Preview: Federer v Simon on Wednesday

No. 2 Roger Federer (Sui) v Gilles Simon (Fra)
Second-round match on Wednesday at Australian Open

There are only three active players against who Federer has a losing head-to-head record – Andy Murray, Rafael Nadal and Gilles Simon.

Of those three, Simon is the only player against which Federer has yet to win a match.

Head-to-head: Simon leads 2-0

The two players who are both on winning streaks coming into this year’s Australian Open. Federer won at Doha prior to coming here and Simon won his first title on Australian soil at Sydney last week.

FEDERER

Defending champion Federer is bidding to become the 2nd man in history to win 5 Australian Open titles. The last man to do so was Roy Emerson, who went on to win 6 Australian Open titles.

Federer defeated Lukas Lacko 61 61 63 in the 1st round to advance to the 2nd round here for the 12th consecutive year.

Federer is bidding to maintain his record of always reaching at least the 3rd round here. He has not lost before the 3rd round at a Grand Slam event since 2003 Roland Garros.

Federer has a losing head-to-head record against just 3 active players. He trails No. 1 Rafael Nadal 14-8, No. 5 Andy Murray 8-6 and today’s opponent Simon 2-0. He also has a 2-1 losing head-to-head record against Dominik Hrbaty.

If Federer wins on Wednesday, he will equal Stefan Edberg’s record for the most Open Era wins at the Australian Open. Federer has a 55-7 win-loss record going into his 2nd round match; Edberg ended his career with a of 56-10 win-loss record at Melbourne Park.

Last year, Federer won the title here (d. Murray 63 64 76). He also won the Australian Open title in 2004 (d. Marat Safin 76 64 62), 2006 (d. Marcos Baghdatis 57 75 60 62) and 2007 (d. Fernando Gonzalez 76 64 64).

By winning his 16th Grand Slam title at the 2010 Australian Open, Federer extended his lead at the top of the all-time Grand Slam titles list in men’s tennis.

Federer began working with Paul Annacone, who coached Pete Sampras to 9 of his 14 Grand Slam titles, in July 2010. He is here as usual with Swiss Davis Cup captain Severin Luthi. His fitness trainer is Stephane Vivier (since October 2009).

SIMON

Simopn reached the 2nd round here for the 4th time after defeating Yen-Hsun Lu 67 62 64 62 in the 1st round.

This is Simon’s 5th Australian Open appearance. He withdrew from last year’s event after the draw was made due to a right knee injury. His best result here – and at a Grand Slam – is reaching the quarterfinals in 2009 (l. Rafael Nadal).

 Simon played two warm-up events prior to this year’s Australian Open. He lost to Santiago Giraldo in the 1st round at Brisbane before winning the title at Sydney (d. Viktor Troicki) – it was his 1st title on Australian soil.

Simon only played 4 events in the first half of 2010 due to a right knee injury. He returned in June as a wildcard at Eastbourne, one of 4 quarterfinal finishes last year, before winning the title on home soil at Metz (d. Mischa Zverev). He also reached the semifinals at Valencia (l. Marcel Granollers).

Simon was part of the French team that lost to Serbia 3-2 in the Davis Cup Final in December. He lost his opening singles rubber to Novak Djokovic 63 61 75 and played no further part in the final.

Simon is coached by Thierry Tulasne. His fitness trainer is Paul Quetin.

With ATP and ITF