Chris Guccione

2008 IN REVIEW

The No. 2 Aussie (behind Hewitt) finished in Top 100 for first time and reached ATP final in home country for second straight year…In first week of season reached 2nd RD at Adelaide (l. to Mathieu), and also advanced to first ATP doubles final (w/Smeets)… Following week, reached second ATP singles final at Sydney (l. to Tursunov)…En route, defeated seeds Hewitt in 2nd RD and Berdych in QF…In February, reached QF in Memphis (l. to Stepanek)…Notched first ATP Masters Series win as qualifier in Cincinnati (d. Levine, l. to Verdasco)…Defeated Levine again at Flushing Meadows for first match win at US Open (l. to Stepanek)...Played in Beijing Olympics and fell in 1st RD (l. to No. 7 Blake)…Early in season, also reached two Challenger SF at Guangzhou and Sunrise...Earned a career-high No. XXX,XXX.

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

2003 – Improved ATP Ranking over 400 positions from previous year...Made successful ATP debut in Newport (d. Pescosolido, l. to Carraz)...Followed with another 2nd RD in Indianapolis (d. Mamiit, l. to Fish)...2004 – Cracked Top 300 for first time and posted first Top 10 win of his career (at No. 447), defeating No. 3 Ferrero in Sydney before losing in next round to Ferreira...In Grand Slam debut at Australian Open, defeated countryman Jones in 1st RD before falling in next round to Ginepri...In Challenger play, reached SF in Andorra (l. to K. Kim) and closed season with title at Australia Futures #3 (d. Smeets) in Berri...2005 – Captured first Challenger title at Burnie, Tasmania (d. Motomura) in February and two months later won title in Canberra (d. Uebel)...Made Davis Cup debut vs. Austria and defeated Peya in dead rubber...At Queen’s Club in London, won back-to-back matches for first time over Vliegen and Andreev (l. to No. 9 Henman)...Closed with SF at Champaign Challenger (l. to Gimelstob) to finish in Top 150 for first time...2006 – Compiled a 31-21 record in Challenger (2-1 in finals) and 4-4 in ATP level play...Won first match of season over No. 18 Ferrero in Sydney (l. to Seppi)...In 1st RD Davis Cup tie in Switzerland, lost to Wawrinka in four sets in second rubber before defeating Bastl in fifth and decisive rubber to give Australia a 3-2 victory...In QF tie in Melbourne, defeated No. 51 Mirnyi in five sets in opening rubber (and won dead rubber) to lead Australia into SF where they lost to Argentina...Won back-to-back South American Challenger clay titles at Quito (d. Ca±as) and Medellin (d. Giraldo) and reached final at Geneva Challenger (l. to Haehnel) along with SF at Rome and Manchester Challengers...2007-- Broke into Top 100 for first time and reached his first ATP final...Opened campaign by advancing to final in Adelaide with consecutive wins over Amer Delic, Arnaud Clement, Benjamin Becker, No. 18 Richard Gasquet and Juan Martin del Potro before falling to Novak Djokovic...Afterwards, climbed from No. 153 to No. 107...Following week in Sydney, posted a win over No. 2 Nadal when Spaniard retired with injury before losing to Melzer in 2nd RD...In 1st RD at Australian Open, fired a career-best and ATP season-high 45 aces in five-sets loss (9-7 in fifth) to Olivier Rochus...Then played in 1st RD Davis Cup tie in Belgium and lost to Rochus again and Kristof Vliegen in fifth and decisive match...In March, qualified for first ATP Masters Series events in Indian Wells (l. to Lopez) and Miami (l. to Serra) and broke into Top 100 for first time on Apr. 2 at No. 98...In between reached QF at Sunrise Challenger...In June, made his Wimbledon debut and defeated Alex Bogdanovic in 1st RD before losing to No. 4 Davydenko in five sets in next round (after holding two sets lead)...Did not win an ATP level match rest of season (0-6) but did reach SF at Segovia Challenger (l. to Verdasco) in August and in October on South American clay court circuit, advanced to final at Medellin (l. to Schwank) and SF at Quito and Bogota Challengers...Played in Davis Cup World Group playoff tie in Serbia and lost to No. 3 Djokovic in straight sets...Went 1-2 vs. Top 10 players and compiled marks of 6-9 on hard, 2-3 on grass and 0-6 on clay...Fired a career-high 362 aces (15.7 per match) and won 87 percent of service games.

PERSONAL

Full name is Christopher Luke Guccione...Nicknamed “Gucc”…Son of Australian/Italian father, Santo, and Australian mother Diane…Has one brother, Anthony...Admired Pete Sampras while growing up…Favorite meal is Steak and Chips and favorite actor is Adam Sandler… If he wasn’t a tennis player he would like to be an AFL (Aussie rules) footballer...Has an 8-6 career Davis Cup record (7-6 in singles) in eight ties.