André Sá

Infobox Tennis player
playername = André Sá


country = BRA
residence = Blumenau, Brazil
datebirth = birth date and age|1977|05|6
placebirth = Belo Horizonte, Brazil
height = height|m=1.85
weight = convert|74|kg|lb|abbr=on|lk=on
turnedpro = 1996
plays = Right-handed
careerprizemoney = $1,677,298
singlesrecord = 52–92
singlestitles = 0 ATP
highestsinglesranking = No. 55 (August 12, 2002)
AustralianOpenresult = 2nd (2001)
FrenchOpenresult = 1st (2000, 2002, 2003)
Wimbledonresult = QF (2002)
USOpenresult = 2nd (2000, 2001)
doublesrecord = 120–121
doublestitles = 5 ATP
highestdoublesranking = No. 25 (October 1, 2007)
updated = October 5, 2008

André Rezende Sá (born May 6, 1977 in Belo Horizonte, Brazil) is a professional Brazilian tennis player. He is (as of October 28, 2007) number 29 for doubles, and 467 for singles.

Personal

André Sá atarted playing tennis at the age of eight, encouraged by his older brother. At the age of 12 and ranked number 1 in Brazil, he moved to the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy, Bradenton, Florida, where he stayed 5 years. In 1996, he graduated from Brandenton Academy, where he played basketball for three years.

Professional career

André Sá played his first professional match in 1993, in a Challenger in his hometown of Belo Horizonte, where he lost in the first round at the age of 16. In 1997, he started travelling around South America, reaching his first Challenger Semifinal in Quito, losing to Mariano Puerta. In August, he reached his first final, again in his hometown, losing to Brazilian Roberto Jabali. He also reached the semifinal in Guadalajara, Mexico. In 1997, he played his first Davis Cup match, against Alistair Hunt, from New Zealand, in Florianópolis, for the World Group Qualifying Round. It was the 5th match of the rubber, with a 5–0 win for Brazil. In October, he played his first ATP-Tour match, in Mexico City, where he reached the quarter-final.

In 1998, Sá won his first Challenger, on February 23, in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, beating Juan Antonio Marín, from Costa Rica 6–3, 3–6, 6–2. Two weeks later, he won the Salinas Challenger in Ecuador, beating Guillermo Cañas in the final, and on August, he won the Gramado Challeger title over Hideki Kaneko, from Japan. This year saw his first Grand Slam participation, in Wimbledon, where he would reach his best result ever a few years later. He lost to Todd Martin on the first round.

Sá participated in 4 ATP-Tour tournaments in 1999, reaching the 2nd Round in Wimbledon, losing to Karol Kučera, 13th of the World at the time.In five weeks, he won three Challenger titles: Austin, beating American Glenn Weiner, Tulsa and Dallas, beating Jimy Szymanski in the two latter. He had a 13 games winning streak at the time.

At the beginning of 2000, he reached the final in Waikoloa, Hawaii Challenger and his first ATP semifinal in Memphis, where he lost to eventual winner Swedish Magnus Larsson. He participated in three Grand Slams: Roland Garros (lost 1st round), Wimbledon (lost 1st round) and U.S. Open (lost 2nd round). Sá was part of the Brazilian Davis Cup team that reached the semifinals, losing to Australia 5–0. Sá played the 4th match against Lleyton Hewitt 4–6, 1–6.

In 2001, Sá again played in 3 Grand Slams: Australian Open (lost 2nd round), Wimbledon (lost 1st round to Arvind Parmar, who also beat him last year) and U.S. Open (lost 2nd round). He won 2 Challenger titles: Calabasas, beating Michael Russel, Salvador, winning over Brazilian Alexandre Simoni. Sá also reached the Hong Kong ATP semifinal, losing to German Rainer Schüttler.

2002 saw Sá's best results ever. Without winning a single title, Sá reached his career-best ranking: 55, after 3 excellent ATP results. He participated in all four Grand Slams with a quarterfinal appearance at Wimbledon. He beat Antony Dupuis, Stefan Koubek, compatriot Flávio Saretta and Spain's Feliciano López, but lost in four sets in a three-hour and ten-minute match to home hero Tim Henman, 6–3, 5–7, 6–4, 6–3. Sá won a career-record amount of US$102,198. The following month, he reached the Amersfoort quarterfinal and the Kitzbühel third round, allowing Sá get to 55th place in the rankings.

After an excellent year in 2002, André Sá had a terrible 2003. With 13 first-round defeats on a row, he only saw his first win at the grass of Queen's, beating Belgium's Gilles Elseneer, but losing at the second round.Sá plummeted on the rankings aftera horrible losing streak and only a second round in Wimbledon, failing to retain his points. He dropped to 138th after the British Grand Slam.

2004 was a fine year for the Brazilian player, winning 2 challengers, one in São Paulo and the other in College Station. He also reached Covington final. In 2005, Sá won the Challenger of Campos do Jordão and reached the final in Dallas, along with two other semifinals. In 2006, he reached two Challenger finals in Bogotá and Belo Horizonte, finishing the year with a ranking of 179, as the 5th Brazilian.

