HAMBURG THURSDAY PREVIEW –  FIVE GERMANS, SEVEN OF TOP EIGHT SEEDS REMAIN GOING INTO RD 16
An outstanding Round of 16 line-up on Thursday at bet-at-home Open German Tennis Championships 2011 features five Germans and seven of the top eight seeds in action.

In the opening match on Centre Court, No. 12 seed Marin Cilic of Croatia takes on German wild card Tobias Kamke for the first time.  Cilic is trying to reach the quarter-finals or better for the seventh time this season. He has a 24-13 match record (9-5 on clay). His best result was a runner-up in Marseille (l. to Soderling) in February. Kamke has dropped only seven games in his first two wins this week and he upset No. 7 seed Juan Ignacio Chela 61 64 on Tuesday. Kamke, who was last year’s ATP World Tour Newcomer of the Year, is trying to reach his second quarter-final (or better) in the past three tournaments. Two weeks ago he reached his first ATP World Tour semi-final in Newport (l. to Isner).

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In the second match, No. 4 seed and top Russian Mikhail Youzhny meets German wild card Julian Reister for the first time. Youzhny is trying to reach his first quarter-final since February when he advanced to the semi-finals in Marseille (l. to Cilic). He also was a quarter-finalist in Rotterdam (l. to Soderling). Youzhny is playing in Hamburg for the eighth time in nine years (except last year) and he is 8-8. His best result was the quarter-finals in 2004. Reister is making his second straight appearance in the third round here and he’s trying to reach his first career ATP World Tour quarter-final.

In the third match, top seed Gael Monfils of France brings a 4-2 career mark against Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic.  Monfils is ranked a career-high No. 7 and he enters with a 20-8 match record on the season (10-5 on clay). His best results this season are a pair of semi-finals and quarter-finals, including at Roland Garros. Stepanek, who reached the final in Hamburg in 2006 (l. to Robredo), is attempting to reach his fourth ATP World Tour quarter-final or better this year. His best finishes are the semi-finals in Brisbane in January and Munich in May. Stepanek is 21-50 lifetime vs. Top 10 opponents and he’s trying to break a seven-match losing streak (0-4 in ’11) since defeating No. 5 Juan Martin del Potro in QFs at ’09 ATP Masters 1000 Paris.

In the fourth match, top German and No. 6 seed Florian Mayer owns a 4-1 record against Argentine Juan Monaco. Mayer comes in with a 31-18 match record on the year (14-7 on clay) and his best result was a runner-up in Munich in May (l. to Davydenko). Mayer also has been to the quarter-finals or better in six other tournaments. Last year Mayer reached the semi-finals here (l. to eventual champ Golubev). Mayer, at No. 20, is the highest-ranked player on the ATP World Tour without a career title. Monaco’s best results this year are the quarter-finals in Buenos Aires and Acapulco in February.

In the final match, German No. 2 Philipp Kohlschreiber squares off for the fifth time (tied 2-2) with No. 3 seed Nicolas Almagro of Spain. Kohlschreiber is appearing in the third round for the third straight year (5-7 mark). Last month Kohlschreiber captured his third career ATP World Tour title in Halle (d. Petzschner). He also was a quarter-finalist in Munich in May. Almagro leads the ATP World Tour with a 27-7 clay court record (most wins) and he has captured a personal-best three titles.

On outside court matches, No. 2 seed and last year’s finalist Jurgen Melzer of Austria takes on No. 15 Fabio Fognini of Italy, No. 5 Gilles Simon of France plays Jarkko Nieminen of Finland and No. 8 Fernando Verdasco of Spain meets 20-year-old German wild card Cedrik-Marcel Stebe.

THURSDAY THIRD ROUND  FED-EX HEAD 2 HEADS – In Order of Play by Court

Centre Court 

(12) Marin Cilic (CRO) vs (WC) Tobias Kamke (GER)  First Meeting

Cilic FastFacts:
2011 Highlights:
F: Marseille (l Soderling); QF: Zagreb (l Mayer); Rotterdam (l Troicki); Munich (l Davydenko); ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Rome (l Nadal); London / Queen's Club (W/O vs Murray)
YTD W-L: 24-13 (9-5 on clay)
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 5
Date of Birth: September 28, 1988
South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking: 32
 
Kamke FastFacts:
2011 Highlights:
SF: Newport (l Isner)
YTD W-L: 10-14 (3-4 on clay)
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 0
Date of Birth: May 21, 1986
South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking: 90

(4) Mikhail Youzhny (RUS) vs (WC) Julian Reister (GER)  First Meeting

Youzhny FastFacts:
2011 Highlights:
SF: Marseille (l Cilic); QF: Rotterdam (l Soderling)
YTD W-L: 16-14 (6-8 on clay)
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 7
Date of Birth: June 25, 1982
South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking: 17

