Final Briefing - Metz, Bucharest

© Moselle OpenJo-Wilfried Tsonga is aiming to win his sixth ATP World Tour title in Metz.

SUNDAY PREVIEW –  TSONGA, LJUBICIC MEET FOR FIRST ATP WORLD TOUR TITLE OF YEAR

The Moselle Open championship on Sunday features top seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France against No. 4 seed and 2005 champion Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia. Tsonga is attempting to become the third straight French winner in Metz and he’s trying to earn his first ATP World Tour title since Oct. 11, 2009 in Tokyo. Ljubicic is looking to become the first player to win the singles title twice since the tournament began in 2003. The 32-year-old Ljubicic is making his first ATP World Tour final appearance of the season.

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Tsonga, who is appearing in his third final of the season, is 5-3 lifetime in ATP World Tour level finals. This is the Frenchman’s first final in Metz. He is trying to become the second Frenchman to win a title this year. Gilles Simon, who won the title here last year, is a two-time winner this season (Sydney, Hamburg). Ljubicic is 10-13 in ATP World Tour finals and his last final came on Oct. 31, 2010 in Montpellier (l. to Monfils). His last title came on Mar. 21, 2010 at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 in Indian Wells (d. Roddick).

Tsonga is No. 7 in the ATP year-to-date singles rankings and he’s trying to qualify for one of the remaining four spots in the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London. He is 40-18 in 2011 and his best results are runner-up showings in Rotterdam (l. to Soderling) in February and the Queen’s Club in London (l. to Murray) in June.

WHAT’S AT STAKE –
      Winner:                 €€72,600 and 250 South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking points
      Runner-up:             €38,200 and 150 South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking points
 
FINALS HISTORY –
      Tsonga:                 Appearing in his 9th ATP World Tour final……….He is 5-3 in finals (0-2 in 2011)
      Ljubicic:                 Appearing in his 24th ATP World Tour final……..He is 10-13 in finals (first in 2011)
 
FRENCH WINNERS IN METZ – Tsonga is attempting to become the fifth French winner (third in a row) to capture the Metz title (since 2003):
2010 – Gilles Simon
2009 – Gael Monfils
2004 – Jerome Haehnel
2003 – Arnaud Clement
 
BATTLE FOR LONDON -- There are four positions remaining for the season-ending Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London and Tsonga is No. 7. Tsonga has added 60 points so far and with win will add 100 more pts.:
          2011 Points
1 Novak Djokovic-X 12,250   
2 Rafael Nadal-X  7,645  
3 Andy Murray-X   5,450  
4 Roger Federer-X  5,170  
5 David Ferrer    3,600  
6 Mardy Fish    2,685   
7 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga   2,500 (add 100 pts.w/title)   
8 Tomas Berdych   2,350    X-Qualified

SUNDAY CHAMPIONSHIP FEDEX HEAD 2 HEADS –
(1)Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) vs (4) Ivan Ljubicic (CRO) Ljubicic Leads 3-2
09 Australian Open (Australia) Hard R64 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-7(4)  7-6(8) 7-6(7) 6-2
09 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Madrid Clay R32 Ivan Ljubicic 6-4 7-5
10 Dubai (U.A.E.) Hard R16 Ivan Ljubicic 7-5 6-3
11 Rotterdam (The Netherlands) Hard (I) SF Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-4 7-6(6)
11 ATP Masters 1000 Monte Carlo  Clay R32 Ivan Ljubicic 7-6(2)  6-4

 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga-Ivan Ljubicic
 Sets Won: 5-7
 Tiebreak Sets Won: 3-2
 Match Wins By Surface:
 Clay: 0-2
 Hard: 2-1

Tsonga FastFacts:
2011 Highlights:
F: Rotterdam (l Soderling); London / Queen's Club (l Murray); SF: Doha (l Federer); Wimbledon (l Djokovic); ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Montreal (l Djokovic); QF: Marseille (l Youzhny); US Open (l Federer)
YTD W-L: 40-18
YTD Titles: 0/Career Titles: 5
Date of Birth: April 17, 1985
South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking: 10

