2019 AUSTRALIAN OPEN
DAY 1 MEN’S NOTES
Monday 14 January
1st Round Bottom Half

January 14, 2019

 

Featured matches

No. 2 Rafael Nadal (ESP) v (WC) James Duckworth (AUS)

No. 3 Roger Federer (SUI) v Denis Istomin (UZB)

No. 5 Kevin Anderson (RSA) v Adrian Mannarino (FRA)

No. 6 Marin Cilic (CRO) v Bernard Tomic (AUS)

No. 9 John Isner (USA) v Reilly Opelka (USA)

No. 13 Kyle Edmund (GBR) v Tomas Berdych (CZE)

No. 14 Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE) v Matteo Berrettini (ITA)

No. 20 Grigor Dimitrov (BUL) v Janko Tipsarevic (SRB)

No. 22 Roberto Bautista Agut (ESP) v Andy Murray (GBR)

No. 27 Alex de Minaur (AUS) v Pedro Sousa (POR)

On court today…
• Two-time defending champion Roger Federer opens his campaign today when he takes on unseeded Denis Istomin on Rod Laver Arena. A 3rd successive crown here would see Federer win the 21st Grand Slam of his career and close the gap on 3rd-placed Steffi Graf on the all-time list of major triumphs. It would also be his 100th Tour-level title, making him the 2nd man after Jimmy Connors to win 100 titles. He will be confident of victory against Istomin, who has not beaten Federer in 6 previous meetings – 5 on hard court.

• Five-time Australian Open finalist Andy Murray takes on Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut in the 4th match on Melbourne Arena. Murray, who announced on Friday that this tournament may be his last due to a hip injury, will be hopeful that he can continue his strong form against the Spaniard in spite of his injury concerns – the Brit has won all 3 of the pair’s previous meetings in straight sets. But Bautista Agut will be a tough proposition, having already defeated world No. 1 Novak Djokovic this year on his way to the title at Doha, making it 4 consecutive seasons that he has won a title prior the Australian Open.

• No. 9 seed and American No. 1 John Isner faces Reilly Opelka on Court 8 today, in what will be a battle between 2 of the tallest men on the tour. Isner, who stands at 2.08m (6’10’’), will be in the rare position of being shorter than his opponent, with Opelka 3cm taller at 2.11m (6’11’). But despite his inferiority in height, Isner will relish the prospect of facing another American here – he is unbeaten in 9 previous encounters with fellow Americans at the Grand Slams.

• Eight of the 12 Australian men to start the main draw here are in action today, led by Australian No. 1 and newly-crowned Sydney champion Alex de Minaur. This year sees the most Australians begin the men’s singles here since 2001, and all will be hoping to end the 43-year wait for a home champion at the Australian Open. De Minaur faces Portugal’s world No. 103 Pedro Sousa, while wild card James Duckworth and Bernard Tomic face tough assignments against Rafael Nadal and Marin Cilic respectively.

 

NO. 2 RAFAEL NADAL (ESP) v (WC) JAMES DUCKWORTH (AUS)
Head-to-head: first meeting
Nadal has a 14-2 win-loss record against wild cards at the Grand Slams – his only previous defeats to wild cards at the majors came against James Blake in the 3rd round at the 2005 US Open and Nick Kyrgios in the round of 16 at 2014 Wimbledon.
Nadal has lost to a player ranked as low as No. 238 Duckworth on just one previous occasion – when he fell to No. 690 Joachim Johansson in the 2nd round at 2006 Stockholm. The lowest-ranked player to have defeated Nadal at a Grand Slam is No. 144 Kyrgios at 2014 Wimbledon.

NADAL v DUCKWORTH
32 Age 26*
2 ATP Ranking (7 Jan) 238
80 Titles 0
247-36 Career Grand Slam Record 5-18
55-12 Australian Open Record 3-6
918-189 Career Record 21-45
435-128 Career Record – Hard 17-33
0-0 2019 Record 0-2
0-0 2019 Record – Hard 0-2
21-12 Career Five-Set Record 4-4
3 Comebacks from 0-2 Down 0
226-145 Career Tiebreak Record 20-24
0-0 2019 Tiebreak Record 0-0
*Turns 27 on 21 January

• 2009 Australian Open champion NADAL is bidding reach the 2nd round at the Australian Open for the 13th time. This is his 14th appearance at the Australian Open and his 55th Grand Slam overall.

• Nadal has lost in the 1st round at a Grand Slam on just 2 previous occasions – to Steve Darcis at 2013 Wimbledon and Fernando Verdasco here in 2016. His defeat to Verdasco in 2016 was the only occasion since 2005 that Nadal has failed to reach at least the quarterfinals when he has contested the tournament.

• Nadal is bidding to become the first man in the Open Era – and only the 3rd man in history – to win each of the 4 Grand Slam titles twice. Roy Emerson and Rod Laver are the only players to have won each Grand Slam on 2 or more occasions. (NB While Laver completed the feat in 1969, some of the titles were won before the start of the Open Era.) (see Preview page 3)

• Nadal’s best Australian Open performance is winning the title in 2009 (d. Roger Federer). He also reached the final in 2012, losing to Novak Djokovic in the longest men’s Grand Slam final on record at 5 hours, 53 minutes, 2014 (l. Stan Wawrinka) and 2017 (l. Federer).

• Nadal is a 17-time Grand Slam champion. In addition to his title here in 2009, he has 11 titles at Roland Garros, 3 US Open titles and 2 Wimbledon titles.

• Last year here, Nadal reached the quarterfinals but retired due to a right leg injury during the 5th set against Marin Cilic.

• Elsewhere at Grand Slams in 2018, Nadal won his 17th major title at Roland Garros (d. Dominic Thiem) and reached the semifinals at Wimbledon (l. Djokovic) and the US Open, where he retired due to a right knee injury after the 2nd set of his match against Juan Martin del Potro. At Roland Garros he became the first man in history to win 11 titles at a major – and the 2nd player in history to achieve the feat after Margaret Court, who won 11 Australian women’s singles titles.

• Also in 2018, Nadal won the titles at Toronto-1000 (d. Stefanos Tsitsipas), Rome-1000 (d. Alexander Zverev), Barcelona (d. Tsitsipas) and Monte Carlo-1000 (d. Kei Nishikori). He has won a total of 80 Tour-level titles.

• Nadal and Djokovic are the only 2 players in contention for the world No. 1 ranking when the new rankings are released on Monday 28 January. Nadal can only return to No. 1 if he wins the title and Djokovic loses prior to the round of 16.

• Nadal has played Davis Cup for Spain since 2004. He has a 24-1 win-loss record in Davis Cup singles rubbers and a 29-5 win-loss record in the competition overall. By reaching the semifinals in 2018, Spain has secured a place in the 2019 Davis Cup finals in Madrid on 18-24 November.

• Nadal is coached by Carlos Moya and Francisco Roig. His fitness trainer is Rafael Maymo. He was previously coached by his uncle, Toni, from the age of 4 through to the end of the 2017 season.

• Wild card DUCKWORTH is bidding reach the 2nd round at the Australian Open for the 4th time. This is his 7th appearance at the Australian Open and his 19th Grand Slam overall.

• Duckworth is bidding to reach the 2nd round here and equal his best Grand Slam result. He has reached the 2nd round at a major on 5 occasions – as a wild card at the Australian Open in 2012 (l. Janko Tipsarevic), 2013 (l. Blaz Kavcic) and 2015 (l. Richard Gasquet), as a direct acceptance at 2015 Wimbledon (l. Sam Groth), and as a wild card at the 2016 US Open (l. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga).

• Last year here, Duckworth reached the 2nd round of qualifying (d. Omar Jasika, l. Matthias Bachinger). On his last main draw appearance here, in 2017, he fell to Paolo Lorenzi in the 1st round.

• Elsewhere at Grand Slams in 2018, Duckworth fell in the 1st round at Roland Garros (l. Marin Cilic), Wimbledon (l. Alexander Zverev) and the US Open (l. Andy Murray).

• Duckworth contested just 6 Tour-level events in 2018. He recorded his first Tour-level wins since 2016 Tokyo by reaching the 3rd round at Washington, defeating Thai-Son Kwiatkowski and Jason Kubler before falling to Stefanos Tsitsipas, but fell in the 1st round at each of the other 5 Tour-level events he contested.

• Also in 2018, Duckworth won the title at the Cary Challenger (USA) (d. Reilly Opelka) and reached the semifinals at the Tiburon Challenger (USA) (l. Michael Mmoh). He also reached the final at the Turkey F22 Futures (l. Thomas Statzberger).

