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- Nicolás Almagro
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Nicolás Almagro 
Almagro in June 2011.Country 
SpainResidence Murcia, Spain Born 21 August 1985
Murcia, SpainHeight 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) Turned pro 2003 Plays Right-handed (one-handed backhand) Career prize money $5,553,211 Singles Career record 233–165 Career titles 10 Highest ranking No. 9 (2 May 2011) Current ranking No. 10 (14 November 2011) Grand Slam results Australian Open 4R (2010, 2011) French Open QF (2008, 2010) Wimbledon 3R (2009, 2011) US Open 3R (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010) Doubles Career record 52–86 Career titles 0 Highest ranking No. 48 (21 March 2011) Grand Slam Doubles results Australian Open 2R (2008) French Open 2R (2006) Wimbledon 1R (2006, 2007) US Open 1R (2006, 2007, 2008) Last updated on: 3 November 2011. Medal record Competitor for SpainMen's Tennis Mediterranean Games Gold 2005 Almería Singles Gold 2005 Almería Doubles This name uses Spanish naming customs; the first or paternal family name is Almagro and the second or maternal family name is Sánchez Rolle.Nicolas Almagro Sanchez Rolle (Spanish: Nicolás Almagro Sánchez Rolle; born 21 August 1985 in Murcia, Spain) is a professional Spanish tennis player, ranked 11 on the ATP World Tour.
Contents
Career
2005
Almagro won the gold medal at the 2005 Mediterranean Games by defeating compatriot Guillermo García López 6–2, 7–5 in the final in Almería, Spain.
2006
In April 2006, Almagro won his maiden ATP tournament title – the Open de Tenis Comunidad Valenciana (Valencia, Spain). Almagro was forced to come through the qualification rounds just to make this event, but that did not stop him from winning 8 matches in a row including 3 set victories over former world #1's Juan Carlos Ferrero and Marat Safin.
Following this title, Almagro stated that he was pleased with where his tennis is taking him, and that he expects even bigger and better results in the near future.
After Valencia, Almagro went on an excellent run, reaching the semi-finals of the Barcelona Open before losing to Rafael Nadal, and followed that up by reaching the quarter finals in Rome, where he lost to Roger Federer in 3 tight sets – 7–5 in the 3rd.
He entered Roland Garros 2006 as the bookmakers 3rd favourite but suffered a disappointing 2nd round loss to James Blake. The remainder of 2006 was uninspiring for Almagro as he was away from his favoured clay surface. He did show signs of improving his hard court game by making a quarter-final indoors in Lyon and he also won matches at the Masters Events in Cincinnati and Paris.
2007
Almagro won his second title on 15 April 2007 by defeating Potito Starace 4–6, 6–2, 6–1 in Valencia for the second consecutive year. However, he lost in the 2nd round of the French Open in 5 sets to Michaël Llodra, in what was perceived as another disappointing lapse in form. Still, his year contained highlights other than Valencia. He reached the semi-finals of Buenos Aires, the finals of Båstad and began to show promise on hardcourts also, advancing to the QF of the Masters of Cincinnati and the 3rd round of the US Open (losing to Davydenko).
2008
In 2008, Almagro won his 3rd title of his career in Costa Do Sauipe by defeating Carlos Moyà in a rollercoaster 3 set battle. Two weeks later, Almagro followed up that victory with yet another in Acapulco, defeating David Nalbandian in the finals 6–1, 7–6. With his 4th career title, Almagro rose to a career-best ranking of No. 21 in the world, winning 21 of 26 matches on clay thus far in the season. He is at a career-best ranking of No. 17 in the world following the Masters Series in Rome.
He achieved his best Grand Slam result in June by reaching the quarter-finals of the 2008 French Open, where he lost to Rafael Nadal 1–6, 1–6, 1–6. During his run he beat Boris Pashanski, Sebastián Decoud, tenth seed Andy Murray of Great Britain and home-favourite Jérémy Chardy in straight sets. He hit more aces than any other player in the French Open that year (78).
