Sunday Briefing - Queen's, Halle

© Getty ImagesAndy Murray is looking to become the first British player since Francis Lowe in 1914 to win two singles titles at The Queen's Club.

SUNDAY PREVIEW – TSONGA LOOKS TO END FRENCH DROUGHT, MURRAY  EYES SECOND TITLE

Fifth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga attempts to become the first French champion in the history of the Queen’s Club (since 1890) as he takes on No. 2 seed and 2009 winner Andy Murray in Sunday’s AEGON Championships final. Both players, who have dropped one set en route to the title match, are appearing in their second final of the season. Tsonga was runner-up in Rotterdam in February and Murray was a finalist at the Australian Open in January. Tsonga is trying to become the first player to defeat the No. 1 & 2 seeds en route to the title since Tim Mayotte in 1986. The Frenchman defeated No. 1 Rafael Nadal in the quarter-finals Friday.

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Murray has won four of the previous five ATP World Tour level meetings, including a quarter-final at Wimbledon last year. They played once in a Challenger in Nottingham in 2004 and Tsonga won 76 62 en route to the title.

Murray, who won the title two years ago (d. Blake), is trying to become the first British player to win the Queen’s Club title at least twice since Francis Gordon Lowe won the title three times (1913-14, ’25). He was 3-2 in finals. Murray is trying to become the eighth player to win at least two Queen’s Club titles in the Open Era. This is Tsonga’s first ATP World Tour final on grass. He’s won two British Challenger grass titles (’04 Nottingham, ’07 Surbiton).

WHAT’S AT STAKE –
Winner   €77,500 and 250 South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking points
Runner-up  €44,100 and 150 South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking points

FINALS HISTORY –
Tsonga  Appearing in his 8th career ATP World Tour level final……..5-2 in finals (0-1 in 2011)
Murray  Appearing in his 26th career ATP World Tour level final……16-9 in finals (0-1 in 2011)

FRENCHMEN IN FINALS – This is the fifth time a Frenchman is in the Queen’s Club final in the Open Era and he’s trying to become the first French player to win the title in the history of the tournament (since 1890):
2007 – Nicolas Mahut lost to Andy Roddick 46 76(7) 76(2)
2004 – Sebastien Grosjean lost to Andy Roddick 76(4) 64
2003 – Sebastien Grosjean lost to Andy Roddick 63 63
1995 – Guy Forget lost to Pete Sampras 76(3) 76(6)

MULTIPLE QUEEN’S CLUB WINNERS – Murray is looking to join this impressive list of former World No. 1s and become the eighth different player to win at least two Queens’ Club titles in the Open Era:

   No. Years
Boris Becker  4 1985, ’87-88, ‘96
Lleyton Hewitt  4 2000-01-02, ‘06
Andy Roddick   4 2003-04-05, ‘07
John McEnroe   4  1979-80-81, ‘84
Jimmy Connors  3  1972, 1982-83
Ivan Lendl  2 1989-90
Pete Sampras  2  1995, ‘99
 
SUNDAY CHAMPIONSHIP FED-EX HEAD 2 HEAD –

(5) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) vs (2) Andy Murray (GBR)  Murray Leads 4-1
07 Metz (France) Hard QF Andy Murray 6-3 6-3
08 Australian Open (Australia) Hard R128 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-5 6-4  0-6 7-6(5)
09 ATP Masters 1000 Montreal (Canada)Hard SF Andy Murray 6-4 7-6(8)
10 Wimbledon (Great Britain) Grass QF Andy Murray 6-7(5) 7-6(5) 6-2 6-2
10 ATP Masters 1000 Shanghai (China) Hard QF Andy Murray 6-2 6-2
Other Meeting:
04 Nottingham CH (England) Grass R16 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-6(5) 6-2

Tsonga FastFacts:
2011 Highlights:
F: Rotterdam (l Soderling); SF: Doha (l Federer); QF: Marseille (l Youzhny)
YTD W-L: 21-11
YTD Titles:
Career Titles: 5
Date of Birth: April 17, 1985
South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking: 19
* Second appearance (2007, ‘11) at Queen’s Club (6-1 record, In Final in 2011)
* Career W-L on grass: 15-5