• Duckworth warmed up for the Australian Open as a wild card at both Brisbane and Sydney. He fell in the 1st round at both events – to Andy Murray in Brisbane and Marton Fucsovics in Sydney.

• Duckworth underwent foot surgery in January 2017 and played just one match during the entire 2017 season, falling to Paolo Lorenzi at the Australian Open. He returned to action in qualifying at 2018 Brisbane and contested his first Tour-level match since his return from injury in the 1st round at 2018 Roland Garros.

• Duckworth is bidding to defeat a Top 20 player for the first time at the 13th attempt. He has lost all 12 of his previous matches with Top 20 opposition. The highest-ranked player he has defeated is No. 21 Gilles Simon at 2015 Brisbane and the highest-ranked player he has defeated at a Grand Slam is No. 62 Robin Haase at the 2016 US Open.

• Duckworth has won 3 of his last 4 five-set matches. His only defeat in a 5-set match in that time came against Andrea Arnaboldi in the 1st round at 2015 Roland Garros. He has a 2-1 win-loss record in five-set matches at the Australian Open and a 4-4 win-loss record in five-set matches overall.

• Duckworth is a former Top 100 player. He reached a career-high ranking of No. 82 in April 2015 but plays here ranked No. 238.

• Duckworth is coached by Mark Draper.

 

NO. 3 ROGER FEDERER (SUI) v DENIS ISTOMIN (UZB)

Head-to-head: Federer leads 6-0
2006 Australian Open Hard (O) R128 Federer 62 63 62
2010 Cincinnati Hard (O) R32 Federer 5-2 ret. (right ankle)
2012 London Olympic Tennis Event Grass (O) R16 Federer 75 63
2013 Indian Wells Hard (O) R64 Federer 62 63
2013 Basel Hard (I) R16 Federer 46 63 62
2014 Basel Hard (I) R16 Federer 36 63 64

A 7th meeting for the pair, but their first in more than 4 years. Federer has won all 6 of their previous encounters, dropping just 2 sets in consecutive 2nd round meetings in Basel in 2013-14.

Federer has lost a Grand Slam match to a player ranked as low as No. 99 Istomin on 2 previous occasions – to No. 154 Mario Ancic in the 1st round at 2002 Wimbledon and to No. 116 Sergiy Stakhovsky in the 2nd round at 2013 Wimbledon. The lowest-ranked player to defeat Federer at the Australian Open is No. 54 Arnaud Clement in the 3rd round at 2000.

FEDERER v ISTOMIN
37 Age 32
3 ATP Ranking (7 Jan) 99
99 Titles 2
339-54 Career Grand Slam Record 35-42
94-13 Australian Open Record 11-12
1180-260 Career Record 225-247
740-147 Career Record – Hard 124-145
0-0 2019 Record 0-1
0-0 2019 Record – Hard 0-1
30-21 Career Five-Set Record 14-10
10 Comebacks from 0-2 Down 3
435-236 Career Tiebreak Record 122-109
0-0 2019 Tiebreak Record 0-0

• Two-time defending champion FEDERER is bidding to maintain his record of having always reached the 2nd round here.
• Federer has not lost in the 1st round at a Grand Slam since 2003 Roland Garros (l. Luis Horna). He holds the record for the most consecutive 2nd round appearances at the Australian Open (19), ahead of Wayne Ferreira (14).
• Last year here, Federer won his 6th Australian Open title, defeating Marin Cilic in 5 sets in the final. He also won the title here in 2004 (d. Marat Safin), 2006 (d. Marcos Baghdatis), 2007 (d. Fernando Gonzalez), 2010 (d. Andy Murray) and 2017 (d. Rafael Nadal).
• Federer is bidding to win a 7th Australian Open title and claim sole ownership of the all-time record for most Australian men’s singles titles, ahead of Novak Djokovic and Roy Emerson. (see Preview page 2)
• Federer is also bidding to win his 21st Grand Slam title and close the gap on Steffi Graf in 3rd place on the all-time list for Grand Slam singles titles. By winning his 20th Grand Slam title at the Australian Open last year, Federer took sole ownership of 4th place on the list, ahead of Helen Wills Moody. Margaret Court, Serena Williams and Graf are the only other players aside from Federer to have won 20 or more Grand Slams. (see Preview page 2)
• Federer is bidding to become the first man in history to win at least 7 titles at 2 different Grand Slam events. In addition to his 6 titles here, he has won 8 Wimbledon titles, 5 US Open titles and one Roland Garros title. (see Preview page 2)
• Federer is looking to become the first man to win 5 Grand Slam titles after turning 30. By winning his 4th major title since turning 30 here last year, Federer joined Rod Laver and Ken Rosewall at the top of the list for most Grand Slam titles won after turning 30. (see Preview page 4)
2019 Australian Open day 1 men’s match notes
• Federer is also bidding to become the 2nd player in history to win 100 Tour-level titles, after Jimmy Connors. Federer won the 99th Tour-level title of his career at 2018 Basel.
• Federer is making his 20th Australian Open appearance, equalling Lleyton Hewitt’s record for most Australian Open appearances. He is contesting his 75th Grand Slam event, extending his record for most Grand Slams played.
• Elsewhere at Grand Slams in 2018, Federer reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon, where he surrendered a 2-0 lead for the 5th time in his career against Kevin Anderson, and the round of 16 at the US Open (l. John Millman). He withdrew from Roland Garros for the 3rd consecutive year to focus on the grass court season.
• Also in 2018, Federer won the titles at Rotterdam (d. Grigor Dimitrov), Stuttgart (d. Milos Raonic) and Basel (d. Marius Copil). He also finished runner-up at Indian Wells-1000 (l. Juan Martin del Potro), Halle (l. Borna Coric) and Cincinnati-1000 (l. Djokovic).
• Federer warmed up for the Australian Open by winning the Hopman Cup for Switzerland alongside Belinda Bencic. He won all 4 of the singles matches he contested at the event, defeating Cameron Norrie, Frances Tiafoe, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Alexander Zverev.
• Federer has won 6 of his last 7 five-set matches at the Australian Open. His only defeat during that period came against Andy Murray in the semifinals in 2013. He has a 9-5 win-loss record in five-set matches here and a 30-21 win-loss record overall.
• Federer is coached by 2006 Australian Open quarterfinalist Ivan Ljubicic, and Severin Luthi.
• ISTOMIN is bidding to end a 4-match losing streak at the Grand Slams and reach the 2nd round at the Australian Open for the 8th time. This is his 13th appearance at the Australian Open and his 43rd Grand Slam overall.
• Last year here, Istomin reached the 2nd round (d. Pierre-Hugues Herbert, l. Kyle Edmund). Elsewhere at Grand Slams in 2018, he fell in the 1st round at Roland Garros (l. Roberto Bautista Agut), Wimbledon (l. Nick Kyrgios) and the US Open (l. Steve Johnson).
• Istomin’s best Grand Slam performance is reaching the round of 16 on 3 occasions – at 2012 Wimbledon (l. Mikhail Youzhny), at the 2013 US Open (l. Andy Murray) and the 2017 Australian Open, where he defeated defending champion Novak Djokovic in the 2nd round before falling to Grigor Dimitrov in the round of 16.
• Istomin’s best result in 2018 was a runner-up finish as a qualifier at Kitzbuhel (l. Martin Klizan). He also reached the quarterfinals at Brisbane (l. Ryan Harrison) and Stuttgart (l. Lucas Pouille) and won the titles at the Chicago Challenger (USA) (d. Reilly Opelka) and the Almaty Challenger (KAZ) (d. Nikola Milojevic).
• Istomin warmed up for the Australian Open at Pune, where fell to Simone Bolelli in the 1st round.
• Istomin is bidding to record his 3rd victory over a Top 5 opponent. He has a 2-20 win-loss record against Top 20 opposition at Tour-level, with his 2 victories coming against No. 5 David Ferrer in the 3rd round at 2012 Indian Wells and No. 2 Djokovic in the 2nd round here in 2017. He has a 1-8 win-loss record against Top 5 players at the Grand Slams.
• Istomin has lost his last 3 five-set matches, having not recorded a victory in a 5-set match since defeating Djokovic and Pablo Carreno Busta in back-to-back 5-set matches here in 2017. He has a 2-2 win-loss record in 5-set matches at the Australian Open and a 14-10 record in 5-set matches overall.
• Istomin has won 2 Tour-level titles – on grass at 2015 Nottingham (d. Sam Querrey) and on hard court at 2017 Chengdu (d. Marcos Baghdatis).
• Istomin reached a career-high ranking of No. 33 in August 2012, but plays here at No. 99.
2019 Australian Open day 1 men’s match notes
• Istomin broke his leg in a car accident in 2001 while travelling to a Futures event in Tashkent. He spent 3 months in hospital and did not touch a racket in 2 years, with doctors doubting he would ever play competitive tennis again.
• Istomin has received support from the Grand Slam Development Fund, receiving travel grants in 2004.
• Istomin is coached by his mother Klaudiya Istomina.

NO. 5 KEVIN ANDERSON (RSA) v ADRIAN MANNARINO (FRA)
Tour-level head-to-head: Anderson leads 4-1
2008 Cremona Challenger (ITA) Hard (O) R32 Anderson 36 75 61
2008 Surbiton Challenger (GBR) Grass (O) SF Anderson 46 61 76(5)
2008 Grenoble Challenger (FRA) Hard (I) R32 Mannarino 62 76(4)
2011 Johannesburg Hard (O) SF Anderson 67(3) 60 64
2012 Auckland Hard (O) R32 Mannarino 63 63
2014 Winston-Salem Hard (O) R32 Anderson 63 26 64
2017 Shanghai Hard (O) R64 Anderson 63 61
2018 Acapulco Hard (O) R16 Anderson 63 64

Anderson has won 4 of the players’ 5 Tour-level meetings, all of which have come on hard courts. He also won 2 of their 3 meetings at Challenger-level in 2008.

ANDERSON v MANNARINO
32 Age 30
6 ATP Ranking (7 Jan) 41
6 Titles 0
68-38 Career Grand Slam Record 28-35
11-10 Australian Open Record 5-9
322-220 Career Record 162-195
231-147 Career Record – Hard 107-129
4-0 2019 Record 0-2
4-0 2019 Record – Hard 0-2
14-10 Career Five-Set Record 7-3
3 Comebacks from 0-2 Down 0
192-157 Career Tiebreak Record 67-87
5-1 2019 Tiebreak Record 0-1

• ANDERSON is bidding to record his first Australian Open match-win since 2015 and reach the 2nd round for the 5th time.
• Last year here, Anderson fell in the 1st round, losing to Kyle Edmund in 5 sets. He has lost in the 1st round here on 5 other occasions – in 2008 (l. Alejandro Falla), 2009 (l. Marin Cilic), 2010 (l. Andy Murray), 2011 (l. Blaz Kavcic) and 2016 (l. Rajeev Ram).
• Anderson’s best Australian Open result is reaching the round of 16 here on 3 occasions – falling to Tomas Berdych in both 2013 and 2014, and to Rafael Nadal in 2015. This is his 11th Australian Open appearance and his 39th Grand Slam overall.
• Anderson’s best Grand Slam result is finishing runner-up at the 2017 US Open (l. Rafael Nadal), where he became the first South African to reach a Grand Slam singles final since Kevin Curren at the 1984 Australian Open and the oldest first-time finalist at a major since Niki Pilic at 1973 Roland Garros. He also reached the final at Wimbledon last year (l. Novak Djokovic), having defeated John Isner in the semifinals in the 2nd-longest singles match in history, winning 76(6) 67(5) 67(9) 64 26-24 in 6 hours 36 minutes.
• Elsewhere in Grand Slam play in 2018, Anderson reached the round of 16 at both Roland Garros, where he fell to Diego Schwartzman in 5 sets, and at the US Open (l. Dominic Thiem). He has a 14-10 win-loss record in 5-set matches and a 3-2 win-loss record in 5-set matches at the Australian Open.
• Anderson’s best results in 2018 were winning the titles at New York (d. Sam Querrey) and Vienna (d. Kei Nishikori). He also reached the finals at Pune (l. Gilles Simon), Acapulco (l. Juan Martin del Potro) and Wimbledon.
• Anderson warmed up for the Australian Open by winning his 6th Tour-level title at Pune, defeating Ivo Karlovic in the final. He also played a match at the Kooyong Classic exhibition event, losing to Cilic in a match tiebreak.
2019 Australian Open day 1 men’s match notes
• Anderson is bidding to extend a 6-match winning streak against lefthanded opposition. He has not lost to a lefthanded player since falling to Fernando Verdasco in the 2nd round at 2017 Paris-1000. He has a 59-26 win-loss record against lefthanded players at Tour-level and a 12-3 win-loss record against lefthanders at the Grand Slams.
• Anderson reached a career-high ranking of No. 5 after reaching the final at Wimbledon last year. He plays here one place lower at No. 6.
• Anderson received travel grants from the ITF Grand Slam Development Fund to play junior events in 2004.
• Anderson is coached by Brad Stine.
• Lefthander MANNARINO is looking to reach the 2nd round here for the 5th time. This is his 10th Australian Open appearance and his 36th Grand Slam overall.
• Last year here, Mannarino recorded his best Australian Open performance by reaching the 3rd round. As No. 26 seed, he defeated Matteo Berrettini and Jiri Vesely before falling to Dominic Thiem in straight sets.
• Mannarino’s best Grand Slam performance is reaching the round of 16 at Wimbledon on 3 occasions – in 2013 (l. Lukasz Kubot), 2017 (l. Novak Djokovic) and 2018 (l. Roger Federer).
• Elsewhere at the Grand Slams last year, Mannarino fell in the 1st round at both Roland Garros (l. Steve Johnson) and at the US Open (l. Frances Tiafoe).
• Mannarino’s best results in 2018 were finishing runner-up at both Antalya (l. Damir Dzumhur) and Moscow (l. Karen Khachanov). He also reached the semifinals at New York (l. Sam Querrey) and the quarterfinals at 4 other Tour-level events.
• Prior to coming here, Mannarino fell in the 1st round at both Doha (l. Dusan Lajovic) and Sydney (l. Jordan Thompson).
• Mannarino is bidding to record his first victory against a Top 10 player at a Grand Slam on his 13th attempt. The highest-ranked player he has defeated at a major came against No. 14 Gael Monfils in the 3rd round at Wimbledon last year.
• Mannarino is bidding to end a 6-match losing streak against Top 10 opposition at Tour-level. He has not defeated a Top 10 opponent since defeating No. 5 Marin Cilic in the semifinals at 2017 Tokyo. He has a 4-29 win-loss record against Top 10 players overall.
• Mannarino won the only 5-set match he has contested at the Australian Open – against Steve Johnson in the 1st round here in 2014. He has a 7-3 win-loss record in 5-set matches overall.
• Mannarino is unseeded at a Grand Slam for the first time since 2017 Wimbledon. He has been seeded for the last 5 Grand Slams.
• Mannarino reached a career-high ranking of No. 22 in March 2018, but plays here at No. 41.
• Mannarino is one of 19 lefthanded players to start in the men’s main draw here. The last lefthander to win the Australian Open title was Rafael Nadal in 2009.
• Mannarino is coached by Jean-Christophe Faurel. His fitness trainer is Pascal Supiot.

 

NO. 6 MARIN CILIC (CRO) v BERNARD TOMIC (AUS)
Head-to-head: Cilic leads 2-1
2010 Australian Open Hard (O) R64 Cilic 67(6) 63 46 62 64
2011 US Open Hard (O) R64 Cilic 61 60 62
2015 Montreal-1000 Hard (O) R32 Tomic 63 64

A 4th meeting for the pair and their 3rd at a Grand Slam. Cilic has won both of their previous meetings at the majors – in 5 sets here 9 years ago and a straight sets victory at the 2011 US Open, which was Cilic’s best Grand Slam victory in a completed match in terms of fewest games lost.
Cilic has not lost an Australian Open match to a player ranked as low as No. 85 Tomic since making his Grand Slam debut as a qualifier here in 2007, when he fell to No. 126 Ilija Bozoljac in the 1st round. He has not lost a Grand Slam match to a player ranked as low as Tomic since 2016 Roland Garros, when he fell to No. 166 Marco Trungelliti in the 1st round.

Cilic has won both his meetings with Australian opposition at the Australian Open, having defeated Marinko Matosevic in the 1st round here in 2013 in addition to his victory against Tomic. Cilic has a 7-3 win-loss record against players at their home Grand Slams – he has a 5-1 win-loss record against Americans at the US Open but lost his only meeting with a Frenchman at Roland Garros and with a Brit at Wimbledon.

CILIC v TOMIC
30 Age 26
7 ATP Ranking (7 Jan) 85
18 Titles 4
111-42 Career Grand Slam Record 40-33
26-10 Australian Open Record 17-9
479-252 Career Record 178-165
292-150 Career Record – Hard 122-98
0-0 2019 Record 0-0
0-0 2019 Record – Hard 0-0
29-15 Career Five-Set Record 8-3
6 Comebacks from 0-2 Down 2
183-161 Career Tiebreak Record 104-89
0-0 2019 Tiebreak Record 0-0

• CILIC is bidding to reach the 2nd round here for the 10th time.
• Cilic has lost in the 1st round here once before – on his Grand Slam main draw debut as a qualifier in 2007 (l. Ilija Bozoljac). This is his 11th Australian Open appearance and his 45th Grand Slam appearance overall.
• Last year here Cilic reached his first Australian Open final. He defeated No. 1 seed Rafael Nadal in 5 sets in the quarterfinals but fell to No. 2 seed and defending champion Roger Federer in the final, also in 5 sets. He has a 7-3 win-loss record in 5-set matches at the Australian Open and a 29-15 win-loss record in 5-set matches overall.
• Elsewhere in Grand Slam play in 2018, Cilic reached the quarterfinals at both Roland Garros (l. Juan Martin del Potro) and the US Open (l. Kei Nishikori), but fell to Guido Pella in the 2nd round at Wimbledon.
• Cilic won his first major title at the 2014 US Open, defeating Nishikori in the final. He was the first Croatian to win a Grand Slam title since Goran Ivanisevic at 2001 Wimbledon. In addition to his appearance in the final here last year, he also reached the final at 2017 Wimbledon (l. Federer). He is one of the 6 Grand Slam champions to start this year’s men’s main draw.
• Cilic’s best result in 2018 was winning his 18th Tour-level title at Queen’s, where he saved a match point before defeating Novak Djokovic in the final. At 2 hours 57 minutes, it was the longest final in the tournament’s history. In addition to his runner-up finish here, he also reached the semifinals at Pune (l. Gilles Simon), Rome-1000 (l. Alexander Zverev) and Cincinnati-1000 (l. Djokovic).
2019 Australian Open day 1 men’s match notes
• Cilic is contesting his first Tour-level match of 2019 today. He played two matches at the Kooyong Classic exhibition event, defeating Kevin Anderson in a match tie break and Fernando Verdasco in straight sets.
• Cilic reached a career-high ranking of No. 3 in January last year following his runner-up finish here. He plays here at No. 7.
• Cilic reached the quarterfinals of the boys’ singles at the 2005 Australian Open (l. Donald Young). He finished the year at No. 2 in the ITF Junior Rankings behind Young after winning Junior Roland Garros (d. Antal van der Duim) and reaching the quarterfinals at Wimbledon and the US Open.
• Cilic became a Davis Cup champion after leading Croatia to the title in 2018. He won 6 of the 7 rubbers he contested during the season and defeated Lucas Pouille in the 4th rubber of the Final to seal Croatia’s 2nd Davis Cup title. He holds the record for the most Davis Cup singles match-wins by a Croatian player. Croatia will compete in the 2019 Davis Cup finals in Madrid on 18-24 November.
• Cilic is coached by Ivan Cinkus. His fitness trainer is Slaven Hrvoj and his physiotherapists are Stijepo Jaraj and Robert Prusac.
• TOMIC is bidding to reach the 2nd round at the Australian Open for the 9th time.
• Tomic has lost in the 1st round here on one of his previous 9 appearances – in 2014 when he retired with a groin injury while trailing Rafael Nadal 64 in the 1st round. This is his 10th appearance at the Australian Open and his 35th Grand Slam overall.
• Last year here, Tomic failed to qualify, falling to Lorenzo Sonego in the final round of qualifying. It was the first time since the 2010 US Open that he had not contested the main draw of a Grand Slam.
• Elsewhere at the Grand Slams in 2018, Tomic qualified at both Wimbledon, where he reached the 2nd round (d. Hubert Hurkacz, l. Kei Nishikori), and at Roland Garros, where he fell in the 1st round (l. Marco Trungelliti). He fell in the 1st round of qualifying at the US Open (l. Thanasi Kokkinakis).
• Tomic’s best Grand Slam result is reaching the quarterfinals as a qualifier at 2011 Wimbledon (l. Novak Djokovic). He was the youngest man since Boris Becker in 1986 to reach the quarterfinals at Wimbledon.
• Tomic’s best Australian Open result is reaching the round of 16 on 3 occasions – in 2012 (l. Roger Federer), 2015 (l. Tomas Berdych) and 2016 (l. Andy Murray).
• Tomic’s best result in 2018 was winning his 4th Tour-level title as a qualifier at Chengdu, defeating Fabio Fognini in the final having saved 4 match points. He also reached the semifinals as a qualifier at ’s-Hertogenbosch (l. Richard Gasquet).
• Tomic is contesting his first Tour-level match of 2019 today. He played two matches at the Kooyong Classic exhibition event, defeating Jack Sock in a match tie break and Nick Kyrgios in straight sets.
• Tomic is bidding to end a 7-match losing streak against Top 10 opposition at the Grand Slams. He has not defeated a Top 10 player at a major since defeating No. 9 Gasquet in the 3rd round at 2013 Wimbledon. He has a 2-11 win-loss record against Top 10 players at the Grand Slams and an 8-37 win-loss record against Top 10 opposition overall.
• Tomic reached a career-high ranking of No. 17 after reaching the semifinals at 2016 Brisbane. He dropped as low as No. 243 in May 2018 but plays here at No. 85.
• Tomic is one of 12 Australian men to start this year’s Australian Open main draw – the most since 2001 when there were also 12. He is looking to become the first native champion to win the Australian Open men’s singles title since Mark Edmondson in 1976.
• Tomic is one of 6 former junior Australian Open champions in the draw. He won the 2008 Australian Open boys’ title aged 15 years 3 months, defeating Yang Tsung-Hua in the final. He was the youngest winner of the title since Ken Rosewall in 1950. He also won the 2009 US Open boys’ singles title (d. Chase Buchanan). Stefan Edberg is the only player to have won both the junior and senior title here in the Open Era. He captured the boys’ singles title in 1983, before winning the men’s singles in 1985 and 1987.
2019 Australian Open day 1 men’s match notes
• Tomic has played Davis Cup for Australia since 2010. Australia will play Bosnia/Herzegovina in the Davis Cup qualifiers in Adelaide on 1-2 February.
• Tomic is coached by his father John.

 

NO. 9 JOHN ISNER (USA) v REILLY OPELKA (USA)
Head-to-head: Isner leads 1-0
2016 Atlanta Hard (O) SF Isner 67(5) 64 62
Isner has not lost a Grand Slam match to a player ranked as low as No. 102 Opelka since retiring due to a foot injury while trailing No. 106 Martin Klizan in the 1st round here in 2014. In total, he has lost to players ranked as low as Opelka at the majors on 5 occasions.
Isner is bidding to maintain his unbeaten record against fellow Americans at the Grand Slams. He has won all 9 of his meetings with Americans at the majors. He has a 68-33 win-loss record against American players at Tour-level.

Opelka is facing a fellow American at a Grand Slam for the first time. He has a 5-4 win-loss record against fellow Americans at Tour-level.
Isner and Opelka are 2 of the tallest players at this year’s Australian Open. Opelka stands at 2.11m (6’11’), making him the tallest man in the draw, alongside Ivo Karlovic who is also 2.11m. Isner is slightly shorter at 2.08m (6’10’’).

ISNER v OPELKA
33 Age 21
10 ATP Ranking (7 Jan) 102
14 Titles 0
73-42 Career Grand Slam Record 0-1
13-10 Australian Open Record 0-1
393-243 Career Record 9-16
280-162 Career Record – Hard 9-13
0-1 2019 Record 1-1
0-1 2019 Record – Hard 1-1
11-18 Career Five-Set Record 0-1
2 Comebacks from 0-2 Down 0
395-252 Career Tiebreak Record 10-15
0-2 2019 Tiebreak Record 0-1

• ISNER is bidding to reach the 2nd round here for the 7th time. This is his 11th Australian Open appearance and his 43rd Grand Slam overall.
• Isner’s best Australian Open performance is reaching the round of 16 on 2 occasions – in 2010 (l. Andy Murray) and 2016 (l. David Ferrer). Last year, he lost to Matthew Ebden in the 1st round.
• Isner’s best Grand Slam performance is reaching the semifinals at 2018 Wimbledon, where he fell to Kevin Anderson 76(6) 67(5) 67(9) 64 26-24. At 6 hours and 36 minutes, the semifinal was the 2nd-longest singles match in history, after Isner’s victory against Nicolas Mahut at 2010 Wimbledon, which lasted 11 hours and five minutes. Isner hit a tournament record of 214 aces during his run to semifinals.
• Elsewhere at the Grand Slams in 2018, Isner reached the quarterfinals at the US Open (l. Juan Martin del Potro), where he became the first American to reach 2 straight Grand Slam quarterfinals since Andy Roddick at the 2008 US Open and 2009 Australian Open, and the round of 16 at Roland Garros (l. Del Potro).
• Isner’s best result in 2018 was winning his first Masters-1000 title at Miami-1000 (d. Alexander Zverev). At 32 years 11 months he became the oldest first-time Masters-1000 champion and at No. 17 was the lowest-ranked Miami champion since No. 18 Jim Courier in 1991. He also won the title at Atlanta for the 5th time (d. Ryan Harrison) and reached the semifinals at Stockholm (l. Ernests Gulbis).
• Prior to coming here Isner competed at Auckland, where he lost his opening match to Taylor Fritz.
• Isner reached a career-high ranking of No. 8 in July 2018 after reaching the semifinals at Wimbledon. He plays here 2 places lower at No. 10.
2019 Australian Open day 1 men’s match notes
• Isner has played Davis Cup for USA since 2010 and has a 15-11 win-loss record in singles. Having reached the semifinals in 2018, USA has secured a place in the 2019 Davis Cup finals in Madrid on 18-24 November.
• Isner is coached by David MacPherson and Justin Gimelstob.
• OPELKA is bidding to reach the 2nd round at a Grand Slam for the first time on his 2nd appearance at a major.
• Opelka made his Grand Slam debut as a qualifier at the 2017 Australian Open, falling to David Goffin in 5 sets in the 1st round. He has fallen in qualifying at every Grand Slam event since then – including here last year, when he fell to Christian Harrison in the 1st round of qualifying.
• Opelka’s best result in 2018 was reaching the quarterfinals as a wild card at Delray Beach. He defeated Ryan Harrison and defending champion Jack Sock before falling to Peter Gojowczyk. He contested just one other Tour-level event in 2018 – as a wild card at Indian Wells-1000, he fell to Taylor Fritz in the 1st round.
• Opelka played mainly at Challenger-level in 2018. He won 3 Challenger titles – at Bordeaux (FRA) (d. Gregoire Barrere), Knoxville (USA) (d. Bjorn Fratangelo) and Champaign (USA) (d. Ryan Shane). He also reached the finals at the Chicago Challenger (USA) (l. Denis Istomin) and the Cary Challenger (USA) (l. James Duckworth).
• Prior to coming here Opelka reached the 2nd round as a qualifier at Sydney (d. Albert Ramos-Vinolas, l. Alex de Minaur). He fell to Marc Polmans in the 1st round of qualifying at Brisbane.
• Bidding to record his 2nd match-win against a Top 10 player on his 3rd attempt. Opelka’s only previous victory against a Top 10 player came against No. 8 Sock in the 2nd round at 2018 Delray Beach.
• Opelka reached a career-high ranking of No. 98 on November 2018 after claiming the title at the Champaign Challenger.
• Opelka was a successful junior, reaching a career-high junior ranking of No. 4 in July 2015. He won the boys’ singles title at 2015 Wimbledon, defeating Mikael Ymer in the final, and finished runner-up in the boys’ doubles event with Akira Santillan. He also reached the quarterfinals of the boys’ singles at 2015 Roland Garros (l. Michael Mmoh).
• Opelka is coached by Jay Berger and Jean-Yves Aubone.

NO. 13 KYLE EDMUND (GBR) v TOMAS BERDYCH (CZE)

Head-to-head: Berdych leads 1-0
2016 Doha Hard (O) QF Berdych 63 62
EDMUND v BERDYCH
24 Age 33
14 ATP Ranking (7 Jan) 57
1 Titles 13
20-16 Career Grand Slam Record 143-58
6-4 Australian Open Record 44-15
89-85 Career Record 631-333
57-50 Career Record – Hard 392-208
0-1 2019 Record 4-1
0-1 2019 Record – Hard 4-1
3-4 Career Five-Set Record 21-9
0 Comebacks from 0-2 Down 2
42-39 Career Tiebreak Record 222-186
0-1 2019 Tiebreak Record 2-0

• EDMUND is looking to reach the 2nd round here for the 3rd time. This is his 5th Australian Open appearance and his 18th Grand Slam overall.
• Last year here Edmund recorded his best Grand Slam result by reaching the semifinals. He defeated No. 11 seed Kevin Anderson in the 1st round and No. 3 seed Grigor Dimitrov in the quarterfinals, before falling to Marin Cilic in the last 4. He became the first British man – other than Andy Murray – to reach the semifinals at the Australian Open since John Lloyd in December 1977 and the 6th British man to reach the semifinals at a Grand Slam in the Open Era.
• Elsewhere in Grand Slam play in 2018 Edmund reached the 3rd round at Roland Garros (l. Fabio Fognini) and Wimbledon (l. Novak Djokovic), but fell to Paolo Lorenzi in the 1st round at the US Open.
• Edmund’s best result in 2018 was winning his first Tour-level title at Antwerp, defeating Gael Monfils in 3 sets. He also reached the final at Marrakech (l. Pablo Andujar), the semifinals at the Australian Open and Beijing (l. Nikoloz Basilashvili) and the quarterfinals at 6 other Tour-level events.
• Edmund warmed up for the Australian Open at Brisbane, where he lost his opening match to Yasutaka Uchiyama.
• Edmund is one of 8 British players (men and women) to start this year’s Australian Open – the most since 1988, when there were 15.
• Edmund has won 2 of the 3 five-set matches that he has contested at the Australian Open – defeating both Anderson and Basilashvili in 5 sets during his run to the semifinals last year. He has a 3-4 win-loss record in 5-set matches overall.
• Edmund reached a career-high ranking of No. 14 after reaching the semifinals at Beijing in October last year. He plays here at the same ranking.
• Edmund was a successful junior, reaching a career-high ranking of No. 8 in January 2012. He reached the quarterfinals at the 2012 Junior Australian Open, losing to eventual champion Luke Saville. He also won the boys’ doubles titles at the 2012 Junior US Open and 2013 Junior Roland Garros with Frederico Ferreira Silva.
• Edmund was also a member of the British Junior Davis Cup team, captained by Greg Rusedski, which won the title in San Luis Potosi, Mexico in 2011.
• In 2015 Edmund became the 7th player to make their Davis Cup debut in the Final. He fell to David Goffin in the first rubber, but Great Britain won the title for the first time since 1936. He has a 3-5 win-loss record in the competition. Great Britain has received a wild card for the 2019 Davis Cup finals in Madrid on 18-24 November.
2019 Australian Open day 1 men’s match notes
• Edmund is coached by Frederik Rosengren.
• BERDYCH is bidding to reach the 2nd round at the Australian Open for the 14th straight year. He has lost in the 1st round here just once before – to Guillermo Coria in 2005.
• Berdych’s best Australian Open performance is reaching the semifinals in 2014 (l. Stan Wawrinka) and 2015 (l. Andy Murray). By reaching the semifinals here in 2014, he became the 2nd Czech man in the Open Era after Ivan Lendl to complete a set of Grand Slam semifinal appearances.
• Berdych’s best Grand Slam result is reaching the final at 2010 Wimbledon. He defeated Federer in the quarterfinals and Novak Djokovic in the semifinals before losing to Rafael Nadal in the final.
• Last year here Berdych reached the quarterfinals for the 7th time in the last 8 years. He fell to Roger Federer, having also lost to Federer here in 2008-09 and 2016-17. This his 16th appearance at the Australian Open and his 59th Grand Slam overall.
• Elsewhere in Grand Slam play in 2018 Berdych fell to Jeremy Chardy in 5 sets the 1st round at Roland Garros. He withdrew from both Wimbledon and the US Open due to a back injury.
• Berdych’s best results in 2018 were reaching the semifinals at Marseille (l. Karen Khachanov), and the quarterfinals at Rotterdam, where he gave a walkover to David Goffin due to illness, Stuttgart (l. Milos Raonic) and the Australian Open. He ended his season due to a back injury after losing to Julien Benneteau in the 1st round at Queen’s.
• Berdych warmed up for the Australian Open by reaching the final as a wild card at Doha, where he fell to Roberto Bautista Agut in 3 sets. It was the first Tour-level event he had contested since 2018 Queen’s and his first Tour-level final since 2017 Lyon, when he fell to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
• Berdych is bidding to record his 20th match-win against a Top 20 opponent at the Grand Slams. He has a 19-40 win-loss record against Top 20 opposition at the majors and has won 3 of his last 5 meetings with Top 20 players at the Grand Slams, with his only defeats in that time coming against Federer – in the semifinals at 2017 Wimbledon and in the quarterfinals here last year.
• Berdych has won just one of his last 5 meetings with Top 20 opposition at the Australian Open. His only victory against a Top 20 player here in that time came in the 3rd round last year when he defeated No. 10 Juan Martin del Potro. He has a 6-13 win-loss record against Top 20 players at the Australian Open overall.
• The Australian Open is Berdych’s most successful Grand Slam in terms of matches won. He has a 44-15 win-loss record here, compared with a 42-14 win-loss record at Wimbledon, 32-14 at the US Open and 25-15 at Roland Garros.
• Berdych has won 5 of his last 6 five-set matches. His only defeat in a 5-set match in that time came in his most-recent 5-set match, against Chardy in the 1st round at Roland Garros last year. He has a 1-1 win-loss record in 5-set matches at the Australian Open and a 21-9 win-loss record in 5-set matches overall.
• Berdych is unseeded at a Grand Slam for the first time since 2005 Wimbledon. He had previously been seeded at every Grand Slam event he has contested since the 2005 US Open.
• Berdych is a former Top 5 player. He reached a career-high ranking of No. 4 in May 2015. He dropped to No. 77 in October 2018 – his lowest ranking since he was No. 79 in August 2004 – but plays here ranked No. 57.
• Berdych is coached by Martin Stepanek.

NO. 14 STEFANOS TSITSIPAS (GRE) v MATTEO BERRETTINI (ITA)

Tour-level head-to-head: first meeting
2017 US Open Qualifying Draw Hard (O) R64 Tsitsipas 67(6) 76(4) 76(2)
A first Tour-level meeting for the pair, who previously met in the 1st round of qualifying at the 2017 US Open.
TSITSIPAS v BERRETTINI
20 Age 22
15 ATP Ranking (7 Jan) 52
1 Titles 1
5-6 Career Grand Slam Record 3-4
0-1 Australian Open Record 0-1
46-38 Career Record 20-22
29-26 Career Record – Hard 7-11
1-1 2019 Record 1-2
1-1 2019 Record – Hard 1-2
1-0 Career Five-Set Record 1-0
0 Comebacks from 0-2 Down 1
20-24 Career Tiebreak Record 9-9
0-0 2019 Tiebreak Record 0-1

• TSITSIPAS is bidding to reach the 2nd round here for the first time and become the first Greek man to win a match at the Australian Open.
• Last year here, on his Australian Open debut, Tsitsipas fell to Denis Shapovalov in the 1st round. This is 7th Grand Slam overall.
• Tsitsipas’ best Grand Slam result is reaching the round of 16 at 2018 Wimbledon, when he became the first Greek player – man or woman – to reach the round of 16 at a major since Eleni Daniilidou reached the last 16 in the women’s singles at the 2004 US Open. He also became just the 4th Greek man in history to reach the round of 16 at a major and the first since Nicky Kalogeropoulos at 1964 Wimbledon.
• Elsewhere at the Grand Slams in 2018, Tsitsipas reached the 2nd round at both Roland Garros, where he recorded his first Grand Slam match-win by defeating Carlos Taberner before falling to Dominic Thiem, and the US Open (d. Tommy Robredo, l. Daniil Medvedev).
• Tsitsipas’ best result in 2018 was winning the title at Stockholm (d. Ernests Gulbis), where he became the first Greek player to win a Tour-level title. He also finished runner-up at Barcelona and Toronto-1000, losing to Rafael Nadal on both occasions, and reached the semifinals at Estoril (l. Joao Sousa) and Washington (l. Alexander Zverev). He also won the title at the 2018 NextGen ATP Finals in Milan (d. Alex de Minaur).
• Prior to coming here, Tsitsipas reached the quarterfinals as top seed at Sydney (l. Andreas Seppi). He also competed for Greece at the Hopman Cup, winning one of his 3 singles matches – he defeated Frances Tiafoe, but fell to Cameron Norrie and Roger Federer.
• Tsitsipas is seeded No. 14 here – his highest Grand Slam seeding. He was seeded at a Grand Slam for the first time at Wimbledon last year.
• Tsitsipas broke the Top 20, at No. 15, for the first time after reaching the final at Toronto-1000 in August last year. He plays here at the same ranking.
• At 20 years 168 days, Tsitsipas is the 6th-youngest man to begin the men’s singles here this year. He is one of 17 men aged 21 or younger to start the main draw. (NB Age calculated at the end of the tournament)
• Tsitsipas is a former junior world No. 1. He reached the quarterfinals of the boys’ singles here in 2015 (l. Jurabek Karimov) and 2016 (l. De Minaur). His best result at a junior Grand Slam was reaching the semifinals of the boys’ singles at 2016 Wimbledon (l. Shapovalov) and at the 2016 US Open (l. Felix Auger-Aliassime).
2019 Australian Open day 1 men’s match notes
• Tsitsipas is coached by his father, Apostolos Tsitsipas.
• BERRETTINI is bidding to reach the 2nd round here for the first time. This is his 2nd Australian Open and his 5th Grand Slam overall.
• Last year here, Berrettini made his Grand Slam debut as a lucky loser, having lost to Denis Kudla in the final round of qualifying. He fell to Adrian Mannarino in the 1st round of the main draw.
• Berrettini’s best Grand Slam result is reaching the 3rd round at 2018 Roland Garros, defeating Oscar Otte and Ernests Gulbis before falling to Dominic Thiem. Elsewhere at the Grand Slams in 2018, Berrettini reached the 2nd round at Wimbledon (d. Jack Sock, l. Gilles Simon), but fell to Kudla in the 1st round at the US Open.
• Berrettini’s best result in 2018 was winning his first Tour-level title at Gstaad (d. Roberto Bautista Agut). He also won the doubles title at Gstaad alongside Daniele Bracciali (d. Denis Molchanov/Igor Zelenay) – having never won a Tour-level doubles match prior to competing in Gstaad – and won a further Tour-level doubles title at St Petersburg alongside Fabio Fognini (d. Roman Jebavy/Matwe Middelkoop).
• Prior to coming here Berrettini reached the 2nd round at Auckland (d. Mackenzie McDonald, l. Leonardo Mayer), but fell to Bautista Agut in the 1st round at Doha.
• Berrettini is bidding to defeat a Top 20 opponent for the 3rd time. He has a 2-3 win-loss record against Top 20 opposition, with his 2 victories coming against No. 15 Sock in the 1st round at Wimbledon and No. 17 Bautista Agut in the final at Gstaad. He lost his only previous meeting with a Top 20 opponent on a hard court – falling to No. 16 Kyle Edmund in the 2nd round at 2018 Beijing.
• Berrettini won the only 5-set match he has contested – he recovered from 0-2 down to defeat Sock in the 1st round at Wimbledon last year.
• Berrettini reached a career-high ranking of No. 52 in October 2018 and plays here at the same ranking.
• Berrettini is coached by Vincenzo Santopadre and Umberto Rianna.

NO. 20 GRIGOR DIMITROV (BUL) v JANKO TIPSAREVIC (SRB)
Head-to-head: Tipsarevic leads 4-1
2011 Eastbourne Grass (O) QF Tipsarevic 63 76(2)
2011 Washington Hard (O) R16 Tipsarevic 64 62
2012 Miami-1000 Hard (O) R16 Tipsarevic 76(3) 62
2013 Monte Carlo-1000 Clay (O) R32 Dimitrov 76(3) 61
2016 Queen’s Grass (O) R32 Tipsarevic 76(6) 46 63

A 6th Tour-level meeting for the pair, but their first hard court meeting in nearly 7 years. Tipsarevic won both of their previous hard court meetings in straight sets.
Dimitrov has never lost to an unranked player. The lowest-ranked player to defeat Dimitrov is Tipsarevic, who was ranked No. 553 when they met in the 1st round at 2016 Queen’s. The lowest-ranked player to defeat Dimitrov at a Grand Slam is No. 224 Stan Wawrinka in the 1st round at 2018 Wimbledon.

DIMITROV v TIPSAREVIC
27 Age 34
21 ATP Ranking (7 Jan) –
8 Titles 4
50-33 Career Grand Slam Record 51-47
20-8 Australian Open Record 12-9
291-181 Career Record 283-247
186-115 Career Record – Hard 170-142
2-1 2019 Record 0-0
2-1 2019 Record – Hard 0-0
7-6 Career Five-Set Record 19-11
0 Comebacks from 0-2 Down 6
122-95 Career Tiebreak Record 132-131
0-0 2019 Tiebreak Record 0-0

• DIMITROV is bidding to reach the 2nd round here for the 8th time. He has lost in the 1st round here once before – in 2013 (l. Julien Benneteau).
• This is Dimitrov’s 9th consecutive Australian Open and his 34th Grand Slam overall. Should he win his maiden Grand Slam title on his 34th attempt, he will be joint-3rd with Petr Korda on the Open Era list for most Grand Slam appearances before winning a first Grand Slam title. (see Preview page 5)
• Dimitrov’s best Grand Slam result is reaching the semifinals on 2 occasions, including at the Australian Open in 2017, when he lost to Rafael Nadal in 5 sets. He also reached the semifinals at 2014 Wimbledon (l. Novak Djokovic).
• Last year here Dimitrov reached the quarterfinals, falling to Kyle Edmund in 4 sets.
• Elsewhere at the Grand Slams in 2018 Dimitrov reached the 3rd round at Roland Garros (l. Fernando Verdasco), but fell to Stan Wawrinka in the 1st round at both Wimbledon and the US Open.
• Dimitrov’s best result in 2018 was reaching the final at 2018 Rotterdam (l. Roger Federer). He also reached the semifinals at Brisbane (l. Nick Kyrgios) and Monte Carlo-1000 (l. Nadal) and the quarterfinals at 3 further Tour-level events.
• Dimitrov warmed up for the Australian Open at Brisbane where he reached the quarterfinals (l. Kei Nishikori).
• Dimitrov has won 3 of his last 4 five-set matches. His only defeat during that time came against Nadal in the semifinals here in 2017. Dimitrov has a 3-2 win-loss record in five-set matches at the Australian Open and 7-6 win-loss record in five-set matches overall.
2019 Australian Open day 1 men’s match notes
• The Australian Open is Dimitrov’s most successful Grand Slam in terms of matches won. He has a 20-8 win-loss record here, compared to a 15-9 win-loss record at Wimbledon, 8-8 at the US Open and 7-8 at Roland Garros.
• Dimitrov reached a career-high ranking of No. 3 in November 2017 after winning the ATP Finals. He plays here ranked No. 21.
• Dimitrov finished 2008 as No. 3 in the ITF Junior Rankings after winning the boys’ singles titles at Wimbledon (d. Henri Kontinen) and the US Open (d. Devin Britton).
• Dimitrov was part of the ITF 14 & Under European Team in Europe in 2004-05 and the ITF 16 & Under European A Team in Europe in 2006, funded by the Grand Slam Development Fund.
• Dimitrov started working with Dani Vallverdu, former coach to Andy Murray and Tomas Berdych, in July 2016. His fitness trainer is Sebastien Durand and his physio is Casey Cordial.
• TIPSAREVIC is competing at the Australian Open for the first time since 2013. This is his 10th appearance at the Australian Open and his 48th Grand Slam overall.
• Tipsarevic is making his first appearance – at any level – since the 2017 US Open, when he reached the 2nd round (d. Thanasi Kokkinakis, l. Diego Schwartzman). He underwent surgery on both hamstring tendons after the 2017 US Open and is making his return from injury at this event.
• On his most recent appearance here, in 2013, Tipsarevic recorded his best Australian Open result by reaching the round of 16 (l. Nicolas Almagro). He became the 2nd Serbian man, after Novak Djokovic, to reach the round of 16 at all 4 Grand Slam events.
• Tipsarevic’s best Grand Slam result is reaching the quarterfinals at the US Open in both 2011 (l. Djokovic) and 2012 (l. David Ferrer).
• Prior to coming here Tipsarevic played one match at the Kooyong Classic exhibition event, defeating Jason Kubler in a match tiebreak.
• Tipsarevic is a former Top 10 player, having reached a career-high ranking of No. 8 in April 2012. He is currently unranked, but entered the Australian Open using a protected ranking of No. 88.
• Tipsarevic has won 4 career singles titles, most recently at 2013 Chennai (d. Roberto Bautista Agut).
• Tipsarevic has lost 3 of his last 4 five-set matches, with his only victory in that time coming in his most recent 5-set match, against Kokkinakis in the 1st round at the 2017 US Open. He has a 5-5 win-loss record in 5-set matches at the Australian Open and a 19-11 win-loss record in 5-set matches overall.
• Tipsarevic won the Australian Open boys’ singles title in 2001 (d. Jimmy Wang). He is one of 6 former junior champions to start the men’s main draw here.
• Tipsarevic was part of the ITF/Grand Slam 14 & Under European Team in Europe in 1996 and the 18 & Under International Team in Europe in 2000, funded by the Grand Slam Development Fund.
• Tipsarevic is coached by Rainer Schuettler and Dirk Hordorff.

NO. 22 ROBERTO BAUTISTA AGUT (ESP) v ANDY MURRAY (GBR)
Head-to-head: Murray leads 3-0
2014 Wimbledon Grass (O) R32 Murray 62 63 62
2015 Munich Clay (O) SF Murray 64 64
2016 Shanghai-1000 Hard (O) FR Murray 76(1) 61
A 4th meeting for the pair, their 2nd at a Grand Slam and their 2nd on a hard court. Murray has won all 3 of their previous meetings in straight sets.
BAUTISTA AGUT v MURRAY
30 Age 31
23 ATP Ranking (7 Jan) 230
9 Titles 45
44-24 Career Grand Slam Record 189-44
11-7 Australian Open Record 48-12
250-150 Career Record 663-190
162-96 Career Record – Hard 441-120
5-0 2019 Record 1-1
5-0 2019 Record – Hard 1-1
8-5 Career Five-Set Record 23-11
1 Comebacks from 0-2 Down 9
87-75 Career Tiebreak Record 194-116
1-0 2019 Tiebreak Record 0-0

• BAUTISTA AGUT is bidding to reach the 2nd round here for the 6th time. This is his 8th Australian Open appearance and his 25th Grand Slam overall.
• Bautista Agut’s best Grand Slam performance is reaching the round of 16 on 9 occasions, including 3 times at the Australian Open – in 2014 (l. Grigor Dimitrov), 2016 (l. Tomas Berdych) and 2017 (l. Milos Raonic).
• Last year here, Bautista Agut fell to Fernando Verdasco in the 1st round. He has lost in the 1st round here on one other occasion – on his Grand Slam debut as a qualifier in 2012 (l. Ricardo Mello).
• Elsewhere at the Grand Slams in 2018, Bautista Agut reached the 3rd round at Roland Garros (l. Novak Djokovic) but fell in the 1st round at the US Open (l. Jason Kubler). He missed Wimbledon due to a groin injury.
• Bautista Agut’s best results in 2018 were winning the titles at Auckland (d. Juan Martin del Potro) and Dubai (d. Lucas Pouille). He also finished runner-up at Gstaad (l. Matteo Berrettini) and reached the semifinals at Halle, where he retired due to a hip injury against Borna Coric, and St Petersburg (l. Dominic Thiem).
• Bautista Agut warmed up for the Australian Open by winning his 9th career singles title at Doha (d. Tomas Berdych). It is the 4th consecutive season in which he has won a title prior to the Australian Open. 7 of his 9 titles have come on hard courts. His victory in the final at Auckland was his 250th Tour-level match-win in his 400th Tour-level match.
• Bautista Agut reached a career-high ranking of No. 13 in October 2016. He plays here at No. 23.
• Bautista Agut has won just one of his last 5 five-set matches, with his only victory in a 5-set match in that time coming against Denis Istomin in the 1st round at 2018 Roland Garros. He has a 4-2 win-loss record in 5-set matches at the Australian Open and an 8-5 win-loss record in 5-set matches overall.
• Bautista Agut has played Davis Cup for Spain since 2014 and has a 6-5 win-loss record in the competition. As a semifinalist in 2018, Spain has secured a place in the 2019 Davis Cup finals in Madrid on 18-24 November.
• Bautista Agut is coached by Tomas Carbonell and Pepe Vendrell.
2019 Australian Open day 1 men’s match notes
• Five-time Australian Open runner-up MURRAY is bidding to reach the 2nd round here for the 11th time. This is his 13th Australian Open and 48th Grand Slam overall.
• Murray is bidding to record his 49th Australian Open match-win and claim sole ownership of 5th place on the list for most Australian Open match-wins in the Open Era. Only Roger Federer (94 Australian Open match-wins), Novak Djokovic (61), Stefan Edberg (56) and Rafael Nadal (55) have recorded more match-wins here in the Open Era than Murray. (see Preview page 7)
• Murray has lost in the 1st round at a Grand Slam on 3 occasions, including twice at the Australian Open – on his debut here in 2006 (l. Juan Ignacio Chela) and in 2008 (l. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga). He also fell in the 1st round at 2006 Roland Garros (l. Gael Monfils).
• Murray withdrew from the Australian Open last year due to hip surgery. He missed 4 consecutive Grand Slams, from the 2017 US Open to 2018 Wimbledon, due to his hip injury. He reached the 2nd round on his Grand Slam return at the 2018 US Open (d. James Duckworth, l. Fernando Verdasco).
• Murray is contesting his 8th event since 2017 Wimbledon at this year’s Australian Open. He contested 6 events in 2018, making his comeback after nearly a year out due to his hip injury at Queen’s. His best results in 2018 were reaching the quarterfinals at Washington, where he gave a walkover to Alex de Minaur due to fatigue, and Shenzhen (l. Verdasco).
• Murray warmed up for the Australian Open at Brisbane, where he reached the 2nd round (d. Duckworth, l. Daniil Medvedev).
• Murray has lost his last 4 five-set matches. He has not won a 5-set match since defeating Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the quarterfinals at 2016 Wimbledon. He has a 2-3 win-loss record at the Australian Open and a 23-11 win-loss record in 5-set matches overall.
• Murray’s best Australian Open result is reaching the final on 5 occasions. He fell to Federer in his first appearance in the final here in 2010, and lost to Djokovic in his 4 other appearances in the title match here – in 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2016.
• The Australian Open is Murray’s 2nd-most successful Grand Slam in terms of matches won. He has a 48-12 win-loss record here – compared to 57-10 at Wimbledon, 45-12 at the US Open and 39-10 at Roland Garros.
• Murray is one of 8 British players (men and women) to start this year’s Australian Open – the most since 1988, when there were 15.
• Murray is one of 6 Grand Slam champions to start in the men’s main draw here. Murray won the 2012 US Open title (d. Djokovic) and became the first British man to win the Wimbledon singles title in 77 years in 2013 (d. Djokovic) before winning the title again in 2016 (d. Milos Raonic).
• Murray became the first player in history to successfully defend an Olympic singles gold medal after defeating Juan Martin del Potro in the final at the 2016 Rio Olympic Tennis Event. He defeated Federer in the final at the 2012 London Tennis Event. He also won a silver medal in mixed doubles at London alongside Laura Robson, falling to Victoria Azarenka/Max Mirnyi in the final.
• Murray became the 26th man – and first British man – to reach the No. 1 ranking in October 2016. He remained at No. 1 for 41 weeks, surrendering the top ranking in August 2017. He dropped as low as No. 839 in July 2018 but plays here at No. 230. He entered this tournament using a protected ranking of No. 2.
• Murray has won 45 career titles – most recently at 2017 Dubai (d. Verdasco). 33 of his titles have come on a hard court.
• Murray has played Davis Cup since 2005 and has a 30-3 singles win-loss record in the competition in 20 ties played, leading Great Britain to its first title since 1936 in 2015. Great Britain was awarded a wild card to the 2019 Davis Cup finals in Madrid on 18-24 November.
• Murray is coached by former world No. 121 Jamie Delgado.

NO. 27 ALEX DE MINAUR (AUS) v PEDRO SOUSA (POR)
Head-to-head: first meeting
DE MINAUR v SOUSA
19 Age 30
29 ATP Ranking (7 Jan) 103
0 Titles 0
5-7 Career Grand Slam Record 0-0
1-2 Australian Open Record 0-0
33-28 Career Record 12-12
30-20 Career Record – Hard 0-3
7-1 2019 Record 0-1
7-1 2019 Record – Hard 0-1
1-2 Career Five-Set Record 0-0
0 Comebacks from 0-2 Down 0
19-12 Career Tiebreak Record 3-4
3-1 2019 Tiebreak Record 0-0

• DE MINAUR is bidding to reach the 2nd round here for the 2nd time and equal his best Australian Open performance.
• Last year here, as a wild card, De Minaur fell to Tomas Berdych in straight sets in the 1st round. This is his 3rd Australian Open appearance and his 8th Grand Slam overall.
• De Minaur’s best Australian Open performance is reaching the 2nd round on his Grand Slam debut, defeating Gerald Melzer in the 1st round before falling to Sam Querrey. Aged 17 years 347 days, he was the youngest man to reach the 2nd round at a major since Borna Coric (17 years 298 days) at the 2014 US Open.
• De Minaur’s best Grand Slam performance is reaching the 3rd round at both 2018 Wimbledon (l. Rafael Nadal) and the 2018 US Open, where he surrendered a 2-0 lead against Marin Cilic before losing in 5 sets. He has a 1-2 win-loss record in 5-set matches overall.
• Also in Grand Slam play in 2018, De Minaur fell to Kyle Edmund in the 1st round as a wild card at Roland Garros.
• De Minaur’s best results in 2018 were finishing runner-up at Sydney (l. Daniil Medvedev) and Washington (l. Alexander Zverev). He also reached the semifinals as a wild card at Brisbane (l. Ryan Harrison) and as No. 7 seed at Shenzhen (l. Pierre-Hugues Herbert).
• De Minaur warmed up for the Australian Open by winning his first Tour-level title at Sydney, defeating Andreas Seppi in the final. He also reached the quarterfinals at Brisbane (l. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga).
• De Minaur is one of 12 Australian men to start this year’s Australian Open main draw – the most since 2001 when there were also 12. He is looking to become the first native champion to win the Australian Open men’s singles title since Mark Edmondson in 1976.
• De Minaur was voted ATP Newcomer of the Year by his fellow players in 2018, having risen from outside the Top 200 to finish the year ranked at No. 31. He broke the Top 30 for the first time after reaching the quarterfinals at Brisbane this month and plays here at a career-high ranking of No. 29.
• De Minaur reached a career-high junior ranking of No. 2 in February 2016. He reached the semifinals of the boys’ singles at the 2016 Australian Open (l. Jurabek Karimov) and won the doubles event alongside Blake Ellis. He also finished runner-up in the boys’ singles event at 2016 Wimbledon (l. Denis Shapovalov).
• De Minaur made his Davis Cup debut in 2018 but has lost all 3 rubbers he has contested in the competition so far. Australia will play Bosnia/Herzegovina in the Davis Cup qualifiers in Adelaide on 1-2 February.
• De Minaur is coached by Adolfo Gutierrez.
2019 Australian Open day 1 men’s match notes
• SOUSA is making his Grand Slam debut today.
• Sousa has failed to qualify at the Grand Slams on 14 occasions – including on his only attempt to qualify here in 2017, when he fell to Mohamed Safwat in the 1st round of qualifying. He is a direct acceptance at a Grand Slam here for the first time.
• Sousa is bidding to record his first Tour-level victory on hard court. Of his 12 Tour-level match-wins, 11 have come on clay and one on carpet. He is bidding to record his first hard court match-win at any level since reaching the 2nd round at the 2017 Quanzhou Challenger (CHN) (d. Yan Bai, l. Matteo Berrettini).
• Sousa’s Tour-level highlights in 2018 were reaching the 2nd round at both Estoril (d. Gilles Simon, l. Joao Sousa) and Bastad (d. Radu Albot, l. Fernando Verdasco). Other than Davis Cup ties, they were the only 2 Tour-level events he contested last year.
• Sousa played mainly Challenger-level in 2018. He won the titles at the Braga Challenger (POR) (d. Casper Ruud) and the Pullach Challenger (GER) (d. Jan-Lennard Struff) and finished runner-up at the Liberec Challenger (CZE) (l. Andrej Martin), the Lima Challenger (PER) (l. Christian Garin) and the Guayquil Challenger (ECU) (l. Guido Andreozzi).
• Sousa warmed up for the Australian Open at Pune, where he fell to Ernests Gulbis in the 1st round. He also attempted to qualify at Sydney but fell to Garin in the 1st round of qualifying.
• Sousa is bidding to record his first match-win against a Top 50 player on his 5th attempt. The highest-ranked player he has defeated is No. 54 Jan-Lennard Struff in the 2nd rubber of Portugal’s 3-2 defeat to Germany in the 2017 Davis Cup World Group play-offs.
• Sousa reached a career-high ranking of No. 102 in September 2017. He plays here one place lower at No. 103.
• Sousa has played Davis Cup for Portugal since 2006 and has a 10-3 overall win-loss record in the competition. Portugal will play Kazakhstan in the Davis Cup qualifiers in Astana on 1-2 February.
• Sousa is coached by Rui Machado.

All stats courtesy of the International Tennis Federation and Grand Slam Media