Reister FastFacts:
2011 Highlights:
YTD W-L: 3-6 (3-3 on clay)
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 0
Date of Birth: April 2, 1986
South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking: 155

(1)Gael Monfils (FRA) vs Radek Stepanek (CZE) Monfils Leads 4-2
05 ATP Masters 1000 Cincinnati (USA) Hard R64 Gael Monfils 6-3 6-2
07 ATP Masters 1000 Monte Carlo  Clay R64 Radek Stepanek 6-0 2-0 ret
08 Vienna (Austria) Hard R16 Gael Monfils 6-4 6-3
09 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Paris  Hard SF Gael Monfils 6-4 5-7 6-4
10 Brisbane (Australia) Hard SF Radek Stepanek 6-2 6-1
10 Tokyo (Japan) Hard SF Gael Monfils 6-3 6-3

Monfils FastFacts:
2011 Highlights:
SF: San Jose (W/O vs Raonic); Halle (l Kohlschreiber); QF: Barcelona (l Nadal); Roland Garros (l Federer)
YTD W-L: 20-8 (10-5 on clay)
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 3
Date of Birth: September 1, 1986
South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking: 7

Stepanek FastFacts:
2011 Highlights:
SF: Brisbane (l Soderling); Munich (l Davydenko); QF: Eastbourne (l Nishikori)
YTD W-L: 17-15 (6-5 on clay)
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 4
Date of Birth: November 27, 1978
South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking: 57

(6) Florian Mayer (GER) vs Juan Monaco (ARG) Mayer Leads 4-1
04 Kitzbuhel (Austria) Clay R16 Florian Mayer 6-4 6-4
05 Casablanca (Morocco) Clay R16 Juan Monaco 7-6(4) 6-0
05 Kitzbuhel (Austria) Clay R64 Florian Mayer 5-7 7-6(4)  6-4
06 Adelaide (Australia) Hard R32 Florian Mayer 6-2 6-4
11 ATP World Team Chp. (Duesseldorf) Clay F Florian Mayer 7-6(4) 6-0

Mayer FastFacts:
2011 Highlights:
F: Munich (l Davydenko); SF: Sydney (l Troicki); Zagreb (l Berrer); QF: Brisbane (l Stepanek); Dubai (l Djokovic); ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Rome (l Murray); Halle (l Monfils)
YTD W-L: 31-18 (14-7 on clay)
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 0
Date of Birth: October 5, 1983
South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking: 20

Monaco FastFacts:
2011 Highlights:
QF: Buenos Aires (l Wawrinka); Acapulco (l Ferrer)
YTD W-L: 18-16 (16-11 on clay)
YTD Titles: 0/Career Titles: 3
Date of Birth: March 29, 1984
South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking: 42

Philipp Kohlschreiber (GER) vs (3) Nicolas Almagro (ESP) Tied 2-2
05 Roland Garros (France) Clay R128 Nicolas Almagro 7-6(4) 6-4 6-3
09 ATP Masters 1000 Madrid (Spain) Clay R64 Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-3  6-4
09 ATP Masters 1000 Shanghai (China) Hard R64 Nicolas Almagro 6-7(2) 6-1 7-6(6)
09 Vienna (Austria) Hard QF Philipp Kohlschreiber 7-5 6-4
Other Meeting:
04 Reggio Emilia CH (Italy) Clay SF Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-7(5) 7-5 7-6(7)
 
Kohlschreiber FastFacts:
2011 Highlights:
W: Halle (d Petzschner); QF: Auckland (l Ferrer); Munich (l Stepanek)
7YTD W-L: 22-17 (8-8 on clay)
YTD Titles: 1
Career Titles: 3
Date of Birth: October 16, 1983
South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking: 43

Almagro FastFacts:
2011 Highlights:
W: Costa Do Sauipe (d Dolgopolov); Buenos Aires (d Chela); Nice (d Hanescu); F: Acapulco (l Ferrer); SF: Auckland (l Nalbandian); Barcelona (l Ferrer); Bastad (l Ferrer)
YTD W-L: 36-13 (27-7 on clay)
YTD Titles: 3
Career Titles: 10
Date of Birth: August 21, 1985
South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking: 14

M 1 Court

(15) Fabio Fognini (ITA) vs (2) Jurgen Melzer (AUT)  Melzer Leads 1-0
10 Auckland (New Zealand) Hard R32 Jurgen Melzer 5-7 6-3 6-2

(8) Fernando Verdasco (ESP) vs (WC) Cedrik-Marcel Stebe (GER)  First Meeting

M 2 Court

Jarkko Nieminen (FIN) vs (5) Gilles Simon (FRA)  Nieminen Leads 2-1
06 Marseille (France) Hard R32 Gilles Simon 4-6 6-3 6-2
06 Rotterdam (The Netherlands) Hard R16 Jarkko Nieminen 7-6(1) 6-1
10 Hamburg (Germany) Clay R32 Jarkko Nieminen 6-4 3-6 7-5

ATLANTA THURSDAY PREVIEW - AMERICAN NO. 1 FISH IN ACTION AS SECOND ROUND WRAPS UP
The last four quarter-final berths are up for grabs at the Atlanta Tennis Championships on Thursday, with eight more players gunning for the final eight at the ATP World Tour 250 tournament.