* The Frenchman leads the tournament in first serve pts. won (87%) and is No. 2 in service games won (34 of 36,  94%) and aces (47)…He is the first Frenchman to reach the final here since 2007 when Nicolas Mahut was runner-up (l. to Roddick)…A Frenchman has never won the singles title in the history of the Queen’s Club
* He is appearing in his second ATP World Tour final of the year…He was runner-up in Rotterdam (l. to Soderling) in February…He also was a semi-finalist in Doha (l. to Federer) in the first week of the year
* He is trying to become the second Frenchman to win an ATP World Tour title this season (Gilles Simon won Sydney in January)
* Has a 5-2 career mark in ATP World Tour level finals

Murray FastFacts:
2011 Highlights:
F: Australian Open (l Djokovic); SF: ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Monte Carlo (l Nadal); ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Rome (l Djokovic); Roland Garros (l Nadal)
YTD W-L: 21-8
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 16
Date of Birth: May 15, 1987
South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking: 4
* Sixth appearance (2005-06, ’08-11) at Queen’s Club (13-3 record, Winner in 2009)
* Career W-L on grass: 43-11 (1 title)

* The British No. 1 is trying to capture his second Queen’s Club title in three years (d. Blake in ’09)…In handing Andy Roddick his worst loss (63 61) on grass in semi-finals, fired 13 aces and only lost nine points in eight service games (never facing break point)
* This week he leads the tournament in second serve pts. won (70%) and for the season he was at 44%...Has held serve 31 of 34 games (91%) and coming in was at 73% on the year…Has broken 10 of 34 games (29%)
* He opened the season with his third Grand Slam runner-up at the Australian Open (l. to Djokovic) and he then lost three straight opening round matches before turning it around in April with a semi-final in Monte-Carlo… Has reached the semi-finals or better in four of his past five tournaments and is 15-4 during that stretch
* Has a 16-9 career record in ATP World Tour level finals and his last title came in ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Shanghai last October (d. Federer)

DOUBLES PREVIEW – BRYAN BROTHERS MEET BHUPATHI-PAES IN AUST. OPEN REMATCH
• World No. 1 and three-time Queen’s Club champions Bob and Mike Bryan take on the No. 3 seeded Indian duo of  Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes in Sunday’s doubles final. In January, the Americans prevailed 6-3, 6-4 in the Australian Open final.
• The Bryans are attempting to capture their fifth title of the season in their seventh final. They won their third straight crown at the Australian Open in January, and were winners on clay in Houston and Monte-Carlo in April and Madrid last month. They were finalists in Sydney in January and Barcelona in April.
• The Bryans, who are playing at the Queen’s Club for the 12th time in 13 years, are appearing in their fifth final after capturing titles in 2001, ’04-05 and finishing runner-up in ‘07. They have a 24-8 career mark at the tournament.
• The Bryans have a 71-40 career record in doubles finals and last year they finished as the No. 1 team for a record sixth time in the past eight years.
• Bhupathi and Paes are trying to capture their first Queen’s Club title. They played together four times previously (1997-99, ’01) and went 7-4. Bhupathi was runner-up in 2002-03 (w/Mirnyi). This is Paes’ first final.
• Bhupathi and Paes have a 20-5 match record on the season. They opened the season with a title in Chennai and followed with a runner-up at the Australian Open. In April, they won the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title in Miami. They have a 25-11 career mark in finals together. Bhupathi is 48-39 lifetime in doubles finals while Paes is 46-33 in finals.

HALLE SUNDAY PREVIEW - ALL-GERMAN FINAL AFTER PHILIPPS STUN TOP 10 PLAYERS IN SEMI-FINALS

A pair of talented Germans overcame two of the ATP World Tour’s Top 10 stars in the semi-finals of the Gerry Weber Open and on Sunday will face off in their home event’s final. This is the first all-German final on the ATP World Tour since July 18, 2004 when Tommy Haas defeated Nicolas Kiefer in straight sets in the final of Los Angeles. This tournament is the first all-German final in the tournament’s 19-year history and also guarantees its fifth German champion (Michael Stich in 1994, Kiefer in 1999, David Prinosil in 2000 and Haas in 2009).

This is the first all-German final in an ATP World Tour level tournament in this country since Berlin in June 1973 when Hans Pohmann defeated Karl Meiler. It also happened in Duesseldorf that year but it was an event featuring mostly local players as Pohmann beat Jurgen Fassbender in the final.

