Albert Montanes

Began playing tennis at age six at club de tenis San Carles de la Rapita...Father, Juan Francisco, is a supervisor of REPSOL, a petroleum company; mother, Elodia, is a house wife...Has one older brother, Jonathan, and one younger brother, Fran...Enjoys watching car rally racing and soccer (favorite team is FC Barcelona)...Enjoys action movies, techno music, going out with friends on holidays...His favorite surface is clay and considers his forehand as best shot...Coached by Narcis Pelach (since September 2008).

2008 -- The Spaniard finished in Top 50 for second straight year highlighted by his first ATP title...Tied a personal-best mark of 24 match wins from previous year...Began slowly (4-8) in first three months before winning Monza Challenger title (d. A. Martin) in April...Then reached QF in Barcelona (l. to Wawrinka) and AMS Hamburg (l. to Djokovic)...Did not win back-to-back matches again until July when he advanced to QF in Stuttgart (l. to Gasquet) and won first ATP title in Amersfoort (d. Darcis)...In September, reached final at Szczecin Challenger in Poland (l. to Serra) and following month reached QF in Stockholm (l. to Nalbandian)...Went 0-4 vs. Top 10 opponents and compiled an 18-11 record on clay and 5-11 on hard...In doubles, won first ATP title in Casablanca and reached final in Costa do Sauipe (both w/Ventura)...Earned a career-high $561,132.

2007 -- Won 24 matches and reached fourth ATP final to finish in Top 50 for first time…Reached SF at Vina del Mar, defeating No. 5 Gonzalez in QF before falling to Massu…Also advanced to QF in Buenos Aires…Returned to clay in April to reach SF in Houston, and followed at Casablanca with runner-up effort (l. to Mathieu)…In May, reached QF in Poertschach and reached 3rd RD at Roland Garros for fourth time in seven years (l. to Nadal)…Also SF at Sopot…The following week, reached Challenger final at San Marino (l. to Starace)… Teamed up with compatriot Ramirez Hidalgo to reach doubles finals at three of four Latin American tour stops: Vina del Mar, Costa do Sauipe and Buenos Aires.

2006 -- Finished in Top 100 for sixth year in a row... Reached QF in Buenos Aires, Acapulco (d. Moya), Houston and Palermo (l. to eventual winner Volandri)...Reached Roland Garros 3rd RD for third time...Also went 15-10 in Challenger action with San Marino title and runner-up in Scheveningen...

2005 -- Finalist in Acapulco (l. to Nadal)...After 2nd RD loss at Roland Garros to Canas, continued on clay and won Challenger title in Lugano (d. Saretta)...Lost next six matches before reaching 2nd RD at US Open for first time (d. Hanescu, l. to O. Rochus)...Finished season on Challenger circuit, reaching final in Rome (l. to Marin)...Played 25 of 29 ATP matches on clay, compiling 9-16 record...Went 17-9 record on Challenger circuit...

2004 -- Reached second ATP final in Valencia (l. to Verdasco)...Also reached SF in Barcelona (l. to Gaudio)...

2003 -- Advanced to SF in Vina del Mar and Amersfoort and QF in Palermo...Went 17-11 on Challenger circuit with two runner-up finishes... In doubles, reached one Challenger final (w/Carrasco)...

2002 -- Reached 3rd RD at Roland Garros for second year...Advanced to Acapulco SF (l. to eventual champion Moya), QF at St. Poelten and 3rd RD in Rome, defeating No. 2 Kuerten in 2nd RD before losing to Costa...

2001 -- Made ATP debut in Estoril and advanced to QF (d. Chang, Kucera; l. to Ferrero)...Following week in Barcelona, defeated Ivanisevic then lost to Costa in 2nd RD...Reached first ATP final in Bucharest (l. to El Aynaoui)... Also reached 3rd RD in Grand Slam debut at Roland Garros...Compiled best results in Challengers with 28-17 record...Winner at Freudenstadt (d. Hanescu) and finalist at Zagreb (l. to Diaz)...

2000 -- Won back-to-back Futures titles in Algeria and advanced to final in France #11...Captured first Challenger title in Prague (d. Volandri)...

1999 -- Captured first Futures title at Spain #1 and runner-up at Spain #8...

2009

The Spaniard finished in Top 40 for first time in his career, having captured two ATP World Tour clay-court titles during season…In April in Estoril, defeated Blake in a three-set final, saving two match points…In QF win over top seed and No. 8 Simon, saved one match point…Became first player since Moodie in October 2005 (Tokyo) to win an ATP World Tour title saving at least one match point in two different matches…After a 3rd RD effort at Wimbledon, advanced to final at Scheveningen Challenger, then was sidelined for nearly two months with a left knee injury…Returned at US Open and lost in 1st Rd…In final clay court tournament of season, won title in
Bucharest (d. Monaco)…Closed year with QF in Valencia (l. to Murray)…Went 1-7 vs. Top 10 opponents and compiled marks of 17-10 on clay, 5-10 on hard and 2-1 on grass…Earned a career-high $655,953.