2009
In January, Almagro participated in the 2009 Heineken Open, held in Auckland, New Zealand. The fourth-seed at the event, Almagro received a bye into the second round, where he defeated Yen-Hsun Lu of Chinese Taipei in three sets 6–7, 6–3, 6–2 which gained him entry into the quarter-finals, where he was defeated in straight sets 6–3, 6–2 by American Sam Querrey, another seeded player (sixth) at the event.[1]
At the Australian Open, Almagro surpassed the first round of the tournament for the first time, making it to the third round before losing to Gaël Monfils; at the 2009 Brasil Open, where Almagro was the defending champion and top seed, he lost in the quarter-finals to Frederico Gil in two tiebreak sets, 6–7, 6–7. At the Abierto Mexicano Telcel, Almagro successfully defended his 2008 win, defeating Gaël Monfils in the final 6–4, 6–4.
Almagro's next tournament was the 2009 Sony Ericsson Open, an ATP Masters Series event where he was seeded 19th. After receiving a bye into the second round, he was defeated by Taylor Dent in a third-set tiebreak 2–6, 6–2, 7–6.
In the French Open, he made it through to the 3rd round but lost to fellow countryman, Fernando Verdasco, in straight sets.
In Wimbledon, he reached the third round but was stopped easily by recent French Open runner-up Robin Söderling. In the first round, he scraped his way through after trailing 7–6, 7–6, 5–4, 40–30 with Juan Mónaco serving on match point. In the second round he led Karol Beck two sets to love only to find himself again fighting in five sets to survive. Nicolas won by 6–4, 7–6, 3–6, 3–6, 7–5.
At the US Open, Almagro lost in the 3rd round to fellow Spaniard Rafael Nadal. Before this, he defeated Belgian Steve Darcis in the first round before getting past American Robby Ginepri in a 4 hr 15 min 5-set match in the second round.
In the subsequent ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Paris, Almagro once again fell to Rafael Nadal. Despite having five match points and the opportunity to serve for the match in the third set, Almagro lost 6–3, 6–7, 5–7.
2010
At the 2010 Australian Open, Almagro prevailed in long five set matches to beat Xavier Malisse, (8–6 in the 5th set) and Benjamin Becker, (6–3 in the 5th set) in the first two rounds. In the third round, he beat Alejandro Falla with relative ease in three sets; 6–4, 6–3, 6–4. In the fourth round, he was defeated by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in another five set battle, losing 3–6, 4–6, 6–4, 7–6, 7–9 lasting over 4 hours. Almagro played the whole tournament with a broken left wrist, preventing him from exceeding 200 km/h when serving due to an altered ball-toss.
He was ousted in the opening round of the 2010 Copa Telmex tournament for the second straight year (losing to Gimeno-Traver). He then entered the 2010 Abierto Mexicano Telcel (in Acapulco, Mexico) as the 2-time defending champion. He beat Dudi Sela 6–1, 7–6, and luckily Richard Gasquet 3–6, 7–5, 7–6 to reach the quarter-finals. However he lost to in-form Juan Carlos Ferrero 1–6, 7–5, 2–6 who was on a 12-match winning streak.
As for his performances in ATP Masters 1000 tournaments, in Indian Wells Masters 1000, he reached the fourth round before retiring hurt against Andy Murray. At the Miami Masters 1000, he lost to eventual champion Andy Roddick in the quarter-finals. In the Monte Carlo Rolex Masters 1000, he beat Simon Greul before falling to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the second round. In the Rome Masters 1000, he beat Łukasz Kubot but lost to Ivan Ljubičić in the second round. In the Madrid Masters 1000, he beat Troicki, No.4 seed Söderling, Monaco and Melzer to reach the semi-finals of a Masters event for the first time. There, he was beaten by last year's finalist Rafael Nadal 6–4, 2–6, 2–6.
