Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur Monday Preview

© Getty ImagesWorld No. 5 David Ferrer is the top seed in Kuala Lumpur.

BANGKOK TOURNAMENT PREVIEW –  TOP FOUR TIPSAREVIC, GASQUET, RAONIC, SIMON  LEAD THE WAY 
• The 10th edition of the Thailand Open features an impressive field, led by World No. 9 Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia, Richard Gasquet of France, Milos Raonic of Canada and Frenchman Gilles Simon, who won the title in 2009. The top three are all making their Bangkok debut. All four seeds received a first round bye and they are ranked in the Top 20. The other former winner in the field is unseeded Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain. He captured the title two years ago.

• The remaining seeds are: No. 5 Fernando Verdasco of Spain, a semi-finalist five years ago, No. 6 Viktor Troicki of Serbia, who was runner-up in 2009, No.7 Jarkko Nieminen of Finland, a finalist two years ago, and No. 8 Bernard Tomic, who is the top Aussie making his debut in Bangkok.

• On Monday’s schedule, there are four final round qualifying matches, leading off with top seed Kevin Anderson of South Africa against Evgeny Korolev. Anderson, who did not enter the main draw, won his second career ATP World Tour title in Delray Beach in March. He is ranked No. 35. In the only main draw singles match of the day, German Philipp Petzschner takes on Thai wild card Peerakiat Siriluethaiwattana, who is making his second tournament appearance. Five years ago he qualified and lost in the first round. In June, Petzschner reached the final in ‘s-Hertogenbosch (l. to Ferrer).

RACE TO LONDON -- There are four positions remaining for the season-ending Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London and top seed Janko Tipsarevic is No. 9. No. 2 seed Richard Gasquet is No. 13 and No. 3 Milos Raonic is No. 14 in the standings. Here is a look at the 2012 points leaders going into this week:
                                  2012 Points
1 Novak Djokovic-X      9,910     9 Janko Tipsarevic       2,720
2 Roger Federer-X        8,920    10 Nicolas Almagro       2,415
3 Rafael Nadal -X           6,840    11 John Isner              2,250
4 Andy Murray-X          6,730    12 Richard Gasquet      2,110
5 David Ferrer                 4,780    12 Juan Monaco           2,110
6 Juan Martin del Potro     3,820   14 Milos Raonic            1,990
7 Tomas Berdych             3,720    15 Marin Cilic               1,970
8 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga         2,905   16 Philipp Kohlschreiber  1,715  

X-Qualified
 
TOURNAMENT QUICK FACTS
CITY:   Bangkok, Thailand
VENUE:  Impact Arena
DATE:   September 24-30, 2012
CATEGORY:  ATP World Tour 250
PRIZE MONEY:  $551,000
DRAW:   28 singles / 16 doubles
SURFACE:  Hard
SINGLES FINAL:  Sunday, September 30, at 3:00 p.m.
DOUBLES FINAL: Sunday, September 30 at 1:00 p.m.
FIRST HELD:  2003
     
2011 FINALS
Singles – (1) Andy Murray  (GBR) d. Donald Young (USA) 6-2, 6-0
Doubles – (1) Marach-Qureshi d. Kohlmann-Waske 7-6(4), 7-6(5)

RECENT CHAMPIONS/FINALISTS (since 2003)
2011 Andy Murray/Donald Young
2010 Guillermo Garcia-Lopez/Jarkko Nieminen
2009 Gilles Simon/Viktor Troicki
2008 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga/Novak Djokovic
2007 Dmitry Tursunov /Benjamin Becker
2006 James Blake/Ivan Ljubicic 
2005 Roger Federer/Andy Murray
2004 Roger Federer/Andy Roddick 
2003 Taylor Dent/Juan Carlos Ferrero
*Bold denotes past champions / runner-up in 2012 draw

