Juan Ignacio Chela

Full name is Juan Ignacio Chela...Began playing tennis at age six with his older sister, Eugenia...Father, Pedro Emir, is a factory supervisor; mother, Felisa Rodriguez, is a housewife...His best result as a junior was winning Latin American Junior Championships...Enjoys music of rock ‘n roll group Los Redondos from Argentina... Favorite surface is clay...Has an 8-5 Davis Cup singles record in nine ties since 2000...Fitness trainer is Fernando Aguirre and coached by Pablo Fuente.

1998 -- Reached first Challenger final in Lima (l. to Koubek)...

1999 -- Won Challenger titles in Salinas (d. Gumy) and Lima (d. Vanek)...

2000 -- Finished in Top 100 for first time at No. 63 and won first ATP title in Mexico City (as a qualifier)...Defeated No. 6 Kuerten in 2nd RD before beating Puerta in final...

2001 -- Served three-month suspension, then won six Challenger titles and moved over 700 places in ATP Rankings...Compiled a circuit-best 38-5 record in Challengers...Reached second ATP final in Bogota (l. to Vicente)...

2002 -- Finished in Top 25 for first time, won career-best 46 matches and reached finals in Sydney (l. to Federer) and Long Island (l. to Srichaphan) ...Also advanced to QF in Miami (d. Roddick, l. to Rios) and 4th RD at US Open (d. Henman, l. to Roddick)...Won second ATP title in Amersfoort (d. Costa)...

2003 -- Advanced to SF in Chennai

2004 -- Captured his third ATP title in Estoril (d. Safin) and advanced to his first Grand Slam QF at Roland Garros (l. to Henman)...Won title in Estoril...In doubles, captured first ATP title in Vina del Mar and later became first double winner of year by picking up title in Estoril (both w/Gaudio)...Also a finalist in Acapulco (w/Massu)...

2005 -- Opened with back-to-back SF in Adelaide and Auckland...In May, reached QF at AMS Hamburg and during summer advanced to SF in Los Angeles, losing to eventual champ Agassi... Also advanced to QF in New Haven, losing to eventual winner Blake...In doubles, reached final in Estoril (w/Robredo)...

2006 -- Finished in Top 40 with runner-up efforts in Acapulco (l. to Horna) and Kitzbuhel (l. to Calleri)...Advanced to a personal-best 4th RD at Australian Open, posting wins over Murray, No. 6 Hewitt and Vliegen (l. to Kiefer)...Reached QF at Costa do Sauipe, Sopot and New Haven...Played in Davis Cup QF tie in Croatia and defeated Sasa Tuksar in four sets in fifth and decisive rubber to lead his country to a 3-2 victory...

2007 -- Finished in Top 20 for first time highlighted by his fourth ATP title...Jumped off to a career-best 20-6 start in first three months of play, with title in Acapulco (d. Moya), SF in Costa do Sauipe (l. to Canas) and QF in Auckland, Buenos Aires and back-to-back QF at Indian Wells and Miami...During European clay court circuit, advanced to QF at AMS Rome (d. No. 3 Roddick, l. to Gonzalez)...At US Open, advanced to career-best QF (d. Ljubicic, l. to Ferrer)...Served as second alternate for Tennis Masters Cup...Earned a career-high $987,765.

2008 -- The veteran Argentine compiled a 14-12 record through five months of action before being sidelined with a herniated disc injury...In February, reached SF in his hometown of Buenos Aires (l. to Nalbandian)...In May, advanced to QF in Barcelona (l. to Nadal) and won all three matches in ATP World Team Chp. in Dusseldorf before closing season with 2nd RD in Paris (d. Isner, l. to Verdasco)...Went 12-8 on clay and 2-4 on hard courts.

2009

The Argentine finished in Top 100 for ninth time in 10 years, highlighted by a 31-9 record in Challengers with one title and one runner-up…His best ATP World Tour results were QF showings on clay in Viña del Mar (l. to Robredo) in February and Kitzbühel (l. Hernandez) in May…Played in first round Davis Cup vs. the Netherlands and won both matches…In 10 Challenger tournaments, reached SF or better eight times, including title in November in Medellin, Colombia (d. Souza)...Also runner-up at Brasilia-2 in August (l. to Mello)…Went 10-11 on clay and 1-3 on hard.