SUNDAY PREVIEW - SODERLING EYES FIRST TITLE DEFENCE, TSONGA LOOKS TO END DROUGHT

One is looking to repeat at an ATP World Tour event for the first time, while one is looking to get back in the ATP World Tour winner’s circle all together. It’s all in today’s final at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament.

World No. 4 Robin Soderling, the No. 1 seed here, won one of his seven prior ATP World Tour titles right here a year ago, and if he wins today he will have won back-to-back titles at the same event for the first time. He is playing in his 18th career ATP World Tour final (7-10 in his first 17) and has gone the distance to get here this week, saving a match point in a second round marathon against Philipp Kohlschreiber, a player he had never beaten in three previous meetings. Soderling has won his last seven meetings against Frenchmen and 12 of his last 13 (the one blemish coming against Michael Llodra in the quarterfinals of Marseille last season).

World No. 18 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the No. 8 seed here, has won five ATP World Tour titles before (he is 5-1 in finals, that one defeat coming at the 2008 Australian Open to Novak Djokovic). He has been going through somewhat of a dry period, however, his last title (and last final, even) coming at Tokyo in the fall of 2009. The Frenchman seems to life his game in finals, however, as not only does he have that sparkling 5-1 record in singles finals on the ATP World Tour, he is 4-0 in doubles finals too. Tsonga has lost one set en route to this final (to Llodra in the second round) but he did get a quarter-final walkover, which could benefit him today.

Soderling and Tsonga have met three times before, with Soderling winning all three in straight sets. The biggest difference in the stats in those matches comes in the break point opportunities column: while both players have a similar break point conversion rate in all three matches combined (Soderling 43%, Tsonga 40%), the Swede has given himself a lot more chances to break than the Frenchman (Soderling is 10 for 23, Tsonga is 2 for 5).

Tsonga is 15-20 against Top 10 players and has lost his last six Top 10 encounters.

WHAT’S AT STAKE
Winner   €279,500 and 500 South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking points
Runner-up  €126,150 and 300 South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking points

FINALS HISTORY
Soderling Appearing in his 18th career ATP World Tour level final......7-10 in finals (1-0 in 2011)
Tsonga  Appearing in his 7th career ATP World Tour level final……..5-1 in finals (0-0 in 2011)

Sunday Final Fed-Ex ATP Head 2 Head

Centre Court

(1) Robin Soderling (SWE) vs. (8) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) Soderling leads 3-0
08 ATP Masters Series Hamburg  Clay R32 Robin Soderling 6-2 7-5
09 ATP Masters 1000 Shanghai  Hard R16 Robin Soderling 6-3 6-3
10 ATP Masters 1000 Indian Wells  Hard R16 Robin Soderling 6-3 6-4

Soderling FastFacts:
2011 Highlights:
W: Brisbane (d Roddick)
YTD W-L: 12-1
YTD Titles: 1
Career Titles: 7
Date of Birth: August 14, 1984
South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking: 4

• Playing third tournament of season (12-1 record); won first event of season at Brisbane (d. Roddick in final) then reached 4th Rd. at Australian Open (l. to Dolgopolov in five sets)
• Fourth appearance here (13-2 record); fell 1st Rd. in 2005 (l. to Berdych); runner-up in 2008 (l. to Llodra in final); won title in 2010 (d. Youzhny in final); 4-0 this year (as No. 1 seed, d. WC Haase in 1st Rd, Kohlschreiber 63 57 76(7) in 2nd Rd. - saved 1mp at 7-6 in third set tie-break, No. 6 seed Youzhny in QFs and Troicki in SFs)

Tsonga FastFacts:
2011 Highlights:
SF: Doha (l Federer)
YTD W-L: 8-2
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 5
Date of Birth: April 17, 1985
South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking: 18

• Playing third tournament of season (8-2 record); in first two tournaments, reached SF at Doha (l. to Federer) and 3rd Rd. at Australian Open (l. to Dolgopolov in five sets - led two sets to one)
• Second appearance at Rotterdam (5-1 record); made QF in first appearance here in 2009 (l. to Nadal); is 3-0 so far this year (as No. 8 seed, d. qualifier Dimitrov in 1st Rd. and Llodra in 2nd Rd.; received walkover from No. 4 seed Berdych in QFs w/flu; d. No. 7 seed Ljubicic in SFs)

DOUBLES FINAL

(2) Melzer/Petzschner (AUT/GER) vs. (4) Llodra/Zimonjic (FRA/SRB)
• Jurgen Melzer and Philipp Petzschner, seeded No. 2, have lost one set en route to the final, against Lukas Dlouhy and Paul Hanley in the first round (76(3) 67(4) 104)
• Melzer and Petzscner are playing their third ATP World Tour doubles final together (they are 2-0 in their first two finals, including winning Wimbledon last summer)
• Michael Llodra and Nenad Zimonjic, seeded No. 4, have lost one set en route to the final, against Dutch wild cards Thiemo de Bakker and Robin Haase in the second round (64 67(5) 105); however they also got a semi-final walkover from Tomas Berdych and Philipp Kohlschreiber (Berdych: flu)
• Llodra and Zimonjic are playing their first ATP World Tour doubles final together
• ATP World Tour doubles finals records: Melzer (9-13), Petzschner (2-2), Llodra (18-16), Zimonjic (39-25)

SUNDAY PREVIEW – DEFENDING CHAMP VERDASCO TO MEET FIRST-TIME FINALIST RAONIC

Top seed and World No. 9 Fernando Verdasco of Spain looks to defend a title for the first time in his career as he faces top Canadian Milos Raonic for the first time. At 20 years, 1 month, 17 days, Raonic is trying to become the youngest winner on the ATP World Tour since Marin Cilic (19 years, 11 months) won in New Haven on Aug. 23, 2008. The last back-to-back SAP Open champion was Andy Murray in 2006-07. Both players, who are 7-2 on the season, have been at their top level this week, not dropping a set (14-0) and holding a combined 70 of 72 service games. Murray is the last player 20-under to win the title here (19 years, 9 months) in 2007. The last left-hander to win back-to-back Bay Area titles was John McEnroe in 1978-79.

