Pablo Cuevas

Pablo Gabriel Cuevas
Country  Uruguay
Residence Salto, Uruguay
Born January 1, 1986
Concordia, Argentina[1]
Height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Turned pro 2004
Plays Right-handed (one-handed backhand)
Prize money $2,912,030
Singles
Career record 109–93 (53.96%)
Career titles 3
Highest ranking No. 21 (March 23, 2015)
Current ranking No. 23 (April 27, 2015)[2]
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open 1R (2010, 2011, 2015)
French Open 2R (2013, 2014)
Wimbledon 2R (2009)
US Open 2R (2009, 2010)
Doubles
Career record 110–85 (56.41%)
Career titles 4
Highest ranking No. 14 (April 20, 2009)
Current ranking No. 52 (February 16, 2015)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open QF (2015)
French Open W (2008)
Wimbledon 3R (2014)
US Open 3R (2009, 2013)
Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results
Australian Open SF (2015)
US Open QF (2010)
Last updated on: 30 January 2015.

Pablo Gabriel Cuevas Urroz (born January 1, 1986, in Concordia, Argentina)[1] is a Uruguayan professional tennis player. Cuevas won the 2008 French Open men's doubles title with Luis Horna.

He achieved his career-high singles ranking of World No. 23 in February 2015, as a result of winning his three singles titles in Båstad and Umag in 2014 and São Paulo in 2015. Cuevas' career-high doubles ranking is World No. 14, which he achieved in April 2009, and is also a Grand Slam doubles champion, winning the 2008 French Open alongside Peruvian Luis Horna.

Professional career

Early career

At the 2007 French Open, Cuevas and Argentine partner Carlos Berlocq made the third round of the men's doubles tournament. Cuevas won the Tunica, Scheveningen, and Lima singles Challenger titles, and the São Paulo-1 and Florianópolis-2 doubles Challenger titles.

2008

Cuevas opened the year at the Movistar Open in Viña del Mar, Chile. He earned his first tour-level victory in his first-round match against Guillermo Coria. He then beat Fernando Verdasco and José Acasuso, before falling in the semifinals against Fernando González.[3] Cuevas reached his career-high singles ranking of no. 88 following Viña del Mar.

In March, Cuevas qualified for the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, his first ATP Masters Series event. He defeated Vince Spadea in the first round, before falling to Fernando González in the second round. At Houston, he partnered with Spaniard Marcel Granollers to reach the doubles final, falling to Ernests Gulbis and Rainer Schüttler.

At the 2008 French Open in May, Cuevas partnered with Peruvian Luis Horna to win the doubles title. On their way to the title, the pair defeated seventh seeds Arnaud Clément and Michaël Llodra in the first round, ninth seeds Lukáš Dlouhý and Leander Paes in the third round, top seeds Bob and Mike Bryan in the quarterfinals, and second-seeded Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjić in the final. They defeated Nestor and Zimonjić 6–2, 6–3, in only 56 minutes to win the title.[4] Cuevas and Horna became the first all-South American team to win a Grand Slam men's doubles title, and Cuevas became the second Uruguayan, after Fiorella Bonicelli, to win a Grand Slam title.

2009

At the 2009 Movistar Open in Viña del Mar, Cuevas, as in 2008, reached the semifinals in singles, where he met local favorite Fernando González. González won the match 6–3, 6–2. In doubles, Cuevas paired with Argentinean Brian Dabul, and together they won the tournament, winning the final against František Čermák and Michal Mertiňák, 6–3, 6–3. This win helped Cuevas achieve his doubles ranking high of no. 17 in the world on February 9, 2009.

In the first round at Wimbledon in 2009, Cuevas defeated Christophe Rochus of Belgium in a come-from-behind victory, 3–6, 4–6, 6–4, 6–1, 11–9. In the second round, he lost to 21-year-old Jesse Levine of the U.S. (who defeated Marat Safin in the first round), 6–2, 6–1, 4–6, 4–6, 6–3.[5]

Cuevas qualified into the 2009 International German Open. He reached the semifinals of that tournament by beating Björn Phau, ninth-seeded Jürgen Melzer, eighth-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber, and 14th-seeded Nicolás Almagro in the quarterfinals. He lost his semifinal match with Paul-Henri Mathieu, 6–4, 3–6, 5–7.

Cuevas played in the 2009 Kremlin Cup as fifth seed. He advanced to the quarterfinals by defeating Lu Yen-hsun and Teymuraz Gabashvili. He lost in the quarterfinals to Mikhail Kukushkin, 6–4, 1–6, 4–6. He did, however, win the doubles title, partnering Marcel Granollers.

2010

Cuevas defeated eight-seeded Albert Montañés at the 2010 Abierto Mexicano Telcel to reach quarter-finals, where he lost to David Ferrer. At the 2010 Kremlin Cup he beat world number 11 Nikolay Davydenko in second round and fifth-seeded Radek Stepanek in quarter-finals, then was defeated by eventual champion Viktor Troicki.

