2005 IN REVIEW

The Argentine compiled his best season highlighted by winning his third career ATP title and reaching first Grand Slam final... One of four Argentines to finish in Top 12... Began first month of year playing in three South American Challengers (reached final in La Serena) before moving to ATP level in February... In second ATP event in Buenos Aires, defeated No. 6 Moya in QF for first of three times during year before falling to countryman Gaudio in final... In April in Casablanca, captured first ATP title since 2000, defeating countryman Monaco in final... Put together his best Grand Slam result at Roland Garros where he posted five-set wins over Canas in QF and Davydenko in SF before losing in four sets to Nadal... Afterwards, improved from 37 to No. 11 and seven weeks later he broke Top 10 for first time on July 25... Ranked in Top 10 for 15 weeks during year... In August, advanced to first outdoor hard QF at AMS Montreal (l. to Nadal) and two months later reached first indoor SF in Ho Chi Minh City (l. to Bjorkman)... Played as alternate in Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai and went 0-3 in round robin play... Compiled a 28-13 record on clay, career-best 6-6 on hard and 3-6 on carpet... Earned a career-high $1,075,903.

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

1995 - Finished seventh at Argentina #3 Satellite (13 points)...1996 - Finished runner-up at Peru/Bolivia Satellite (42 points)...1997 - Had Top 5 finishes in three Mexican Satellites (total of 66 ATP points)...At Challenger level, reached SF in Cali and won first Challenger title in Quito (d. Delgado)...Made ATP debut in Santiago and lost in QF to eventual champion Julian Alonso...In doubles, won titles in Cali (w/Medica) and Geneva (w/Del Rio) Challengers...1998 - Won first ATP title in Palermo, defeating No. 7 Corretja in SF then countryman Squillari in final...Reached final in San Marino (l. to Hrbaty)...Won first ATP doubles title in Bogota (w/Del Rio)...1999 - Reached QF in Memphis and advanced to 3rd RD at TMS Hamburg...Won ATP doubles titles in Munich (w/Orsanic) and Umag (w/J. Sanchez)...2000 - Compiled his best season by winning title in Bogota (d. El Aynaoui) and leading ATP in match wins on clay (38) and most clay finals (5)...Also runner-up in Mexico City, Santiago, Gstaad and Umag...2001 - Underwent left wrist (ligaments) surgery in January and missed five months of season...Best result was SF at Venice Challenger...2002 - Compiled a 32-14 record in Challengers with titles in Mantova and Brindisi and runner-up in Sassuolo. 2003 - Compiled a 16-8 match record in Challenger play, highlighted by title at Aix-en-Provence (d. Nadal) and runner-up showing at Prostejov (l. to Stepanek)…Also a SF at Biella Challenger and QF at San Remo Challenger…Played in all four Grand Slam tournaments for first time in his career, highlighted by 2nd RD finish at Roland Garros…2004 – Did not play until July after serving a nine-month suspension for testing positive for clenbuterol at Vina del Mar in February 2003…Only ATP event was Palermo (l. to Vliegen)…Compiled 30-10 Challenger record with four titles.

PERSONAL

Full name is Mariano Ruben Puerta... Nickname is Marian... Began playing tennis at age five with his father, Ruben, who is a tennis coach and used to work with his son... Mother, Maria Emilia... Has one younger brother, Mauro and one younger sister, Maria Paula... Reached Roland Garros junior final in 1995 (l. to Zabaleta)... Won South American Championships in '95 and finished No. 4 in world junior rankings that year... The athletes that inspired him most in his life were countryman Diego Maradona and Michael Jordan... Speaks Spanish, Italian and English... Enjoys soccer (Boca favorite team) and cars (BMW fanatic) and favorite player is Roman Riquelme... Considers clay his favorite surface... Has an 8-3 career Davis Cup record (5-2 in singles) in six ties since 1999... Wife, Sol... Says biggest moment of his career was reaching 2005 Roland Garros final... Fitness trainer is Dario Lecman, who is an ex-Olympic weightlifter for Argentina (participated in Atlanta, Sydney and Athens Olympics)... Coached by countryman and former ATP pro Guillermo Perez-Roldan (since 2005 US Open).