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First up on Stadium court is No. 4 seed Xavier Malisse against American teenager Ryan Harrison. Malisse, who celebrated his birthday on Tuesday and is playing his first match as a 31-year-old, started the year at No. 60 but is now No. 40 after some strong results in the first half of the season, most notably reaching his 12th career ATP World Tour final in Chennai and deep runs in his last two tournaments, reaching the semi-finals at ‘s-Hertogenbosch and the fourth round of Wimbledon. The 19-year-old, 120th-ranked Harrison lost the pair’s only previous meeting, on the Challenger circuit in 2009, but he wasn’t even ranked in the Top 1800 at the time.

Next up is former World No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt against American qualifier Rajeev Ram. After a series of injuries over the last year, Hewitt has slipped to No. 174 in the rankings; the most recent injury came to his left foot, an injury that required surgery and kept him out between March and June. He has won five of eight matches since coming back and is hoping to make it further than he did here last year, where he lost his second round match (after a first round bye, losing to Lukas Lacko in straight sets). He has never played Ram before but Ram is only in his second ATP World Tour-level tournament of 2011 - he lost first round in San Jose to Fernando Verdasco.

Last up is No. 1 seed Mardy Fish against France’s Nicolas Mahut. Exactly one year ago Fish was at No. 49 coming into this tournament, but he has risen by a long way since then - he is now ranked No. 9 and the top  American player. He won this title last year too - and now he begins his defense against Mahut, who took out young Lithuanian Richard Berankis in the first round. But Mahut hasn’t won back-to-back ATP World Tour matches in more than two years, and Fish has won both of his previous meetings with Mahut, both on outdoor hard courts like these - although their last meeting was four and a half years ago at the 2007 Australian Open.

THURSDAY SECOND ROUND FED-EX HEAD 2 HEADS - In Order of Play by Court

Stadium

(4) Xavier Malisse (BEL) vs Ryan Harrison (USA) First ATP Meeting
Other Meeting:
09 Sarasota CH (USA) Clay QF Xavier Malisse 6-1 6-3

Malisse FastFacts:
2011 Highlights:
F: Chennai (l Wawrinka); SF: s-Hertogenbosch (l Tursunov)
YTD W-L: 20-16 (9-8 on hard)
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 3
Date of Birth: July 19, 1980
South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking: 40

Harrison FastFacts:
2011 Highlights:
YTD W-L: 5-10 (4-5 on hard)
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 0
Date of Birth: May 7, 1992
South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking: 120

Lleyton Hewitt (AUS) vs (Q) Rajeev Ram (USA) First Meeting

Hewitt FastFacts:
2011 Highlights:
QF: San Jose (l Del Potro); Memphis (l Roddick); Halle (l Kohlschreiber)
YTD W-L: 9-7 (6-4 on hard)
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 28
Date of Birth: February 24, 1981
South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking: 174

Ram FastFacts:
2011 Highlights:
YTD W-L: 1-1 (1-1 on hard)
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 1
Date of Birth: March 18, 1984
South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking: 272

(1)Mardy Fish (USA) vs Nicolas Mahut (FRA)  Fish Leads 2-0
06 ATP Masters 1000 Cincinnati  Hard R64 Mardy Fish 6-1 6-3
07 Australian Open (Australia) Hard R64 Mardy Fish 7-5 6-4 3-6 6-4

Fish FastFacts:
2011 Highlights:
SF: Memphis (l Raonic); Delray Beach (l Del Potro); ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Miami (l Djokovic); QF: Houston (l Nishikori); Wimbledon (l Nadal)
YTD W-L: 22-14 (12-8 on hard)
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 5
Date of Birth: December 9, 1981
South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking: 9

Mahut FastFacts:
2011 Highlights:
YTD W-L: 6-7 (3-2 on hard)
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 0
Date of Birth: January 21, 1982
South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking: 97

Court 1

Tatsuma Ito (JPN) vs (8) Somdev Devvarman (IND)  First ATP Meeting
Other Meeting:
09 Washington Q (U.S.A.) Hard -- Somdev Devvarman 6-3 6-3

Ito FastFacts:
2011 Highlights:
YTD W-L: 2-1
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 0
Date of Birth: May 18, 1988
South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking: 106

Devvarman FastFacts:
2011 Highlights:
F: Johannesburg (l Anderson); QF: Belgrade (l Tipsarevic)
YTD W-L: 16-14
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 0
Date of Birth: February 13, 1985
South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking: 68