A LOOK AT THE DRAW
Singles: Player Record  Best Finish
   
1 Janko Tipsarevic (SRB) Debut 
2 Richard Gasquet (FRA) Debut 
3 Milos Raonic (CAN)      Debut 
4 Gilles Simon (FRA)      6-1 W-'09
5 Fernando Verdasco (ESP) 3-2 SF-'07
6 Viktor Troicki (SRB) 5-3 F-'09
7 Jarkko Nieminen (FIN) 15-6 F-'10
8 Bernard Tomic (AUS) Debut 

Wildcards: Marco Chiudinelli, Peerakiat Siriluethaiwattana, Danai Udomchoke
Qualifiers: To be completed Monday
Youngest: Bernard Tomic (19 years, 11 months)
Oldest:  Ivo Karlovic (33 years, 6 months)
Top Country Breakdown: France 3, Australia 2, Japan 2, Serbia 2, Spain 2, Thailand 2
Former Champions in Draw (2): Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (2010), Gilles Simon (2009)
Former Finalists in Draw (3): Donald Young (2011), Jarkko Nieminen (2010), Andy Murray (2005)

SOUTH AFRICAN AIRWAYS ATP RANKINGS POINTS / PRIZE MONEY 
Singles                W            F        SF        QF        R16       R28       
Rankings Pts.     250         150       90        45         20         0   
Prize Money     $99,465   52,390  28,380 16,170   9,525    5,645  
  
Doubles               W       F          SF       QF       R16
Rankings Pts.     250      150      90        45        0                    
Prize Money     $30,220 15,890 8,610   4,930   2,880 

Doubles Seeded Teams (Tournament record, best finish - year) 
1   Paes / Tecau      Debut 
2  Gonzalez / Lipsky Debut 
3  Marrero / Verdasco Debut 
4  Butorac / Hanley    Debut 

RECENT CHAMPIONS (since 2003)
2011 Oliver Marach/Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi
2010 Christopher Kas/Viktor Troicki
2009 Eric Butorac/Rajeev Ram
2008 Lukas Dlouhy/Leander Paes
2007 Sanchai Ratiwatana/Sonchat Ratiwatana
2006 Jonathan Erlich/Andy Ram
2005 Paul Hanley/Leander Paes (not playing together)
2004 Justin Gimelstob/Graydon Oliver
2003 Jonathan Erlich/Andy Ram
 *Bold denotes past champions in 2012 draw

About the ATP
The ATP is the governing body of the men's professional tennis circuits - the ATP World Tour, the ATP Challenger Tour and the ATP Champions Tour. With 62 tournaments in 31 countries, the ATP World Tour showcases the finest male athletes competing in the world’s most exciting venues. From Australia to Europe and the Americas to Asia, the stars of the ATP World Tour battle for prestigious titles and South African Airways ATP Rankings points at ATP World Tour Masters 1000, 500 and 250 events, as well as Grand Slams (non ATP events). At the end of the season only the world’s top 8 ranked men’s singles players and top 8 doubles teams, based on their performance throughout the year, will qualify to compete for the last title of the season at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. Held at The O2 in London, the event will officially crown the 2012 ATP World Tour No.1 in singles and doubles. For more information, please visit www.ATPWorldTour.com

MONDAY FIRST ROUND FEDEX ATP HEAD 2 HEADS  - In Order of Play

Centre Court

Philipp Petzschner (GER) vs (WC) Peerakiat Siriluethaiwattana (THA)  First Meeting

Petzschner FastFacts:
2012 Highlights:
F: s-Hertogenbosch (l Ferrer)
YTD W-L: 9-15
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 1
Date of Birth: March 24, 1984
South African Airways ATP Ranking: 107

Siriluethaiwattana FastFacts:
2012 Highlights:
YTD W-L: 0-0
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 0
Date of Birth: August 16, 1989
South African Airways ATP Ranking: 1194

