Nicolás Lapentti

Nicolás Lapentti
Country (sports)  Ecuador
Residence Miami, U.S.
Born (1976-08-13) 13 August 1976
Guayaquil, Ecuador
Height 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Turned pro 1995
Retired 2017
Plays Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Prize money US$6,313,898
Singles
Career record 317–287 (at ATP Tour level, Grand Slam level, and in Davis Cup)
Career titles 5
Highest ranking No. 6 (22 November 1999)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open SF (1999)
French Open 4R (2000)
Wimbledon QF (2002)
US Open 3R (2001)
Other tournaments
Tour Finals RR (1999)
Grand Slam Cup QF (1999)
Olympic Games 1R (1996, 2004, 2008)
Doubles
Career record 153–159 (at ATP Tour level, Grand Slam level, and in Davis Cup)
Career titles 3
Highest ranking No. 32 (10 May 1999)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open QF (1999, 2001, 2003)
French Open QF (1998)
Wimbledon 3R (2003)
US Open 3R (2003)
Team competitions
Davis Cup 1R (2001, 2010)

Nicolás Alexander Lapentti Gómez (Spanish pronunciation: [nikoˈlaz laˈpenti];[lower-alpha 1] born 13 August 1976) is a former professional tennis player from Ecuador. His brothers, Giovanni and Leonardo, uncle Andrés, and cousins Roberto and Emilio also are or were on the pro circuit.

Beginnings

Lapentti began playing tennis at the age of six.

He first came to the tennis world's attention an outstanding junior player who won the Orange Bowl in Florida in 1994, when he also captured the junior doubles titles at the French Open (partnering with Gustavo Kuerten) and the US Open.

Professional

Lapentti turned professional in 1995 and won his first top-level singles title later that year at Bogotá.

In 1999, Lapentti was a semi-finalist at the Australian Open, defeating Thomas Johansson, Magnus Norman, Mikael Tillström, Andrew Ilie and Karol Kučera before losing to Thomas Enqvist. He also won two tour singles titles that year and reached his career-high singles ranking of World No. 6 that November.

In 2002, Lapentti won his fifth tour singles title at St Pölten, beating Fernando Vicente in straight sets in the final. In the second round of that tournament, his rival, Irakli Labadze, faced four match points but was not able to convert any of them. Lapentti finally won that tough match 5–7, 7–6(1), 7–6(6).

His brother, Giovanni, is also a professional tennis player, reaching a career-high singles ranking of World No. 110 in May 2005. In addition, another brother, Leonardo, has been active at the lower levels of professional tennis.

In the Cincinnati Open 2008, Lapentti defeated David Ferrer in second round, Fernando Verdasco in the third round and faced No. 2 seed Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals where he lost in straight sets. With that victory over Lapentti, Nadal clinched the World No. 1 ranking for the first time.

In his last participation in a Grand Slam, he unfortunately had to retire against Novak Djokovic in the first round of the 2009 French Open.

In 2017, it was announced that Nicolás would compete in the Ecuador Open doubles draw alongside brother Giovanni, playing in the final event of his career.[1]

Davis Cup

He has also been a member of the Ecuador Davis Cup team since 1993. Representing his country in Davis Cup since he was 17, and won the deciding rubber against Great Britain (July 2000) to put Ecuador in the World Group. Moreover, he owns the Davis Cup record for most matches won in five sets, with a total of 13 victories.

Personal

Set up the Nicolás Lapentti Foundation in late 2000 to help bring tennis to the underprivileged, and develop future champions. Other interests include soccer and reading Robert Ludlum books.

ATP career finals

Nicolás Lapentti in 2017

Singles: 12 (5 titles, 7 runner-ups)

Legend
Grand Slam tournaments (0–0)
Tennis Masters Cup (0–0)
ATP Super 9 /
ATP Masters Series (0–0)
ATP Championship Series /
ATP International Series Gold (2–1)
ATP World Series /
ATP International Series (3–6)
Titles by surface
Hard (1–1)
Clay (3–6)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (1–0)
Titles by setting
Outdoor (4–7)
Indoor (1–0)
Result W–L    Date    Tournament Tier Surface Opponent Score
Win 1–0 Sep 1995 Bogotá Open, Colombia World Series Clay Colombia Miguel Tobón 2–6, 6–1, 6–4
Loss 1–1 Sep 1996 Bogotá Open, Colombia World Series Clay Austria Thomas Muster 7–6(8–6), 2–6, 3–6
Loss 1–2 Oct 1997 Bogotá Open, Colombia World Series Clay Spain Francisco Clavet 3–6, 3–6
Loss 1–3 Jul 1999 Swiss Open, Switzerland World Series Clay Spain Albert Costa 6–7(4–7), 3–6, 4–6
Win 2–3 Aug 1999 Indianapolis Tennis Championships, US Champ. Series Hard United States Vince Spadea 4–6, 6–4, 6–4
Win 3–3 Oct 1999 Grand Prix de Tennis de Lyon, France World Series Carpet (i) Australia Lleyton Hewitt 6–3, 6–2
Loss 3–4 Oct 2000 Japan Open, Japan Intl. Gold Hard Netherlands Sjeng Schalken 4–6, 6–3, 1–6
Win 4–4 Jul 2001 Austrian Open Kitzbühel, Austria Intl. Gold Clay Spain Albert Costa 1–6, 6–4, 7–5, 7–5
Loss 4–5 Feb 2002 Chile Open, Chile International Clay Chile Fernando González 3–6, 7–6(7–5), 6–7(4–7)
Win 5–5 May 2002 St. Pölten, Austria International Clay Spain Fernando Vicente 7–5, 6–4
Loss 5–6 Jul 2003 Swedish Open, Sweden International Clay Argentina Mariano Zabaleta 3–6, 4–6
Loss 5–7 Sep 2006 Campionati Internazionali di Sicilia, Italy International Clay Italy Filippo Volandri 7–5, 1–6, 3–6