In the 2010 French Open, seeded 19th, he beat Robin Haase in 5 sets. In the second round, he beat Steve Darcis in straight sets. After beating Alexandr Dolgopolov in the third round, he managed to upset Fernando Verdasco in the fourth round in four sets 6–1, 4–6, 6–1, 6–4. Almagro then bowed out in straight sets in the quarter-finals, losing a closely contested match against eventual champion Rafael Nadal 6–7, 6–7, 4–6.
At the 2010 Wimbledon Championships, Almagro suffered a 1st round exit to Italian Andreas Seppi 6–7, 6–7, 2–6.
After this Almagro traveled to his first clay court tournament since Roland Garros, the 2010 Swedish Open. He defeated Jarkko Nieminen 6–4, 6–4, Croatian qualifier Franko Skugor 4–6, 6–4, 6–0 in the quarter-finals. In the semi-finals he defeated fellow Spaniard Tommy Robredo 6–1, 6–3 and then in the final he defeated home favourite, top seed and defending champion Robin Söderling 7–5, 3–6, 6–2 to snap a 17 month title drought dating back to February 2009 in Acapulco. Almagro then played in the 2010 International German Open where he was stunned in the opening round by Uzbekistani Denis Istomin 6–7, 6–7. After this, he appeared at the 2010 Allianz Suisse Open Gstaad as the No.2 seed. He won the tournament after defeating compatriot Marcel Granollers 7–6, 3–6, 6–3, Swiss Wildcard Michael Lammer 3–6, 6–3, 6–2, Frenchman Jérémy Chardy 6–2, 7–6, and then another fellow Spaniard Daniel Gimeno-Traver 7–6, 3–6, 6–3. In the final, he defeated Richard Gasquet 7–5, 6–1 to clinch the title win.
At the 2010 US Open, Almagro beat Potito Starace and Guillermo García-López, both in four sets before losing to Sam Querrey in the third round in straight sets 3–6, 4–6, 4–6.
2011
Almagro began his year at the 2011 Heineken Open in New Zealand. Seeded 2nd he received a bye into the second round. In his first match he beat Victor Hănescu 6–4, 7–6 to advance to the quarterfinals where he then won against Adrian Mannarino 7–6, 6–7, 6–2 to advance to the semifinals where he was defeated by David Nalbandian 4–6, 2–6.
At the 2011 Australian Open, Almagro was seeded 14th. He defeated Stéphane Robert in the first round 6–4, 6–3, 6–7, 7–5. He then battled through Igor Andreev in the second round 7–5, 2–6, 4–6, 7–6, 7–5 while saving three match points in the process and ralling from a 2–4 deficit in the 5th set. In the third round, he defeated 17th seed Ivan Ljubičić in straight sets 6–4, 7–6, 6–3. In the fourth round he was dismantled by World No.3 and eventual champion Novak Djokovic 3–6, 4–6, 0–6.
Almagro next entered the 2011 Brasil Open, where he had a bye in the first round. He easily cruised to the semifinals and after a slow start, he defeated Juan Ignacio Chela 1–6, 6–2, 6–4 to reach the final. He then won his eighth career title against Alexandr Dolgopolov 6–3, 7–6. His winning streak continued as he snatched his second consecutive title in as many weeks at the 2011 Copa Claro tournament in Buenos Aires, Argentina; defeating Juan Ignacio Chela 6–3, 3–6 6–4 in the final. His hot streak stretched even further at the 2011 Abierto Mexicano Telcel tournament in Acapulco, Mexico—making his 3rd consecutive clay court final after beating Victor Hanescu, Filippo Volandri, Santiago Giraldo and Thomaz Bellucci. He lost, however, to defending champion David Ferrer 6–7, 7–6, 2–6.
Almagro then lost in the third round at both the 2011 BNP Paribas Open (losing to Albert Montanes 6–4, 2–6, 4–6) and at the 2011 Sony Ericsson Open (losing to Florian Mayer 1–6, 6–3, 1–6).