OTHER FIRST ROUND HEAD-TO-HEADS – To be played Tuesday or Wednesday *
  
Donald Young (USA) vs Yen-Hsun Lu (TPE)         First Meeting

Tatsuma Ito (JPN) vs Fernando Verdasco (ESP)        First Meeting

Danai Udomchoke (THA) vs Go Soeda (JPN)   Udomchoke Leads 1-0
06 THA v. JPN AOGI 2nd Rd. (Thailand) Hard RR Danai Udomchoke 7-5 3-6 6-7(4)  6-4 6-3
Other meetings:
10 Bangkok-2 CH (Thailand) Hard QF Go Soeda 6-4 7-6(8)
11 Kyoto CH (Japan) Carpet R16 Go Soeda 6-2 6-2
12 Singapore CH (Singapore) Hard SF Go Soeda 6-2 6-7(2)  6-2

Sergiy Stakhovsky (UKR) vs Viktor Troicki (SRB)  Troicki Leads 3-1
08 Zagreb (Croatia) Hard R16 Sergiy Stakhovsky 7-6(7) 3-6 6-4
09 Zagreb (Croatia) Hard QF Viktor Troicki 6-3 6-2
11 Doha (Qatar) Hard R32 Viktor Troicki 6-4 7-5
11 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Paris  Hard R32 Viktor Troicki 6-4 6-4

Marinko Matosevic (AUS) vs Ivo Karlovic (CRO)  Tied 1-1
11 ATP Masters 1000 Indian Wells  Hard R128 Ivo Karlovic 7-6(2) 6-7(3)  6-2
12 Delray Beach (U.S.A.) Hard R32 Marinko Matosevic 6-3 6-4

Bernard Tomic (AUS) vs Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP) First Meeting

Dudi Sela (ISR) vs Marco Chiudinelli (SUI)   Chiudinelli Leads 1-0
09 Tokyo (Japan) Hard R32 Marco Chiudinelli 4-6 6-1 6-4

*Does not include qualifiers

KUALA LUMPUR TOURNAMENT PREVIEW – FERRER, MONACO, NISHIKORI, DOLGOPOLOV LEAD STRONG FIELD
• The Malaysian Open, Kuala Lumpur, a fourth-year tournament on the ATP World Tour, features an outstanding field led by World No. 5 Spaniard David Ferrer, a five-time winner on the ATP World Tour this season, Argentine Juan Monaco, who has won three titles this year, No. 1 Asian Kei Nishikori of Japan and Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine. All four, who have byes, are ranked in the Top 20.

• The other seeds are: No. 5 Feliciano Lopez, No. 6 Pablo Andujar, both from Spain, No. 7 Julien Benneteau of France and No. 8 Jurgen Melzer of Austria. The only former champion in the draw is former World No. 3 Nikolay Davydenko of Russia. He won the title three years ago.

• There are four spots remaining for the season-ending Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London. Ferrer is in good position to qualify for the third consecutive year. He plays his first match against the winner of British qualifier Dominic Inglot and Russian Alex Bogomolov Jr.

• On Monday’s schedule, there are four first round matches, led by No. 8 seed Melzer along with two wild cards and two qualifiers. In the opening match, Malaysian teenage wild card Ariez Elyaas Deen Heshaam takes on Dutchman Igor Sijsling for the first time. The 18-year-old is making his ATP World Tour main draw debut. Sijsling is ranked No. 97. In the next match on, Italian qualifier Riccardo Ghedin meets wild card Jimmy Wang of Chinese Taipei in another first-time meeting. In the third match on, Melzer, who is playing his first match as a married man, squares off with Canadian No. 2 Vasek Pospisil. The 31-year-old Austrian married WTA Tour player Iveta Benesova on Sept. 14. In the final match on, qualifier Michael Yani plays countryman Brian Baker, who is one a leading candidate for ATP Comeback Player of the Year. Baker was sidelined for nearly six years of action after undergoing five surgeries before returning in July 2011. Baker began the year ranked No. 456 and this week he is a career-high No. 60.