2011

He went 0–4 at the start of 2011, but on arrival at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, he defeated both Michael Berrer and world number 8 Andy Roddick by the same score, 6–4, 7–6, to reach the third round.

At the 2011 U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships, Cuevas beat third seeded Guillermo Garcia-Lopez to reach semi-finals, where he lost to Kei Nishikori.

At the 2011 Estoril Open he defeated third-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and sixth-seeded Thomaz Bellucci in consecutive matches to reach the semifinals, where he lost to Juan Martin Del Potro.

After losing in first round of Roland Garros, Cuevas did not play on tour for two years due to injury.

2013

The Uruguayan played again in ATP Challenger Tour events in May 2013. He won the first round match at Roland Garros. Later he defeated eight-seeded Nikolay Davydenko at first round of the 2013 Proton Malaysian Open.

2014

In 2014, Cuevas won the first round matches at the Rio Open, Portugal Open and Roland Garros. At the Swedish Open, he beat sixth-seeded Jérémy Chardy, third-seeded Fernando Verdasco and fifth-seeded João Sousa to win his first ATP 250 tournament and became number 61 in the ATP ranking.

One week later, he won his second ATP tournament at the Umag Croatia Open. Cuevas had to play the qualifying round, defeating Nikolas Walterscheid-Tukic, Nikola Čačić and Renzo Olivo. In the main tournament, he beat Croatian Mate Delić 4–6, 6–4, 6–4, then Italian Andreas Seppi 6–3, 6–1, Russian Teymuraz Gabashvili 6–3, 4–6, 6–2 in the quarterfinals, and finally, on Sunday, he beat Fabio Fognini in semifinals, and second-seeded Tommy Robredo in the finals, without losing a set, 6–3, 6–4. After the tournament he rose to inside the world's top 40 in the ATP rankings for the first time in his career.

In November, the Uruguayan won the Challenger Ciudad de Guayaquil and Uruguay Open singles clay tournaments.

2015

At the 2015 Australian Open, Cuevas lost in first round to unseeded player Matthias Bachinger. At the doubles event he partnered David Marrero to reach quarterfinals, where he was beaten by Fabio Fognini and Simone Bolelli.

\He began the Latin American season with his third ATP singles title at the ATP 250 São Paulo, after winning over Jiri Vesely, Nicolás Almagro and Santiago Giraldo. Later he beat again Almgaro and then Albert Montañés to reach third round of the Rio 500, where he was defeated by clay master Rafael Nadal in three sets. Also, together with Marrero he won over Vesely / Frantisek Cermak to reach quarterfinals of the doubles event.

At the ATP 250 Buenos Aires he lost to local Juan Mónaco in quarterfinals. Cuevas then played the Davis Cup Americas Zone round versus Colombia, where he lost to Alejandro González and won over Giraldo. He partnered his brother Martín to defeat doubles specialists Juan Sebastián Cabal and Robert Farah.

At the Indian Wells Masters, Cuevas defeated Jarkko Nieminen to reach third round, where he lost to Feliciano López. This was his best singles result in big tournaments since his third round appearance at the 2011 Miami Masters. At the doubles event he lost in first round to Nadal / Pablo Carreño Busta. Cuevas lost in second round of the Miami Masters to Thomaz Bellucci.

Davis Cup

Cuevas is 20–6 in Davis Cup singles matches, and 10–4 in Davis Cup doubles matches.

Playing Style

Pablo Cuevas has a clay court style of play. He utilizes heavy topspin off his forehand side and plays a one-handed backhand. His one-handed backhand is not a weakness and he uses it well to create angles and to hit passing shots. Cuevas also has a good slice. For most of his serves, he uses a heavy kick serve. Most of his skill set was on display when he defeated Andy Roddick in Miami in 2011.

Significant finals

Grand Slam finals

Doubles: 1 (1 title)

Outcome Year Championship Surface Partner Opponents Score
Winner2008French OpenClayPeru Luis HornaCanada Daniel Nestor
Serbia Nenad Zimonjić		6–2, 6–3

ATP career finals

Singles: 3 (3 titles)

Legend
Grand Slam tournaments (0–0)
ATP World Tour Finals (0–0)
ATP World Tour Masters 1000 (0–0)
ATP World Tour 500 Series (0–0)
ATP World Tour 250 Series (3–0)
Outcome No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent Score
Winner 1. July 13, 2014 Swedish Open, Båstad, Sweden Clay Portugal João Sousa 6–2, 6–1
Winner 2. July 27, 2014 Croatia Open, Umag, Croatia Clay Spain Tommy Robredo 6–3, 6–4
Winner 3. February 15, 2015 Brasil Open, São Paulo, Brazil Clay (i) Italy Luca Vanni 6–4, 3–6, 7–6(7–4)