• Tsonga, 26, the No. 2 Frenchman (behind No. 7 Monfils) is appearing in his third ATP World Tour final of the season and he enters with a 40-18 match record, 23-9 on hard…He moved back into the Top 10 on Sept. 12 after reaching the quarter-finals at the US Open (l. to Federer)
• His best results this season are a pair of runner-up showings in Rotterdam on Feb. 13 (l. No. 4 Soderling) and at the Queen’s Club in London (l. to Murray) in June…He is 5-3 lifetime in finals and his last title came in Tokyo on Oct. 15, 2009 (d. Youzhny)
• This week has hit 36 aces and has held serve 33 of 36 games (92%)
• In July at Wimbledon he advanced to the semi-finals (d. No. 6 Ferrer, No. 3 Federer in SF from 0-2 sets down, l. to Djokovic)…In next outing at ATP Masters 1000 Montreal, reached semi-finals (l. to Djokovic)
• Played in Davis Cup semi-final last weekend vs. Spain and lost to Nadal in fourth rubber (won doubles)
• He began the year with a semi-final in Doha (l. to No. 2 Federer) and followed with a third round at the Australian Open (l. to Dolgopolov in five sets)
• Then in Rotterdam, he defeated Dimitrov, Llodra, walkover vs. No. 7 Berdych, and No. 15 Ljubicic before falling to Soderling…Followed with quarter-final in Marseille (l. to Youzhny)
• He is trying to become the second Frenchman to win an ATP World Tour title this season…Gilles Simon has accounted for both French titles, winning in Sydney and Hamburg…France is 2-4 in finals

Ljubicic FastFacts:
2011 Highlights:
SF: Rotterdam (l Tsonga); QF: Zagreb (l Dodig); ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Monte Carlo (l Nadal)
YTD W-L: 21-15
YTD Titles: 0/Career Titles: 10
Date of Birth: March 19, 1979
South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking: 29

• Ljubicic, 32, is appearing in his first final of the season and 24th career ATP World Tour final (10-13), the first since Montpellier on Oct. 31, 2010 (l. to Monfils)…His last title came at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 in Indian Wells on Mar. 21, 2010 (d. Roddick)
• He enters with a 21-15 match record, 11-8 on hard courts (8-3 indoor)… He also reached the quarter-finals in Zagreb (l. to Dodig) and ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Monte-Carlo (l. to Nadal)
• Looking to become second-oldest winner in 2011 (at 32 yrs., 6 mons), behind Stepanek (32 yrs, 8 mons), who won in Washington
• Has an 11-4 career mark in Metz and captured the title in 2005 (d. Monfils)…Since title, went 1-3 in his next three visits coming into this week
• Has not been broken this week (34 games held) and leads in aces (52)…Had 26 in first two matches and 26 in semi-final win on Saturday
• As defending champion in Indian Wells, he lost in his opening match to del Potro and afterwards fell from No. 16 to No. 38 on Mar. 21
• Croatia is 1-3 in ATP World Tour finals this season and the lone winner is Ivan Dodig (Zagreb)

DOUBLES FINAL – FIRST-TIME DUOS J. MURRAY-SA, DLOUHY-MELO SQUARE OFF
A pair of first-time duos meet in the doubles final as unseeded Jamie Murray of Great Britain and  Andre Sa of Brazil meet No. 2 seeds Lukas Dlouhy of the Czech Republic and Marcelo Melo of Brazil. Both teams have lost one set en route to the final.
 
Murray is making his first ATP World Tour final showing of the season. He is 5-4 lifetime in finals and his last title came in November last year in Valencia (w/brother Andy). Sa is aiming for his first ATP World Tour title of the season (0-2) and first since May 2009 in Kitzbuehel. He was runner-up in Buenos Aires in February and Kitzbuehel in August (w/Ferreiro). He is 6-11 in his career in ATP World Tour finals.

Dlouhy is trying to earn his career-best third ATP World Tour title of the season. He began the first two weeks of the year with back-to-back titles in Brisbane and Sydney (w/Hanley). He is 10-12 lifetime in finals. Melo is 2-1 in finals this year, winning in Santiago and Costa do Sauipe (w/Soares) in February. He also was runner-up in Acapulco. He is 9-8 in career ATP World Tour finals.

SUNDAY PREVIEW - ANDUJAR STANDS IN WAY OF MAYER AND FIRST ATP WORLD TOUR TITLE

Germany’s No. 1 player is having the best year of his career, but there’s one thing missing - an ATP World Tour title. Will he come through in the final of the last clay court event of the year, the BDR Nastase Tiriac Trophy?