Unseeded and No. 49-ranked  Philipp Kohlschreiber was always a strong performer at this event and has now moved into the final once more, hoping to go one further than his runner-up finish to Roger Federer in 2008. The 27-year-old has upset two seeds this week - No. 7 Alexandr Dolgopolov and No. 3 Gael Monfils (his win over the No. 8-ranked Monfils improved his career record against Top 10 players on grass to 5-5). He will now go for his third ATP World Tour title (he already has one title on clay and one title on hard courts).

The other unseeded German is No. 71-ranked Philipp Petzschner, who is also 27. He was a semi-finalist here last year and he has gone one better this year, also taking out a pair of seeded players along the way, No. 8  Milos Raonic and No. 2 Tomas Berdych (his win over the No. 7-ranked Berdych improved his career record against Top 10 players on grass to 2-2). He will now go for his second ATP World Tour title in as many finals (in his first career ATP World Tour final, at the indoor event in Vienna in 2008, he beat Monfils in straight sets).

Kohlschreiber won the pair’s first two meetings last year in straight sets but Petzschner won their last meeting in the second round of Dubai in late February. This is their first meeting on grass. The champion will be the first German winner on the ATP World Tour since Benjamin Becker in ‘s-Hertogenbosch in June 2009.

WHAT’S AT STAKE
Winner   €114,750 and 250 South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking points
Runner-up    €60,400 and 150 South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking points

FINALS HISTORY
Kohlschreiber  Appearing in his 5th ATP World Tour final (2-2 in first four… 0-1 on grass)
Petzschner Appearing in his 2nd ATP World Tour final (1-0 in first one… first on grass)
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          SUNDAY FINAL FED-EX HEAD-TO-HEAD

Stadium

Philipp Kohlschreiber (GER) vs. Philipp Petzschner (GER)       Kohlschreiber leads, 2-1
10 Indian Wells (USA) Hard R64    Philipp Kohlschreiber  6-3 6-2
10 Monte-Carlo (Monaco) Clay R16    Philipp Kohlschreiber  6-3 6-4
11 Dubai (UAE) Hard R16    Philipp Petzschner      6-0 4-6 6-2

Kohlschreiber FastFacts:
2011 Highlights:
QF: Auckland (l Ferrer); Munich (l Stepanek)
YTD W-L: 19-14
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 2
Date of Birth: October 16, 1983
South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking: 49

• Before this week, had not been past the QFs or any tournament this year (best previous results were two QFs)
• Seventh appearance in Halle (18-6 record); this is fourth time reaching SFs here, after runner-up finish in 2008 (l. to Federer) and two other SF finishes in 2007 (l. to Baghdatis) and 2009 (l. to Haas); is 4-0 so far this year (d. qualifier Stebe in 1st Rd., No. 7 seed Dolgopolov in 2nd Rd., Hewitt in QFs and No. 3 seed Monfils in SFs)
• Career-high is No. 22 (set September 28, 2009)
• Career record on grass is 28-15

Petzschner FastFacts:
2011 Highlights:
SF: Munich (l Mayer); QF: Dubai (l Berdych)
YTD W-L: 18-11
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 1
Date of Birth: March 24, 1984
South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking: 71

• Playing first final of year (best previous result was one SF at Munich - l. to Mayer)
• Fourth appearance in Halle (8-3 record); fell early in first two attempts (1st Rd. in 2008, 2nd Rd. in 2009) but reached SF last year (l. to Federer); is 4-0 so far this year (d. LL Meffert in 1st Rd., Gimeno-Traver in 2nd Rd., No. 8 seed Raonic in QFs and No. 2 seed Berdych in SFs)
• Career-high is No. 35 (set September 14, 2009)
• Career record on grass is 15-12

DOUBLES FINAL – (1) Bopanna/Qureshi (IND/PAK) vs. Haase/Raonic (NED/CAN)
• Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi, the No. 1 seeds this week, haven’t had to play any seeded teams but have lost two sets along the way (to Brown/Monfils in the QFs and to Kas/Kohlschreiber in the SFs)
• Bopanna and Qureshi are playing their ninth ATP World Tour doubles final together (1-7 in first 8)
• Robin Haase and Milos Raonic, unseeded, also haven’t had to play any seeded teams, and have also lost two sets along the way (to Mayer/Wassen in the 1st Rd. and to Hewitt/Luczak in the SFs)
• Haase and Raonic are playing their first ATP World Tour doubles final together
• ATP World Tour doubles final records: Bopanna (2-12), Qureshi (1-7), Haase (1-2), Raonic (0-0)