Doubles: 9 (4 titles, 5 runners-up)

Legend
Grand Slam tournaments (1–0)
ATP World Tour Finals (0–0)
ATP World Tour Masters 1000 (0–0)
ATP World Tour 500 Series (0–0)
ATP World Tour 250 Series (3–5)
Outcome No. Date Tournament Surface Partnering Opponents Score
Runner-up 1. April 14, 2008 U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships, Houston, United States Clay Spain Marcel Granollers Latvia Ernests Gulbis
Germany Rainer Schüttler		 5–7, 6–7(7–3)
Winner 1. June 7, 2008 French Open, Paris, France Clay Peru Luis Horna Canada Daniel Nestor
Serbia Nenad Zimonjić 		6–2, 6–3
Winner 2. February 7, 2009 Movistar Open, Viña del Mar, Chile Clay Argentina Brian Dabul Czech Republic František Čermák
Slovakia Michal Mertiňák 		6–3, 6–3
Winner 3. October 22, 2009 Kremlin Cup, Moscow, Russia Hard (i) Spain Marcel Granollers Czech Republic František Čermák
Slovakia Michal Mertiňák 		4–6, 7–5, [10–8]
Winner 4. February 14, 2010 Brasil Open, Costa do Sauípe, Brazil Clay Spain Marcel Granollers Poland Łukasz Kubot
Austria Oliver Marach		 7–5, 6–4
Runner-up 2. May 9, 2010 Estoril Open, Estoril, Portugal Clay Spain Marcel Granollers Spain Marc López
Spain David Marrero		 7–6(7–1), 4–6, [4–10]
Runner-up 3. September 29, 2013 Proton Malaysian Open, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Hard (i) Argentina Horacio Zeballos United States Eric Butorac
South Africa Raven Klaasen		 2-6, 4-6
Runner-up 4. February 16, 2014 Copa Claro, Buenos Aires, Argentina Clay Argentina Horacio Zeballos Spain Marcel Granollers
Spain Marc López 		5-7, 4-6
Runner-up 5. May 4, 2014 Portugal Open, Oeiras, Portugal Clay Spain David Marrero Mexico Santiago González
United States Scott Lipsky 		3–6, 6–3, [8–10]

Performance Timelines

Singles

Tournament 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 W–L
Australian Open A A A 1R 1R A A A 1R 0–3
French Open A 1R A 1R 1R A 2R 2R 2–5
Wimbledon A A 2R A A A A 1R 1–2
US Open 1R 1R 2R 2R A A 1R 1R 2–6
Win–Loss 0–1 0–2 2–2 1–3 0–2 0–0 1–2 1–3 0–1 5–16
ATP World Tour Masters 1000
Indian Wells A A A 2R 2R A A A 3R 3–3
Miami A 2R A 1R 3R A A A 2R 3–4
Monte Carlo A A A A A A A A A 0–0
Madrid 1 A A A 1R A A A A 0–1
Rome A 1R A 1R 1R A A A 0–3
Toronto / Montreal A A A A A A A A 0–0
Cincinnati A A A A A A A A 0–0
Shanghai A A A A A A A 1R 0–1
Paris A A 1R A A A A 2R 1–2
Win–Loss 0–0 1–2 0–1 1–4 3–3 0–0 0–0 1–2 1–2 7–14
Career statistics
Titles 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 3
Finals 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 3
Year End Ranking 113 142 50 63 142 – 220 30

1 Held as Hamburg Masters (outdoor clay) until 2008, Madrid Masters (outdoor clay) 2009–present.

Men's Doubles

Tournament 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 W–L
Australian Open 1R QF 3–2
French Open 3R W 3R 1R SF 2R 15-5
Wimbledon 1R 3R 2–2
US Open 2R 2R 3R 2R 3R 7–5
Win–Loss 3–2 7–1 4–3 1–1 0–2 0–0 6–2 3–2 3–1 27–14

Mixed Doubles

Tournament 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 W–L
Australian Open SFHSW 3–1
French Open 0-0
Wimbledon 0–0
US Open QFGD 2–1
Win–Loss 0–0 0–0 0–0 2–1 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 3–1 5–2

Mixed Doubles partners: GD Gisela Dulko HSW Hsieh Su-Wei

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 ATPtennis.com - Players - Profiles
  2. ↑ http://www.atpworldtour.com/Tennis/Players/Top-Players/Pablo-Cuevas.aspx
  3. ↑ atptennis.com (2008-02-02). "Gonzalez Captures Vina Title in Strange Circumstances". Archived from the original on 2008-05-01. Retrieved 2008-07-15.
  4. ↑ atptennis.com (2008-06-06). "Horna/Cuevas Surprise Roland Garros Champions". Retrieved 2008-06-07.
  5. ↑ Martin, John (2009-06-25). "Another Victory for Levine". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-06-25.

External links

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