At the 2011 Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, he beat Marcel Granollers 6–3, 6–3 before prevailing in a marathon encounter against Maximo Gonzalez 6–7, 7–5, 7–6 while saving a total of four match points (3 consecutive match points when *0–40 on serve at *4–5 in the 3rd set, and 1 match point in the third set tiebreak at **7–8). He then lost to Jurgen Melzer 1–6, 4–6 in the preceding third round.
Almagro then appeared at the 2011 Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell, where he notched a 7–5, 7–6 win over in-form compatriot Pablo Andujar. In the third round, he defeated Nikolay Davydenko 7–6, 6–3 to enter the World's top 10 for the first time in his career. He followed this victory with a solid 6–3, 6–3 victory in the quarterfinals over a resurgent Juan Carlos Ferrero who had just come back fresh from a knee injury. In the semifinals, he lost to David Ferrer 3–6 4–6.
He lost at the Madrid Masters to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 1–6, 3–6 in the first round before making it to the 3rd round at the Rome Masters and losing 3–6, 6–3, 4–6 to Robin Söderling. Almagro improved at the Open de Nice Côte d’Azur where he defeated Victor Hănescu 6–7, 6–3, 6–3. In Hamburg, Almagro lost in the final 4–6, 6–4, 4–6 to Gilles Simon.
As of 2011, Almagro played against J. Benneteau in the first round of U.S. Open. Almagro played a very unusual self with many unforced errors and only managed to break once out of the 13 times when he clearly had the chance to. In the end, it proved that it wasn't the opponent that was too strong for him but himself who had caused soo many mistakes. In the end, he had lost 2–6, 4–6, 2–6 to a unknown ranker.
Playing style
Almagro's playing style fits that of an offensive baseliner. Almagro's groundstrokes, particularly on his favored forehand side, are very powerful. Almagro uses a very quick and compact service motion which helps his first serve often exceed speeds of 210 km/h.[2] In addition to his powerful game, Almagro is also known for playing on the edge of his emotions, sometimes losing his temper on-court.[1] Almagro is most proficient on clay courts, as evidenced by all his ATP finals being at clay court events. Almagro has had success on hard courts, reaching the round of sixteen in back-to-back Australian Opens in 2010 and 2011, and also having reached as far as the quarterfinals in Cincinnati (2007) and Miami (2010). However, he generally prefers to play on clay courts and tailors his schedule to play the majority of the clay court events on the ATP World Tour.
Equipment
Nicolás Almagro uses the Dunlop 300G HotMelt with a Dunlop Sport Aerogel 4D 500 Tour paintjob. He has been stringing with Luxilon Big Banger Original for years. He wears Reebok Match Point Shoes and the Match Day Group clothing.
Career finals
Singles: 14 (10–4)
Legend (pre/post 2009) Grand Slam tournaments (0–0) Tennis Masters Cup /
ATP World Tour Finals (0–0)ATP Masters Series /
ATP World Tour Masters 1000 (0–0)ATP International Series Gold /
ATP World Tour 500 Series (2–2)ATP International Series /
ATP World Tour 250 Series (8–2)Titles by Surface Hard (0–0) Clay (10–4) Grass (0–0) Carpet (0–0) Outcome No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent in the final Score in the final Winner 1. April 16, 2006 Valencia, SpainClay 
