 match wins (21-23)…Reached a career-high No. 39 on July 19
• Enjoyed Challenger success in first three months with title in Meknes and finals in Tanger and Marrakech…Had 17-4 match record in Challengers
• Reached 3rd Rd. at Roland Garros (d. Clement, F. Gonzalez; l. to Almagro) and followed with first career SF in Eastbourne (l. to Llodra)…Also 2nd Rd. at Wimbledon, losing to Tsonga 10-8 in fifth set… Second half of season highlights included quarter-finals in Umag, Moscow and St. Petersburg
• Earned a career-high $446,248

(5) Richard Gasquet (FRA) vs (4) Viktor Troicki (SRB) Troicki Leads 1-0
10 Basel (Switzerland) Hard Q Viktor Troicki 6-4 6-2

Gasquet FastFacts:
2010 Highlights:
W: Nice (d Verdasco); F: Sydney (l Baghdatis); Gstaad (l Almagro); SF: Metz (W/O vs Zverev); QF: Brisbane (l Roddick); Casablanca (l Hanescu); Belgrade (l Isner); Basel (l Troicki)
YTD W-L: 1-1
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 6
Date of Birth: June 18, 1986
South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking: 29
 
• Gasquet, 24, narrowly defeated Seppi in the second round 3-6 7-5 6-4 to reach QF
• Last year’s finalist (l. to Baghdatis), enters with an 11-6 career mark…He also reached the semi-finals in 2007 (l. to Moya) and ’09 (l. to Nalbandian)
• He opened the season last week in Chennai, losing in the second round to German Bjorn Phau 16 76(5) 76(4) after holding a 6-1, 5-2 lead
• Last year he turned in his fifth Top 30 finish in last six years at No. 30 and the highlight was his sixth ATP World Tour title in Nice (d. Verdasco in final); also runner-up in Sydney (l. to Baghdatis) and Gstaad (l. to Almagro); QF or better five other times
• His career-high ranking is No. 7 (set July 9, 2007); has spent 40 non-consecutive weeks inside Top 10

Troicki FastFacts:
2010 Highlights:
W: Moscow (d. Baghdatis) F: SF: Basel (l. Djokovic); Tokyo (l. Nadal); New Haven (l. Istomin); Doha (l. Nadal) QF: Zagreb (l. Berrer)
YTD W-L: 2-1
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 1
Date of Birth: February 10, 1986
South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking: 30

• Troicki, 24, defeated Chela 6-2 6-3 on Wednesday to move to QF
• Playing in Sydney for the second straight year after losing to Baghdatis in the second round last year
• Began 2011 campaign with QF appearance in Doha (l. Federer)
• Clinched 2010 Davis Cup title for Serbia by defeating Llodra (FRA) 6-2 6-2 6-3
• Won first ATP World Tour title in 2010 in Moscow (d. No. 13 Tsonga, No. 19 Baghdatis)
• Reached a career high ranking of No. 24 in 2009 after entering the Top 100 in 2007

Florian Mayer (GER) vs. Potito Starace (ITA)   Tied 1-1
07 Kitzbuhel (Austria) Clay R16 Potito Starace 4-6 7-6 6-2
06 Bucharest (Romania) Clay R32 Florian Mayer 6-2 6-3

Mayer FastFacts:
2010 Highlights:
F: Stockholm (l Federer); SF: Hamburg (l Golubev); QF: Rotterdam (W/O vs Djokovic); Stuttgart (l Monfils)
YTD W-L: 3-1
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 0
Date of Birth: October 5, 1983
South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking: 37

• Mayer, 27, defeated Del Potro 6-2 7-5 on Wednesday to reach QF
• Opened the season last week with a quarter-final in Brisbane, defeating Bernard Tomic and Richard Berankis before losing to Radek Stepanek 63 63…On Monday he won his first match in Sydney (1-2) with a 75 60 victory over British wild card James Ward
• Last season he posted his first Top 50 finish (at No. 37) since 2004 when he was a year-end best No. 35…He compiled a 23-18 match record (13-13 on hard) and reached his third career ATP World Tour final in Stockholm (l. to Federer) in October
• He is the No. 2 German (behind No. 34 Philipp Kohlschreiber) and the last German winner on the ATP World Tour was Benjamin Becker in ‘s-Hertogenbosch in June 2009…Germans were 0-3 in 2010 finals

Starace FastFacts:
2010 Highlights:
F: Umag (l Ferrero); SF: Casablanca (l Wawrinka); Nice (l Gasquet); QF: Sydney (l Gasquet); Hamburg (l Melzer); Bucharest (l Granollers); Valencia (l Ferrer)
YTD W-L: 1-0
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 0
Date of Birth: July 14, 1981
South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking: 47

• Starace, 29, defeated Kubot 7-6(5) 2-6 6-3 on Wednesday to reach QF
• Playing in Sydney for the third straight year, reaching QF for the second year in a row
• Last year, reached final in Umag, defeating No. 16 Ljubicic  before falling to Ferrero
• Normally a clay court specialist, Starace has a 21-48 record on hard courts
• Reached a career high No. 27 in 2007 and has regularly finished within the Top 100 for six of the last seven years
Court 1
(3) Ernests Gulbis (LAT) vs Sergiy Stakhovsky (UKR) First Meeting

Gulbis FastFacts:
2010 Highlights:
W: Delray Beach (d Karlovic); SF: Memphis (l Querrey); ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Rome (l Nadal); QF: Doha (l Federer); Barcelona (l Verdasco); ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Madrid (l Federer); Bangkok (l Garcia-Lopez)
YTD W-L: 2-1
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 1
Date of Birth: August 30, 1988
South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking: 24

Stakhovsky FastFacts:
2010 Highlights:
W: New Haven (d. Istomin); s-Hertogenbosch (d. Tipsarevic) QF: Nice (l. Verdasco)
YTD W-L: 0-1
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 4
Date of Birth: January 6, 1986
South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking: