Flavio Cipolla

Began playing tennis aged nine with father Quirino, a tennis coach who still works with him...Trains at the Forum club in Rome...Favourite surface is clay, best shot is the forehand...Tennis idol was Pete Sampras...Likes reading, watching movies and football (supports AS Roma).

2012 -- The Italian finished in Top 100 for 2nd straight year with personal-best 17 matches won and maiden ATP World Tour SF in Casablanca (l. to Andujar). Also reached QF at St. Petersburg (l. to Gimeno-Traver)...Played in all 4 Grand Slam tournaments for 1st time and reached 2R at Australian Open (d. Davydenko, l. to Lopez) and US Open (d. Kavcic, l. to Sock). Lost in 1R in others...In Challenger play, reached final at St. Remy (l. to Ouanna)...Compiled records of 11-14 on hard, 5-6 on clay and 1-3 on
grass...Went 0-3 vs. Top 10 opponents and earned a career-high $399,726... 

2011 -- The Italian finished in Top 100 for 1st time with success in Challenger and ATP World Tour level play…Compiled 30-13 mark in Challengers with title in Burnie (W/O vs Guccione) in February and runner-up in Prostejov (l. to Schukin) in June and Loughborough (l. to Kamke) in November…Went 5-12 in ATP play...Led ATP World Tour by qualifying into main draw 8 times, including Australian Open and Wimbledon...Posted 2 Top 20 wins during season, over No. 12 Roddick at ATP Masters 1000 Madrid and No. 19 Dolgopolov in Beijing...Earned a career-high $257,276...

2010 -- Reached final at Noumea Challenger (l. to F. Mayer)…Was 11-12 in ATP qualifying matches, successfully reaching main draw in Belgrade...

2009 -- Qualified into 6 ATP main draws, including in Belgrade where he reached QF (d. Baghdatis, Clement; l. to Karlovic)…Made Davis Cup debut in 2r vs Slovakia (d. Lacko in dead rubber)...

2008 -- Reached 1st ATP QF at Estoril (l. to Serra)…Qualified at US Open and reached 3R (led Wawrinka 2-0 before losing in 5 sets)…Won Noumea Challenger...

2007 -- Made Grand Slam debut as qualifier at Roland Garros and reached 2R (d. Gabashvili, l. to Nadal)…Won Challengers in Trani and Genova...

2006 -- Appeared in two Challengers finals on home soil…Followed runner-up at Monza (l. to Devlider) with title in Turin (d. Granollers-Pujol)…Made ATP debut as qualifier in Umag (l. to Hernych)…In doubles, advanced to five Challenger finals with titles at Bratislava (w/Granollers-Pujol) and Barcelona (w/Behrend).

2005 -- Captured one Futures title in two finals, titling at Italy #25 (d. Poch-Gradin)…Also reached back-to-back Challenger finals at Freudenstadt (l. to Roitman) and Genova (l. to Starace)…In doubles, won five Futures titles in six finals…Continued success on Challenger circuit with three titles in six finals, winning at Mantova (w/Motti), Saransk (w/Stadler) and Banja Luka (w/Eitzinger)...

2004 -- Reached final at Serbia #5 Futures (l. to Djokovic)…Enjoyed doubles success with four Futures titles in nine finals…Also reached final at Mantova Challenger (w/Motti)...

2003 -- Won two Futures doubles titles in four finals...