Press Release
For immediate release
Saturday June 20th 2015
BAGHDATIS TO BEGIN PROCEEDINGS AT AEGON OPEN NOTTINGHAM MAIN DRAW
Former World No. 8 Marcos Baghdatis will face Dominican Victor Estrella Burgos in the first round of the Aegon Open Nottingham main draw on Sunday for the right to play top seed David Ferrer, while the second round of qualifying will see Brits Daniel Smethurst and Luke Bambridge in action.
Cypriot Baghdatis, who won the Aegon Trophy last year, has not played against Estrella Burgos before and returns to the Nottingham Tennis Centre on the back of a three-set defeat to Rafael Nadal in the second round at Stuttgart.
British No. 13 Smethurst provided the rain-interrupted day’s upset as the Nottingham-based player beat American Daniel Nguyen, who is ranked 309 places above him, 7-5 6-1. Smethurst will play Danai Udomchoke first on Court 2 on Sunday while compatriot Bambridge defeated Alex Bolt 7-6(4) 6-4 and will be up against 2013 Aegon Nottingham Challenge finalist Ruben Bemelmans.
Nottingham-born Bambridge, 20, said: “It’s great to win in Nottingham. I saw going indoors as an advantage because I train here and I know how the courts play, so I’m used to them.”
Elsewhere, two of the top three qualifying seeds Marsel Ilhan and Dusan Lajovic fell in the first round of qualification on Saturday, which saw much of play move indoors as a precaution with rain forecast in the afternoon.
However 2010 Aegon Trophy finalist Go Soeda of Japan had little difficulty in beating Dzmitry Zhyrmont 6-4 6-3 to set up a second round qualification meeting against Croatian Mate Pavic.
Sunday’s other main draw action will feature 2013 Aegon Nottingham Challenge champion Steve Johnson last on Centre Court against Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky. World No. 50 Stakhovsky ended Roger Federer’s run of 36 consecutive Grand Slam quarter-finals when he beat the Swiss in the 2013 Wimbledon second round.
The winner of their encounter will go on to face sixth seed Viktor Troicki of Serbia, whose semi-final at The Queen’s Club against Andy Murray was interrupted by rain on Saturday.
Stakhovsky’s compatriot Alexandr Dolgopolov, who knocked Nadal out of the Aegon Championships at The Queen’s Club earlier this week, will play former junior World No. 1 Donald Young of the USA second on Centre Court.
Meanwhile, Gilles Muller has withdrawn from the Aegon Open Nottingham with a back complaint, leaving British wild card Kyle Edmund to now face World No. 82 Malek Jaziri in the first round.
Muller, the World No. 48 from Luxembourg, pulled out following a medical on his arrival in Nottingham on Saturday, having lost to Andy Murray in the quarter-final stage at The Queen’s Club on Friday.
“I have had back problems since the beginning of the week, but I was able to play at a pretty good level. I’ve played a lot of matches and I don’t want to take any chances now to make it worse before Wimbledon,” he said.
Ground passes start from just £5 for adults and are free for children on all adult tickets. Centre Court tickets start from just £10 for an adult and £5 for a child.
For more information and to purchase tickets please visit http://www.lta.org.uk/major-events/aegon-open-nottingham
For information on the hospitality packages on offer at The Aegon Open Nottingham head to http://www.lta.org.uk/major-events/aegon-open-nottingham/nottingham-hospitality/ or contact Elliot Sheasby on aegonopen@lta.org.uk
RESULTS - JUNE 20, 2015
Mens
Qualifying Singles - First Round
- J. Thompson (AUS) d [1] M. Ilhan (TUR) 61 64
- M. Zverev (GER) d [3] D. Lajovic (SRB) 62 76(2)
- [4] D. Sela (ISR) d A. Bossel (SUI) 75 64
- [5] G. Soeda (JPN) d D. Zhyrmont (BLR) 64 63
- [6] L. Lacko (SVK) d F. Nielsen (DEN) 64 63
- [7] B. Rola (SLO) d L. Broady (GBR) 76(5) 75
- [8] R. Bemelmans (BEL) d B. Klein (GBR) 63 63
- F. Krajinovic (SRB) d E. Crepaldi (ITA) 46 64 76(4)
- M. Pavic (CRO) d [WC] J. Marsalek (GBR) 64 64
- [Alt] D. Udomchoke (THA) d L. Kubot (POL) 76(3) 10 Retired
- [WC] D. Smethurst (GBR) d D. Nguyen (USA) 75 61
- [WC] L. Bambridge (GBR) d A. Bolt (AUS) 76(4) 64
- G. Zemlja (SLO) d M. Matosevic (AUS) 46 61 76(3)
- D. Kutrovsky (BUL) d C. Smith (USA) 64 63
- D. Brands (GER) d L. Pouille (FRA) 63 64
- I. Marchenko (UKR) d [WC] D. Rice (GBR) 64 62
ORDER OF PLAY - SUNDAY, JUNE 21, 2015
CENTRE COURT start 12:00 noon
V. Estrella Burgos (DOM) vs M. Baghdatis (CYP)
A. Dolgopolov (UKR) vs D. Young (USA)
[PR] N. Almagro (ESP) vs D. Istomin (UZB)
S. Stakhovsky (UKR) vs S. Johnson (USA)