Doubles: 7 (3 titles, 4 runner-ups)

Legend
Grand Slam tournaments (0–0)
Tennis Masters Cup (0–0)
ATP Super 9 /
ATP Masters Series (0–0)
ATP Championship Series /
ATP International Series Gold (0–0)
ATP World Series /
ATP International Series (3–4)
Titles by surface
Hard (1–0)
Clay (2–4)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)
Titles by setting
Outdoor (3–4)
Indoor (0–0)
Result W–L    Date    Tournament Tier Surface Partner Opponents Score
Loss 0–1 Sep 1996 Bogotá Open, Colombia World Series Clay Ecuador Pablo Campana Venezuela Nicolás Pereira
Czech Republic David Rikl		 3–6, 6–7
Win 1–1 Aug 1997 Dutch Open, Netherlands World Series Clay Australia Paul Kilderry Australia Andrew Kratzmann
Belgium Libor Pimek		 3–6, 7–5, 7–6
Win 2–1 Oct 1997 Mexican Open, Mexico World Series Clay Argentina Daniel Orsanic Mexico Luis Herrera
Mexico Mariano Sánchez		 4–6, 6–3, 7–6
Loss 2–2 Nov 1997 Chile Open, Chile World Series Clay Spain Julián Alonso Netherlands Hendrik Jan Davids
Australia Andrew Kratzmann		 6–7, 7–5, 4–6
Win 3–2 Jan 1999 Adelaide International, Australia World Series Hard Brazil Gustavo Kuerten United States Jim Courier
United States Patrick Galbraith		 6–4, 6–4
Loss 3–3 May 1999 Prague Open, Czech Republic World Series Clay United States Mark Keil Czech Republic Martin Damm
Czech Republic Radek Štěpánek		 0–6, 2–6
Loss 3–4 Feb 2004 Chile Open, Chile International Clay Argentina Martín Rodríguez Argentina Juan Ignacio Chela
Argentina Gastón Gaudio		 6–7(2–7), 6–7(3–7)

Performance timelines

Singles

Tournament199319941995199619971998199920002001200220032004200520062007200820092010SRW–L
Grand Slams
Australian Open A A A 1R A 2R SF 2R 2R 4R 3R 2R A A 2R A 1R 1R 0 / 11 15–11
French Open A A A 1R 2R 1R 2R 4R 2R 1R 3R 1R A 2R 2R 3R 1R 1R 0 / 14 12–14
Wimbledon A A A 2R 1R 1R 2R 1R A QF 2R A A A 2R 1R 1R A 0 / 10 8–10
US Open A A A 1R 2R 1R 2R 2R 3R 1R 2R A 1R A 1R 1R 2R A 0 / 12 7–12
Win–Loss 0–0 0–0 0–0 1–4 2–3 1–4 8–4 5–4 4–3 7–4 6–4 1–2 0–1 1–1 3–4 2–3 1–4 0–2 0 / 47 42–47
Year-End Championship
Tennis Masters Cup A A A A A A RR A A A A A A A A A A A 0 / 1 0–3
ATP Masters Series
Indian Wells A A A 1R A 3R A SF QF 1R 1R 3R A A A LQ 3R A 0 / 8 12–8
Miami A A A 1R 2R 1R 3R QF 3R QF 4R 2R 2R 1R A LQ LQ 2R 0 / 12 14–12
Monte Carlo A A A A A 1R 2R 1R 1R 1R 1R A A A A 2R 3R A 0 / 8 4–8
Rome A A A A A 2R QF 2R SF 1R 1R 1R A A A 2R LQ LQ 0 / 8 10–8
Hamburg A A A A A 2R SF 1R 3R 1R 1R 2R A A LQ A NM1 0 / 7 8–7
Canada A A A A A A A 1R 2R 2R 1R A A A A 1R LQ A 0 / 5 2–5
Cincinnati A A A A A 1R 3R 1R 1R 1R 1R A 1R A LQ QF LQ A 0 / 8 5–8
Madrid (Stuttgart) A A A A A A 3R 2R 3R 3R A A A A LQ LQ A A 0 / 4 5–4
Paris A A A A A A SF 2R 3R 2R 2R A 1R A LQ LQ A A 0 / 6 7–6
Win–Loss 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–2 0–1 3–6 16–7 8–9 15–9 7–9 3–8 4–4 1–3 0–1 0–0 5–4 4–2 1–1 0 / 66 67–66
Year End Ranking 326 632 109 121 63 90 7 24 23 29 57 122 95 67 109 86 97 447

Notes

  1. ↑ In isolation, Nicolás is pronounced [nikoˈlas].

References

  1. ↑ http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/news/tipsarevic-quito-2017-monday
Awards
Preceded by
United States Andre Agassi		 ATP Most Improved Player
1999		 Succeeded by
Russia Marat Safin
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