BATTLE FOR LONDON -- There are four positions remaining for the season-ending Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London and top seed and 2010 semi-finalist David Ferrer is No. 5. No. 2 seed Juan Monaco is No. 12 in the standings. Here is a look at the 2012 points leaders going into this week:
                                  2012 Points
1 Novak Djokovic-X      9,910     9 Janko Tipsarevic       2,720
2 Roger Federer-X        8,920    10 Nicolas Almagro       2,415
3 Rafael Nadal -X           6,840    11 John Isner              2,250
4 Andy Murray-X          6,730    12 Richard Gasquet      2,110
5 David Ferrer                 4,780    12 Juan Monaco           2,110
6 Juan Martin del Potro     3,820   14 Milos Raonic            1,990
7 Tomas Berdych             3,720    15 Marin Cilic               1,970
8 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga         2,905   16 Philipp Kohlschreiber  1,715  

X-Qualified

TOURNAMENT QUICK FACTS
VENUE:  Putra Stadium, National Sports Complex
DATE:   September 24-30, 2012
CATEGORY:  ATP World Tour 250
PRIZE MONEY:  $850,000
DRAW:   28 singles / 16 doubles
SURFACE:  Hard
SINGLES FINAL:  Sunday, September 30, at 4:30 p.m.
DOUBLES FINAL: Sunday, September 30, at 2:15 p.m.
FIRST HELD:  2009

2011 FINALS
Singles – (4) Janko Tipsarevic (SRB) d. (WC) Marcos Baghdatis (CYP) 6-4, 7-5
Doubles – (2) Butorac-Rojer d. (3) Cermak-Polasek 6-1, 6-3

RECENT CHAMPIONS/FINALISTS (since 2009)
2011 Janko Tipsarevic/Marcos Baghdatis
2010 Mikhail Youzhny/Andrey Golubev   
2009 Nikolay Davydenko/Fernando Verdasco

A LOOK AT THE DRAW
Singles Seeds - Player W-L Best Finish
1  David Ferrer (ESP) 3-2 SF-'10
2  Juan Monaco (ARG) Debut
3  Kei Nishikori (JPN) 3-2 SF-'11
4  Alexandr Dolgopolov (UKR) 1-1 R16-'10
5  Feliciano Lopez (ESP) 0-1 R32-'09
6  Pablo Andujar (ESP) Debut 
7  Julien Benneteau (FRA) Debut 
8  Jurgen Melzer (AUT) 1-1 QF-'11
 
Wildcards: Philip Davydenko, Ariez Elyaas Deen Heshaam, Jimmy Wang
Qualifiers: Riccardo Ghedin, Dominic Inglot, Julian Knowle, Michael Yani
Youngest: Ariez Elyaas Deen Heshaam (18 years, 10 months)   
Oldest:  Julian Knowle (38 years, 4 months)
Former Champions in Draw (1): Nikolay Davydenko (2009)
Former Finalists in Draw (0):
Top Country Breakdown:  Spain 4, Russia 3, U.S. 3, Argentina 2, Austria 2, Slovakia 2

SOUTH AFRICAN AIRWAYS ATP RANKINGS POINTS / PRIZE MONEY 
Singles                 W         F           SF         QF        R16      R28       
Rankings Pts.      250       150        90          45         20         0  
Prize Money     $153,440 80,815  43,780   24,940  14,700  8,705  

Doubles            W            F         SF       QF       R16
Rankings Pts.    250        150       90       45        0                    
Prize Money    $46,620  24,500 13,280  7,600   4,450 

Seeded Doubles Teams:  W-L Best Finish
1   Fyrstenberg / Matkowski 7-1 W-'09
2   Bracciali / Melo Debut 
3  Peya / Soares Debut 
4  Knowle / Polasek Debut 

RECENT CHAMPIONS
2011 Eric Butorac/Jean-Julien Rojer
2010 Frantisek Cermak/Michal Mertinak
2009 Mariusz Fyrstenberg/Marcin Matkowski

