Potito Starace

Began playing at age eight...Nickname is "Poto"...Idols include Andre Agassi and soccer great Roberto Baggio...His father, Angelantonio, works for Italian government and his mother, Rosa, is a teacher...Has two younger brothers, Francesco and Gianluca...Prefers playing on clay or hard courts and playing outdoors...Has a 13-4 Davis Cup record (10-1 in singles) in 10 ties...Fitness trainer is Stefano Baraldo and coached by countryman Umberto Rianna.

2001 – Reached QF at Manerbio Challenger...Was 15-10 in Futures and 4-4 in Challengers...Won doubles title at Italy Futures #5 (w/Colangelo) and runner-up at France Futures #21 (w/Aldi)...

2002 – Finalist at Mantova Challenger (l. to Puerta)...In back-to-back weeks reached SF at Challengers in St. Petersburg and Trani...Finalist at Aschaffenburg Challenger (l. to Mutis)...Was 20-14 in Challengers...Won doubles title at Sassuolo Challenger (w/Azzaro)...

2003 – Made ATP debut by qualifying into Stuttgart (l. to M. Lopez)...Finalist at Reggio Emilia Challenger (l. to Gasquet)...Went 25-19 in Challengers...Doubles finalist at Genova Challenger (w/Giorgini)...

2004 – Finished in Top 100 for first time by compiling a 23-7 record in Challenger play with three titles in San Remo (d. Wessels), Sassuolo (d. Di Mauro) and San Marino (d. Armando)...Reached 3rd RD in his first Grand Slam tournament at Roland Garros as a qualifier (d. Tursunov, No. 10 Grosjean before losing in five sets to Safin...Served for match at 5-4 in fourth set and had 2 M.P. but Safin went on to win 7-5 in fifth set...Qualified into Gstaad and reached first ATP SF (l. to eventual champion Federer)...Made US Open debut and advanced to 2nd RD (d. Popp, l. to O. Rochus)...In Davis Cup, won both of his matches vs. Poland, including decisive rubber vs. Fyrstenberg...

2005 – Captured Challenger title in Genova (d. Cipolla) and compiled 16-7 record on circuit...Finalist at Napoli Challenger (l. to Gasquet)...In ATP action, qualified in Auckland and reached QF....At AMS Rome, upset defending champion and No. 8 Moya in 1st RD (l. to Martin)...Reached QF in Gstaad and advanced to SF in Sopot (d. Moya, Acasuso l. to Monfils)...Went 4-0 in Davis Cup singles...

2006 – Best ATP results were QF in Portschach, Buenos Aires and St Petersburg...Claimed title at Napoli Challenger (d. di Mauro) and runner-up at Genova Challenger (l. to Fraile)...In doubles, reached first ATP final in Acapulco (w/Volandri)...Advanced to doubles QF at Roland Garros (w/A. Martin)...

2007 – The top Italian finished in Top 50 for first time highlighted by his first two ATP final appearances in Valencia (l. to Almagro) and Kitzbuhel (l. to Monaco)...Also a QF in Barcelona (l. to Nadal), Bucharest and St. Petersburg and 3rd RD at AMS Rome (l. to Davydenko)...Best Grand Slam result came at Roland Garros where he reached 3rd RD (l. to Federer)...Following month, captured San Marino Challenger title (d. Montanes)...Earned a personal-best $516,422.

2008 -- The Italian No. 3 (behind Seppi, Bolelli) finished in Top 100 for third straight year highlighted by QF or better at five clay tournaments...Also won a Challenger title in two finals...Opened season in Latin America and reached consecutive QF at Buenos Aires and Acapulco (l. to Nalbandian at both)...Won Challenger title at Napoli in April (d. Daniel)...Followed with QF at ATP event in Valencia (l. to Robredo) and 2nd RD at AMS events in Rome (l. to Karlovic) and Hamburg (l. to Nadal)...In consecutive weeks in July, reached QF at Bsstad, SF at Kitzbuhel and final at Challenger tournament at San Marino (l. to Volandri)...Lost to No. 2 Nadal in three sets in 1st RD of Beijing Olympics...Finished with 19-25 ATP record (16-16 on clay) and 15-5 Challenger record (13-4 on clay)... Went 0-5 vs Top 10 opponents...In doubles, won Moscow title (w/Stakhovsky).

 

2009

The Italian finished in Top 100 for fourth straight year and fifth time in past six years by putting together consistent Challenger results (20-6)…After a 7-12 start on ATP World Tour through first five months, reached QF in Munich (ret. vs. Brands)…Followed with four-set second-round loss to No. 3 Murray at Roland Garros…In next two months, went 12-2 in Challengers, winning title at Turin (d. M. Gonzalez), reaching final at Lugano (l. to Wawrinka) and SF at Prostejov…Qualified in back-to-back ATP tournaments in Båstad (l. to Almagro) and Stuttgart (l. to Kohlschreiber) and lost in 2nd RD in both…Returned to Challenger play in San Marino and and reached final (l. to countryman Seppi)…In October, was runner-up at Napoli-2 Challenger (l. to Gil)…Compiled marks of 12-14 on clay and 3-9 on hard.