In 2007, partering compatriot Marcelo Melo, he reached the Men's Doubles' Wimbledon semifinalscite news | author = Sally Easton | title = Brazilian Pair Race To Semi-Finals | url = http://www.wimbledon.org/en_GB/news/match_reports/2007-07-06/200707061183724191562.html | publisher = Wimbledon | date = 2007-07-06 | accessdate = 2007-07-19 | language = English ] after beating Julien Benneteau and Nicolas Mahut in five sets, 6–7, 6–3, 7–6, 2–6, 6–3. They then beat Paul Hanley and Kevin Ullyett in a second-round longest ever Wimbledon match, which lasted 5 hours and 58 minutes, including a fifth set which ended at 28-26, having lasted over three hours.cite news | author = Michael Burke-Velji | title = 54-game Marathon in Final Set | url = http://www.wimbledon.org/en_GB/news/match_reports/2007-07-04/200707041183567650015.html | publisher = Wimbledon | date = 2007-07-04 | accessdate = 2007-04-19 | language = English ] The final score was 7–5, 6–7, 6–4, 6–7, 28-26. The match contained 102 games, 10 less than the world record of Charlie Pasarell versus Pancho Gonzales in 1969. Sá and Melo won in the fifth set 28-26 over Paul Hanley and Kevin Ullyett. Sá and Melo then beat Christopher Kas and Alexander Peya in the third round in another five-set marathon, winning 6–4, 6–7, 7–6, 6–7, 6–4, this one lasting only 3h36. After this, Sá continued success with a 6–4, 6–3, 6–4 victory over seeded Mark Knowles and Daniel Nestor. [ [http://championships.wimbledon.org/en_GB/bios/cmatch/ms/atps604.html The Championships, Wimbledon 2007 - Grand Slam Tennis - Official Site by IBM ] ] The team then finally lost 7–6 (8), 6–4, 6–4 to eventual champions Arnaud Clément and Michaël Llodra.

Discarding the 2002 Wimbledon quarterfinal, Sá reached his best results on doubles. With 21 Challenger and 2 ATP-Tour titles, along with 11 Challenger and 6 ATP-Tour finals, Sá is considered one of the best Brazilian doubles player of all time, reaching the respectable 46th place in the ranking. Partnering with Brazilian Flávio Saretta, he reached the quarterfinals at the 2004 Australian Open and with Paraguayan Ramon Delgado, a 3rd round at the 2006 Wimbledon. Representing Brazil, he won the "gold medal" at the 1999 Pan American Games, in Winnipeg, partnering with Paulo Taicher, besting the Mexican couple Marco Osorio and Oscar Ortiz, 7–6(6), 6–2. In singles, he lost in the 3rd round to David Nalbandian.In 2004, Sá participated at the 2004 Summer Olympics, in Athens, along with Flávio Saretta at the doubles tournament. They beat the Spanish duo Carlos Moyà/Rafael Nadal in the first round 7–6(6), 6–1, losing to Zimbabwe's Wayne Black and Kevin Ullyett, 3–6, 4–6.Sá was the second last Brazilian to secure his place at the 2004 Olympics, Sá only participated at the Games because another team gave up their spot. [ [http://esporte.uol.com.br/olimpiadas/ultimas/2004/08/06/ult2273u92.jhtm André Sá and Flávio Saretta inherit spot at the doubles tournament] UOL Olímpiadas 2004, 06 August, 2004]

Sá played 17 David Cup matches, in 12 ties. He won 10 matches and lost 7. In doubles, he has an impressive record of 7 wins and 3 losses. He was part of the 2000 Brazilian team that reached the World Group Semifinals.

Titles (5)

Doubles (5)

ingles Titles(Challenger Series) (11)

*1998: Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam - defeated Juan Antonio Marín 6–3, 3–6, 6–2
*1998: Salinas, Ecuador - defeated Guillermo Cañas 7–5, 5–7, 6–4
*1998: Gramado, Brazil - defeated Hideki Kaneko 6–7, 6–1, 6–4
*1999: Austin, USA - defeated Glenn Weiner 7–5, 6–2
*1999: Tulsa, USA - defeated Jimy Szymanski 6–2, 7–6(4)
*1999: Dallas, USA - defeated Jimy Szymanski 7–5, 4–6, 6–4
*2001: Calabasas, USA - defeated Michael Russell 4–6, 6–2, 6–4
*2001: Salvador, Brazil - defeated Alexandre Simoni 6–3, 6–2
*2004: São Paulo, Brazil - defeated Jacob Adaktusson 6–4, 6–0
*2004: College Station, USA - defeated Brian Vahaly 6–3, 6–0
*2005: Campos do Jordão, Brazil - defeated Juan Martín del Potro 6–4, 6–4

References

External links

*
*