About the ATP
The ATP is the governing body of the men's professional tennis circuits - the ATP World Tour, the ATP Challenger Tour and the ATP Champions Tour. With 62 tournaments in 31 countries, the ATP World Tour showcases the finest male athletes competing in the world’s most exciting venues. From Australia to Europe and the Americas to Asia, the stars of the ATP World Tour battle for prestigious titles and South African Airways ATP Rankings points at ATP World Tour Masters 1000, 500 and 250 events, as well as Grand Slams (non ATP events). At the end of the season only the world’s top 8 ranked men’s singles players and top 8 doubles teams, based on their performance throughout the year, will qualify to compete for the last title of the season at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. Held at The O2 in London, the event will officially crown the 2012 ATP World Tour No.1 in singles and doubles. For more information, please visit www.ATPWorldTour.com
 
MONDAY FIRST ROUND FEDEX ATP HEAD 2 HEADS – In Order of Play

Center Court

(WC) Ariez Elyaas Deen Heshaam (MAS) vs Igor Sijsling (NED)   First Meeting

Deen Heshaam FastFacts:
2012 Highlights:
YTD W-L: 0-0
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 0
Date of Birth: December 24, 1993
South African Airways ATP Ranking: 1557T

Sijsling FastFacts:
2012 Highlights:
QF: s-Hertogenbosch (l Ferrer)
YTD W-L: 4-7
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 0
Date of Birth: August 18, 1987
South African Airways ATP Ranking: 97

(Q) Riccardo Ghedin (ITA) vs (WC) Jimmy Wang (TPE)   First Meeting

Ghedin FastFacts:
2012 Highlights:
YTD W-L: 0-0
YTD Titles: 0/Career Titles: 0
Date of Birth: December 5, 1985
South African Airways ATP Ranking: 277

Wang FastFacts:
2012 Highlights:
YTD W-L: 2-3
YTD Titles: 0/Career Titles: 0
Date of Birth: February 8, 1985
South African Airways ATP Ranking: 151

(8) Jurgen Melzer (AUT) vs Vasek Pospisil (CAN)    First Meeting

Melzer FastFacts:
2012 Highlights:
W: Memphis (d Raonic); QF: Zagreb (l Berrer)
YTD W-L: 15-19
YTD Titles: 1
Career Titles: 4
Date of Birth: May 22, 1981
South African Airways ATP Ranking: 37

Pospisil FastFacts:
2012 Highlights:
YTD W-L: 2-13
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 0
Date of Birth: June 23, 1990
South African Airways ATP Ranking: 122

(Q) Michael Yani (USA) vs Brian Baker (USA)    First Meeting

Yani FastFacts:
2012 Highlights:
YTD W-L: 0-1
YTD Titles: 0/Career Titles: 0
Date of Birth: December 31, 1980
South African Airways ATP Ranking: 238

Baker FastFacts:
2012 Highlights:
F: Nice (l Almagro)
YTD W-L: 10-8
YTD Titles: 0/Career Titles: 0
Date of Birth: April 30, 1985
South African Airways ATP Ranking: 60

OTHER FIRST ROUND HEAD-TO-HEADS – To be played Tuesday or Wednesday

Dominic Inglot (GBR) vs Alex Bogomolov Jr. (RUS)      First Meeting

Lukas Lacko (SVK) vs Feliciano Lopez (ESP)       First Meeting

Alejandro Falla (COL) vs Rajeev Ram (USA)   Ram Leads 1-0
09 Newport (U.S.A.) Grass R32 Rajeev Ram 6-4 7-5

Matthew Ebden (AUS) vs Philip Davydenko (RUS)  First Meeting

Carlos Berlocq (ARG) vs Julien Benneteau (FRA)  Berlocq Leads 1-0
07 Roland Garros (France) Clay R128 Carlos Berlocq 6-7(5) 7-5 6-2 6-3

Pablo Andujar (ESP) vs Denis Istomin (UZB)   Istomin Leads 1-0
12 Sydney (Australia) Hard R32 Denis Istomin 6-3 2-6 6-3

Martin Klizan (SVK) vs Nikolay Davydenko (RUS)   First Meeting

Julian Knowle (AUT) vs Albert Ramos (ESP)    First Meeting