Gilles Simon6–2, 6–3 Winner 2. April 15, 2007 Valencia, Spain (2)Clay 
Potito Starace4–6, 6–2, 6–1 Runner-up 1. July 15, 2007 
Båstad, SwedenClay David Ferrer2–6, 1–6 Winner 3. February 17, 2008 
Costa do Sauípe, BrazilClay Carlos Moyà7–6(7–4), 3–6, 7–5 Winner 4. March 1, 2008 
Acapulco, MexicoClay 
David Nalbandian6–1, 7–6(7–1) Runner-up 2. April 20, 2008 Valencia, SpainClay David Ferrer6–4, 2–6, 6–7(2–7) Winner 5. February 28, 2009 Acapulco, Mexico (2)Clay Gaël Monfils6–4, 6–4 Winner 6. July 18, 2010 Båstad, SwedenClay Robin Söderling7–5, 3–6, 6–2 Winner 7. August 1, 2010 
Gstaad, SwitzerlandClay Richard Gasquet7–5, 6–1 Winner 8. February 12, 2011 Costa do Sauípe, Brazil (2)Clay 
Alexandr Dolgopolov6–3, 7–6(7–3) Winner 9. February 20, 2011 Buenos Aires, ArgentinaClay Juan Ignacio Chela6–3, 3–6, 6–4 Runner-up 3. February 26, 2011 Acapulco, MexicoClay David Ferrer6–7(4–7), 7–6(7–2), 2–6 Winner 10. May 21, 2011 Nice, FranceClay 
Victor Hănescu6–7(5–7), 6–3, 6–3 Runner-up 4. July 24, 2011 
Hamburg, GermanyClay Gilles Simon4–6, 6–4, 4–6 Performance timeline
Tournament 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 SR W–L Grand Slam Tournaments Australian Open A 1R 1R 1R 1R 3R 4R 4R 0 / 7 8–7 French Open 1R 2R 2R 2R QF 3R QF 1R 0 / 8 13–8 Wimbledon A 1R 1R 1R 2R 3R 1R 3R 0 / 7 5–7 US Open A 2R 1R 3R 3R 3R 3R 1R 0 / 7 9–7 Win–Loss 0–1 2–4 1–4 3–4 7–4 8–4 9–4 5–4 0 / 29 35–29 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Indian Wells Masters A A A 2R 2R A 4R 3R 0 / 4 4–4 Miami Masters A 1R A 3R 3R 2R QF 3R 0 / 6 6–6 Monte Carlo Masters A A A 1R 3R 1R 2R 3R 0 / 5 5–5 Rome Masters A 3R QF 2R QF 1R 2R 3R 0 / 7 11–7 Madrid Masters A A A 2R 1R 1R SF 1R 0 / 5 5–5 Canada Masters A A 1R 1R A A 2R QF 0 / 4 3–4 Cincinnati Masters A A 2R QF A 2R 1R 3R 0 / 5 7–5 Shanghai Masters Not Masters Series 2R 1R 3R 0 / 3 2–3 Paris Masters A A 2R 1R A 2R 2R 2R 0 / 5 2–5 Hamburg Masters 1R 1R A QF A NM1 0 / 3 3–3 Win–Loss 0–1 2–3 5–4 9–9 5–5 3–7 13–9 11–9 0 / 47 48–47 Career Statistics Titles 0 0 1 1 2 1 2 3 10 Finals Reached 0 0 1 2 3 1 2 5 14 Year End Ranking 103 114 32 28 18 26 15 10 Reference
- ^ a b "The Samurai slices into semi-finals". One Sport. 15 January 2009. http://tvnz.co.nz/content/2442667. Retrieved 30 October 2011.
- ^ Almagro marches on to quarter-finals|TENNIS News tvnz.co.nz
External links
- Nicolás Almagro at the Association of Tennis Professionals
- Nicolás Almagro at the International Tennis Federation
- Nicolás Almagro at the Davis Cup
- Almagro Recent Match Results
- Almagro World Ranking History
Association of Tennis Professionals: Top ten Spanish male singles tennis players as of September 19, 20111. Rafael Nadal (2
) · 2. David Ferrer (5 ) · 3. Nicolás Almagro (11 ) · 4. Feliciano López (21 ) · 5. Fernando Verdasco (23 
1)6. Marcel Granollers (286) · 7. Pablo Andujar (47 
1) · 8. Tommy Robredo (49 1) · 9. Juan Carlos Ferrero (51 7) · 10. Albert Montañes (56 )Categories:- 1985 births
- Living people
- Murcian people
- Spanish male tennis players
- Tennis players at the 2008 Summer Olympics
- Olympic tennis players of Spain
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