Stockholm Sunday Preview

World No.2 and top seed Roger Federer has already passed Pete Sampras on the Open Era Grand Slam titles list, but he still trails the American on the Open Era overall titles list. With a win over unseeded Florian Mayer in the final of the If Stockholm Open on Sunday, he would have his 64th career ATP World Tour level title, tying Sampras for fourth place on the Open Era titles list (see below).

If history is anything to go by, Federer has a great shot of reaching that milestone. In two previous meetings against Mayer, Federer has lost a total of 11 games in five sets, and he has won his past 35 matches against Germans (his last loss coming to Nicolas Kiefer at Halle in June 2002).

Mayer has had a strong week though, beating two seeds en route to his third ATP World Tour final (0-2). He beat No. 6 Feliciano Lopez and No. 2 Robin Soderling and he is the first German to reach the final here since Boris Becker won the title in 1994 (that was also the last time a German reached the final). Mayer saved a match point in his semi-final match against Jarkko Nieminen, at 4-5, 30-40 in the third set, and he now has the chance of becoming Germany’s first title winner on the ATP World Tour this year.
WHAT’S AT STAKE –
Winner:          €€95,845 and 250 South African Airways 2010 ATP Ranking points                   Runner-up:      €50,500 and 150 South African Airways 2010 ATP Ranking points
 
FINALS HISTORY –
 Federer   :    Appearing in his 92nd  ATP World Tour level final……….He is 63-28 in finals (2-4 in 2010)
 Mayer:          Appearing in his 3rd ATP World Tour final………………..He is 0-2 in finals (first final in 2010)

OPEN ERA SINGLES TITLES LIST - Federer tries to tie Sampras for fourth in the Open Era (since 1968):
    No.
1) Jimmy Connors 109
2) Ivan Lendl    94
3) John McEnroe   77
4) Pete Sampras   64
5) Roger Federer   63
    Bjorn Borg    63

WINNING A TITLE FROM MATCH POINT DOWN IN 2010 – Mayer is trying to become the fifth player to win a title this year after saving match point. Sam Querrey has achieved the feat twice, so this would be the sixth overall time it will happen this year:

• Davydenko, Nikolay (Doha - saved 2 M.P. to beat Nadal in final)
• Isner, John (Auckland - saved 1 M.P. to beat Clement in final)
• Querrey, Sam (Belgrade - saved 1 M.P. to beat Isner in final)
• Querrey, Sam (Los Angeles - saved 1 M.P. to beat Tipsarevic in SFs, then 1 M.P. to beat Murray in final)
• Nadal, Rafael (Tokyo - saved 2 M.P. to beat Troicki in SFs)

GLOBAL CHAMPION - Federer is attempting to capture an ATP World Tour title in the 18th different country he has played in during his career. Here is the breakdown of countries he has won titles in:
                               No.
United States            16  France      2
Germany                  10  Qatar       2
England                    6  Spain        2
Australia                   5  Thailand    2
Switzerland               4  Italy          1
United Arab Emirates 4  Japan         1
Austria                     2  Netherlands 1
Canada                     2  Portugal     1
China                        2

FIRST-TIME WINNERS - Mayer tries to become the fourth or fifth first-time winner on the ATP World Tour this year (Viktor Troicki is in the Moscow final Sunday). Here are the other first-time winners: John Isner (Auckland), Ernests Gulbis (Delray Beach) and Andrey Golubev (Hamburg). Players attempting to capture their first ATP World Tour title are 3-10 in finals this year. The last first-time winner in Stockholm was Mardy Fish in 2003.

SUNDAY CHAMPIONSHIP HEAD-TO-HEADS –

(1) Roger Federer (SUI) vs Florian Mayer (GER) Federer Leads 2-0
05 Halle (Germany) Grass R16 Roger Federer 6-2 6-4
06 Australian Open (Australia) Hard R64 Roger Federer 6-1 6-4 6-0

Federer FastFacts:
2010 Highlights:
W: Australian Open (d Murray); ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Cincinnati (d Fish); F: ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Madrid (l Nadal); Halle (l Hewitt); ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Canada (l Murray); ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Shanghai (l Murray); SF: Doha (l Davydenko); Estoril (l Montanes); US Open (l Djokovic); QF: Roland Garros (l Soderling); Wimbledon (l Berdych)
YTD W-L: 51-12 (33-6 on hard)
YTD Titles: 2
Career Titles: 63
Date of Birth: August 8, 1981
South African Airways 2010 ATP Ranking: 2

• Federer, 29, is appearing in his seventh final in 15 tournaments this season (2-4 in finals)
• Playing in Stockholm for the first time since 2000 (l. to Vinciguerra in 2nd Rd.)
• Was runner-up last Sunday in Shanghai (l. to Murray in fourth straight ATP World Tour Masters 1000 final - runner-up to Nadal at Madrid, runner-up to Murray at Toronto, beat Fish in Cincinnati final)
• Playing second tournament since SF finish at US Open (runner-up at Shanghai, finals here)
• He is playing in his 92nd career ATP World Tour level final (63-28 record) and he is 7-1 lifetime in finals against players trying to win their first ATP World Tour title
• Playing his 903rd career singles match (729-173 in first 902), most among active players
• Has won at least one Grand Slam title for eight straight years (typing mark of Borg and Sampras)
• Was ranked No. 1 for 285 weeks, one week short from all-time leader Sampras (286); slipped to No. 2 after Roland Garros on June 7 then to No. 3 after Wimbledon on July 5 (lost in QFs at both events)

Mayer FastFacts:
2010 Highlights:
SF: Hamburg (l Golubev); QF: Rotterdam (W/O vs Djokovic); Stuttgart (l Monfils)
YTD W-L: 23-15 (13-10 on hard)
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 0
Date of Birth: October 5, 1983
South African Airways 2010 ATP Ranking: 47

• Mayer, 27, is in his third career ATP World Tour final (he is 0-2 in his first two, falling to Gael Monfils in the 2005 Sopot final and to Nikolay Davydenko in the 2006 Sopot final)
• Playing this tournament for the first time…This week has dropped one set en route to wins over No. 6 seed Lopez in 1st Rd., WC Ryderstedt in 2nd Rd., No. 2 seed Soderling in QFs and Nieminen in SFs)
• He enters with a 23-15 match record on the season (13-10 on hard)
• He is the No. 2-ranked German (behind No. 33 Philipp Kohlschreiber) and the last German winner on the ATP World Tour was Benjamin Becker in ‘s-Hertogenbosch in June 2009
• Has a 6-21 career record vs. Top 10 opponents (2-12 on hard) and posted his second straight Top 10 win on Friday against Soderling (last week d. No. 8 Youzhny in Shanghai)

DOUBLES FINAL -- Butorac/Rojer (USA/AHO) vs. Brunstrom/Nieminen (SWE/FIN)
• Eric Butorac and Jean-Julien Rojer, unseeded, upset No. 4 seeds Simon Aspelin and Paul Hanley en route to the final and have lost one set, to WCs Brian Battistone and Andreas Siljestrom in the quarters
• Playing their third ATP World Tour doubles final together (1-1 record - they won Tokyo two weeks ago)
• Johan Brunstrom and Jarkko Nieminen, also unseeded, upset No. 3 seeds Robert Lindsted and Horia Tecau and No. 2 seeds Wesley Moodie and Dick Norman en route to the final (haven’t lost a set)
• Playing their second ATP World Tour doubles final together (1-0 record - they won Gstaad this year)
• ATP World Tour doubles finals records: Butorac (8-3), Rojer (1-6), Brunstrom (1-6), Nieminen (2-2)