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No. 2 seed Florian Mayer has been having the best year of his career. Having never gone higher than No. 33 in the world before 2011, he shattered that with a new career-high of No. 18 in June (spending a total of nine weeks inside the Top 20). He made the quarter-finals or better at an ATP World Tour event for the ninth time this year here in Bucharest. At No. 24 he is the second-highest ranked player not to have a title to his name, after No. 17 Janko Tipsarevic - but he has a chance to change all of that now, as he has stormed into the final this week. He has an 0-4 career record in ATP World Tour finals, losing at Sopot in 2005 and ‘06, Stockholm last season and Munich in May (he did push three of those four finals to three sets).

No. 4 seed Pablo Andujar made his first final in Bucharest a year ago as a No. 105-ranked qualifier. Things have changed a lot for the Spaniard in that time, earlier this year winning his first title in Casablanca and reaching another final at Stuttgart (finishing runner-up to Juan Carlos Ferrero), and now reaching his fourth career final. He has a 1-2 career record in ATP World Tour finals. Though he may have the odds against him as he faces the No. 2-seeded Mayer today, he did already beat the No. 1 seed this week, Juan Ignacio Chela (whom he lost to in last year’s final). Andujar did also beat Mayer at this same tournament a year ago.

This is the 19th edition of the BDR Nastase Tiriac Trophy, which started on the ATP World Tour in 1993. Mayer would be the first German to win here; Andujar would be the eighth Spaniard to win it after Alberto Berasategui, Francisco Clavet, Alberto Martin, Juan Balcells, David Ferrer, David Sanchez and Albert Montanes.

WHAT’S AT STAKE
 Winner   €67,650 and 250 South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking points  
 Runner-up  €35,600 and 150 South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking points

FINALS HISTORY
Andujar is appearing in his 4th career ATP World Tour final (1-2 in career finals, 1-1 this year)
Mayer is appearing in his 5th career ATP World Tour final (0-4 in career finals, 0-1 this year)

First-Time ATP Winners (8) - Mayer is trying to be the ninth first-time winner on the ATP World Tour this year. Players trying to win their first ATP World Tour title are 8-9 in finals this year. Here is a look at the winners list:
  
Player/Nationality Age Tournament
Kevin Anderson (RSA) 24 Johannesburg
Ivan Dodig (CRO) 26 Zagreb
Milos Raonic (CAN) 20 San Jose
Pablo Andujar (ESP) 25 Casablanca
Ryan Sweeting (USA) 23 Houston
Andreas Seppi (ITA) 27 Eastbourne
Alexandr Dolgopolov (UKR) 22 Umag
Robin Haase (NED) 24 Kitzbuehel

SUNDAY CHAMPIONSHIP FEDEX HEAD 2 HEADS –

(4) Pablo Andujar (ESP) vs (2) Florian Mayer (GER) Andujar Leads 1-0
10 Bucharest (Romania) Clay R16 Pablo Andujar 6-3 3-6 6-2
Other Meeting:
07 Prostejov CH (Czech Republic) Clay R16 Florian Mayer 6-2 6-7(4) 6-1

Andujar FastFacts:
2011 Highlights:
W: Casablanca (d Starace); F: Stuttgart (l Ferrero); QF: Costa do Sauipe (l Mello); Nice (l Almagro); Kitzbuehel (l Souza)
YTD W-L: 23-22 (21-13 on clay)
YTD Titles: 1/Career Titles: 1
Date of Birth: January 23, 1986
South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking: 43

• Third final of year, winning at Casablanca (d. Starace) and finishing runner-up at Stuttgart (l. to Ferrero)
• Third appearance here (8-2 record); reached 2nd Rd. in 2008 (as qualifier; l. to Moya); reached final in 2010 (as qualifier again; l. to Chela); is 3-0 so far this year (as No. 4 seed w/1st Rd. bye, d. WC Copil and qualifier Giannessi in first two matches then upset No. 1 seed and defending champion Chela in SFs)
• Career-high is No. 43 (set September 12, 2011 - currently there)

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); Hamburg (l Almagro)
YTD W-L: 36-22 (17-8 on clay)
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 0
Date of Birth: October 5, 1983
South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking: 24
 
• Second final of year, finishing runner-up at Munich (l. to Davydenko)
• Sixth appearance here (10-5 record); best previous results are one semi-final in 2004 (l. to Andreev) and two quarter-finals in 2005 (l. to Serra) and 2006 (l. to Pavel); lost opening match other two times (2007, 2010); is 3-0 so far this year (as No. 2 seed w/1st Rd. bye, d. Berlocq, Ramos and Volandri in first three matches)
• Career-high is No. 18 (set June 6, 2011).