WHAT’S AT STAKE –
Winner:  $92,000 and 250 South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking points
Runner-up: $48,300 and 150 South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking points

FINALS HISTORY –
Verdasco:  Appearing in his 14th career ATP World Tour level final….He is 5-8 in finals (2-2 in 2010) 
Raonic:       Appearing in his 1st career ATP World Tour final

BACK-TO-BACK WINNERS – Verdasco is trying to become the seventh player in the Open Era (since 1968) to win back-to-back titles in the Bay Area tournament:
   Years  
Andy Murray  2006-07
Andy Roddick   2004-05
Mark Philippoussis 1999-2000
Pete Sampras   1996-97
John McEnroe  1978-79
Stan Smith  1968-69

FIRST-TIME WINNERS – Raonic is attempting to become the fourth player to win his first career ATP World Tour title in the Open Era at this tournament:
                     Year
Andy Murray  2006
Renzo Furlan  1994
Michael Chang  1988
 
Sunday Championship FedEx ATP Head 2 Heads –

(1) Fernando Verdasco (ESP) vs Milos Raonic (CAN) First Meeting

Verdasco FastFacts:
2011 Highlights:
YTD W-L: 7-2
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 5
Date of Birth: November 15, 1983
South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking: 9

• Verdasco, 27, is looking to repeat an ATP World Tour title for the first time in his career
• The Madrid native is appearing in his 14th career ATP World Tour final (5-8) and he’s trying to capture his third title in the U.S. (’09 New Haven, ’10 San Jose)
• He leads the tournament in service games won (98%, 40 of 41) and the only time he was broken came (after 37 straight games held) in the fourth game of the second set vs. del Potro on Saturday
• He opened the season Down Under with a first round loss to Benjamin Becker in Brisbane and he followed with a fourth round showing at the Australian Open (l. to Berdych)

Raonic FastFacts:
2011 Highlights:
YTD W-L: 7-2
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 0
Date of Birth: December 27, 1990
South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking: 84

• Raonic, 20, who is appearing in his eighth career ATP World Tour level tournament, is playing his fifth career Top 10 opponent (1-3)
• At last month’s Australian Open, he qualified and posted wins over Bjorn Phau, No. 24 Michael Llodra and No. 10 Mikhail Youzhny before losing to No. 7 David Ferrer in four sets
• He leads the tournament in aces (45), first serve points won (87%) and is No. 2 in service games won (97%) and break points saved (80%, four of five)
• He is trying to become the first Canadian to win an ATP World Tour title since Greg Rusedski captured the title in Seoul in April 1995 (he also won in Newport in July 1993)
• The Thornhill, Ontario resident has made the biggest jump from last year’s year-end South African Airways ATP Rankings, improving from No. 156 to No. 84 and he is guaranteed to going to around No. 66 with his result thus far and around No. 59 if he wins the title
• At this time one year ago he was ranked No. 360 and he was in the middle of a European trip that consisted of the German Futures, French Futures and the qualifying at the Belgrade Challenger

MILOS ON THE MOVE – Here is a look at Raonic’s ranking improvement since finishing No. 156 at the end of last season:

Jan. 17 – No. 152  4th RD at Australian Open
Jan. 31 – No. 94 2nd RD in Johannesburg
Feb. 7  -- No. 84 Final in San Jose
Feb. 14 – around No. 66 (F), around No. 59 (W)

RAONIC VS. TOP 10 – Raonic has an 11-9 career record, including Davis Cup, and he is 1-3 vs. Top 10 foes:

2009 Montreal  lost to No. 10 Fernando Gonzalez 46 76(6) 64 – Held one match point
2010 Tokyo  lost to No. 1 Rafael Nadal  64 64
2011 Aust. Open def. No. 10 Mikhail Youzhny  64 75 46 64
2011 Aust. Open lost to No. 7 David Ferrer  46 62 63 64
 
DOUBLES PREVIEW –  S.Lipsky/R.Ram (USA/USA) vs. A.Falla/X.Malisse (COL/BEL)

Americans Scott Lipsky and Rajeev Ram take on the first-time pairing of Alejandro Falla of Colombia and Xavier Malisse of Belgium in Sunday’s doubles championship.

Lipsky-Ram started playing together in Atlanta last July and have compiled an 11-4 record together, winning that debut tournament in Atlanta and reaching finals at Johannesburg last week and here this week. In their first Grand Slam together at the Australian Open, they were the only team to take a set off eventual champions the Bryan brothers.

Lipsky and Ram haven't lost a set en route to this week's final, ousting the No.2 and No.4 seeds along the way. Additionally, Lipsky, 3-6 in finals, has won this doubles title before as well, alongside David Martin three years ago (d. Bryans). Ram, who is 4-2 in finals, is appearing in the San Jose final for the first time.

Falla, who is appearing in his first career ATP World Tour final, and Malisse, who is 4-1 in doubles finals, have certainly clicked right away, losing just five games in their first two matches and on Saturday night ousting the top seeds, Mark Knowles and Michal Mertinak. Falla is having by far his best doubles result - before this week he had never been to an ATP World Tour doubles final, and he has never been ranked in the Top 100 in the doubles discipline. Malisse has had plenty of success in this discipline however, formerly as high as No.28 in the world in doubles and winning four titles (including one Grand Slam title at Roland Garros in 2004 with fellow Belgian Olivier Rochus).