MASON - August 20, 2006 - No. 9 seed and 2003 champion Andy Roddick takes on unseeded Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain in a battle of former World No. 1s on Sunday.

They are the last two players to rank No. 1 (in 2003) before Roger Federer took over on Feb. 2, 2004. Ferrero took over No. 1 on Sept. 8, 2003 and held it for eight weeks before Roddick grabbed the top spot on Nov. 3, 2003. He finished ’03 at No. 1 (Ferrero No. 3) and reigned No. 1 for 13 weeks before Federer took over in early 2004.

It is the third straight year that former or current No. 1s have met in the final here. Roddick has won the previous two meetings – 2003 US Open final (63 76 63) and the second round here last year (67 76 62). Both players are attempting to capture their first ATP title of the season. The winner earns 500 INDESIT ATP Ranking points and $400,000 while the runner-up collects 350 points and $200,000.

The winner will be the fourth different ATP Masters Series champion this season:
Tournament, Final
Indian Wells, Roger Federer d. James Blake
Miami, Roger Federer d. Ivan Ljubicic
Monte-Carlo, Rafael Nadal d. Roger Federer
Rome, Rafael Nadal d. Roger Federer
Hamburg, Tommy Robredo d. Radek Stepanek
Toronto, Roger Federer d. Richard Gasquet
Cincinnati, Andy Roddick vs Juan Carlos Ferrero

Roddick, 23, is playing in his first ATP Masters Series final since last year when he reached the final here in Cincinnati (l. to Federer). It is also his third final in four years – won in 2003 (d. Fish) and runner-up last year. Roddick has a 23-5 career mark here.

Roddick, who has won the last 10 sets here since losing the opening set to Daniele Bracciali in the first round, has held serve 55 of 57 games. He is making his second ATP final showing of the year. Last month he advanced to the title match in Indianapolis (l. to Blake in a third set tie-break). A week later, an injury to his left side forced Roddick out of the Los Angeles quarterfinals after winning his second-round match. The injury also left him unable to play in Washington and Toronto the last two weeks. He has won 16 of his last 19 matches since June.

Roddick is appearing in his 32nd career final (20-11), his seventh in an ATP Masters Series final (3-3). His AMS titles have come in 2004 Miami (d. Coria), 2003 Cincinnati (d. Fish) and 2003 Montreal (d. Nalbandian).
IF Roddick wins, he will have earned at least one ATP title the last six years. A title will also enable to move back into the Top 10 from No. 12 to 10.

Ferrero, who has yet to drop a set in five matches (losing serve twice in 48 games), is trying to become the first unseeded champion here in the Open Era. Unseeded finalists are 0-7 in finals since 1968. The only unseeded champion here is Miguel Olvera of Ecuador (d. Crawford Henry) in 1960. Ferrero is also trying to become the second Spaniard to capture the title here. In 2002, Carlos Moya defeated Lleyton Hewitt in the final. Other Spaniards to reach the final here were Juan Gisbert in 1971 and Manuel Orantes in 1973.

The 26-year-old Ferrero will move back into the Top 20 (from No. 31). He ranked No. 1 in 2003 and won Roland Garros that year. He is playing in his first ATP Masters Series final since Oct. 19, 2003 in Madrid, where he won the tournament (d. Massu), also his last ATP title.

This is Ferrero’s first ATP final since reaching the title match in Vienna (l. to Ljubicic) last October. Ferrero is appearing in his 25th career final (11-13) and his sixth ATP Masters Series final (4-1). His only previous final on U.S. soil came at the US Open in 2003 (l. to Roddick). Ferrero is 3-7 in his career in hard court finals.

Ferrero has defeated three Top 10 players en route to his first final here (d. No. 5 ranked James Blake in 1st RD, No. 2 Rafael Nadal in QF and No. 7 Tommy Robredo in SF). The only other time he accomplished the feat was at the 2002 Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai (d. No. 2 Andre Agassi, No. 7 Jiri Novak, No. 5 Carlos Moya, l. to Hewitt in F).

DOUBLES PREVIEW – TOP-SEEDED BRYANS PLAY NO. 2 BJORKMAN-MIRNYI IN FINAL
The doubles final will be broadcasted live and free of charge on AMS.tv.
The top two teams in the Stanford ATP Doubles Race square off as the No. 1 American duo of Bob and Mike Bryan face No. 2 Jonas Bjorkman and Max Mirnyi for the third time in a final this year. Bjorkman-Mirnyi defeated the Bryans in the final of ATP Masters Series Miami and Roland Garros.

The Bryans are the ATP’s hottest team, with four straight titles and three in the last three weeks. They won Wimbledon in July (d. Santoro-Zimonjic), then Los Angeles three weeks ago (d. Butorac-J. Murray), Washington two weeks ago (d. Hanley-Ullyett) and Toronto last week (d. Hanley-Ullyett again).

The twins have now won 21 straight matches since their last loss in the semifinals at Queen’s in June, lifting their record to 57-9 this year. The Bryans are trying to win their second title in Cincinnati. Three years ago they defeated Arthurs-Hanley in the final.

Bjorkman and Mirnyi have a record of 38-8 this year and they are trying to become the first team to repeat the title here since 1937. They captured the crowns at Doha in January (d. C. Rochus-O. Rochus), at Miami in April (d. the Bryans), Monte Carlo in April (d. Santoro-Zimonjic) and Roland Garros in June (d. the Bryans).

Bjorkman also won the doubles title here in 1999 (w/B. Black) and was a finalist two years ago (w/Woodbridge). Mirnyi also reached the final in 2002 (w/Bhupathi).