Alberto Martin

Full name is Alberto Martin Margret...Began playing tennis at age six...Enjoys soccer, basketball and supporter of Espanol de Barcelona soccer team...One of the top juniors in the world in 1996, finishing No. 6...Captured Roland Garros juniors title (d. Rehnqvist) that year and closed season by winning Orange Bowl 18s title, defeating Arnaud Di Pasquale...In 1995, reached SF at Orange Bowl...Considers clay as favorite surface and drop shot as best shot...Has an 0-2 Davis Cup record...Coached by countryman and former ATP pro Marcos Aurelio Gorriz (since July 2004).

1997 – Advanced to first ATP SF in Umag (d. Kucera, l. to Bruguera) and first doubles final in Bournemouth (w/Wilkinson)...Reached first Challenger final in Geneva (l. to Gaudenzi)...Broke into Top 100 for first time on Sept. 15...In doubles, reached two Challenger finals...

1998 – Jumped from No. 235 in late August to year-end No. 106…Claimed one title (Seville) and reached two finals (Cairo, Buenos Aires)...Reached six Challenger doubles finals, winning one title...

1999 – Won first ATP titles of career in Casablanca (d. Vicente) and Bucharest (d. Alami)...Saved a record 10 match points against Voinea in 1st RD win...

2000 – Reached six ATP QF...Reached final in Szczecin Challenger (l. to Ulihrach)...In doubles, won first ATP title in Bucharest (w/Ran)...

2001 – Finished in Top 50 for first time with third career ATP title in Mallorca (d. Moya in SF, d. Coria in F)...Reached AMS QF in Monte-Carlo and Hamburg...Defeated former No. 1 Sampras in 2nd RD at AMS Cincinnati (l. to Kafelnikov in 3rd RD)...Earned a career-high $484,672..

2002 – Began year with SF in Adelaide...At Australian Open, defeated No. 1 Hewitt in 1st RD in four sets and followed with victory over Kratochvil (l. to Rios in 3rd RD)...Finished season with QF showing in Palermo…

2003 – Reached QF in Adelaide and went on to reach 3rd RD at Australian Open (l. to Blake)…Advanced to QF at Delray Beach…Reached QF at AMS Monte-Carlo for second time as a qualifier (l. to eventual champ Ferrero)…Also reached QF in Umag…Advanced to 3rd RD at US Open for first time, defeating Costa in 2nd RD before losing to Schuettler…Reached Palermo SF (l. to Mathieu)…

2004 – Reached QF in Marseille (l. to Clement)…Did not win back-to-back matches again until April, when he advanced to lone SF of season in Valencia on clay (l. to Montanes)…Followed with run to QF at AMS Monte Carlo…Defeated Canas, Grosjean and Calleri before losing to Safin in three sets…Also reached 3rd RD in home tournament in Barcelona…In July, reached consecutive QF in Bastad, Amersfoort and Umag…

2005 – Advanced to SF in Buenos Aires (l. to Gaudio) and followed with runner-up in Costa do Sauipe (l. to Nadal in three sets)...In a four-week stretch from April to early May, reached QF in Valencia, 3rd RD at AMS Monte Carlo and Barcelona and QF at AMS Roma...Reached final at Szczecin Challenger (l. to Calleri) and QF in Palermo (l. to Andreev) and Stockholm (l. to Blake), losing to eventual champion in both...Went 0-6 vs. Top 10 opponents...Compiled records of 20-14 on clay, 5-11 on hard and 0-3 on grass...

2006 – Finished in Top 80 for eighth consecutive year and turned in strong performances on clay, making a career-best run at Roland Garros, reaching an ATP singles final and winning an ATP doubles title...In February, reached Costa do Sauipe final for second straight year (l. to Massu)...Did not win back-to-back matches again in an ATP event until AMS Rome in May, but reached hard court final at Sunrise Challenger (l. to Tursunov) in March...At Roland Garros, turned in his best Grand Slam showing, advancing past 3rd RD for first time in 31 attempts...Upset two seeded players (Roddick, O. Rochus) en route to 4th RD...Retired against Frenchman Benneteau with a back injury...In Amersfoort, reached singles QF and captured doubles title (w/Vicente)...Lost in 1st RD of his next four tournaments, including US Open, where he played for last time during year...Underwent right elbow surgery on Oct. 2...

2007 – Finished out of Top 100 for first time since 1998...Compiled his best results in Challenger level tournaments with a 22-12 record and one title...Went 5-12 in ATP play with best result QF in Valencia in April...After a 1-9 start, posted wins over countrymen Lopez and Ferrero before falling to Ventura...Followed with QF at Marrakech Challenger...Missed next three months with injury before returning in August where he reached SF at Vigo (Spain) Challenger...In final five tournament stretch, advanced to QF or better four times, including title at Tarragona (d. Luczak) without dropping a set, SF at Napoli and Montevideo and QF at Asuncion.

2008

The veteran Spaniard compiled his best results on clay in Challenger competition...Played all but first month of season on his favorite surface and compiled a 42-21 Challenger record with back-to-back titles at Trnava (d. Reister) and Tarragona (d. Greul)...Also runner-up at Monza (l. to Montanes) and Chiasso (l. to El Aynaoui) Challengers in April...Qualified in four ATP tournaments (Doha, Sydney, AMS Hamburg and Bucharest) and won his lone ATP matches in Barcelona (d. Marrai, l. to Lopez) and Amersfoort (d. Schukin, l. to Darcis).