----
Nicolás Alexander Lapentti Gómez (born August 13, 1976 in Guayaquil

Guayaquil

Guayaquil , officially Santiago de Guayaquil , is the largest and the most populous city in Ecuador,with about 2.3 million inhabitants in the city and nearly 3.1 million in the metropolitan area, as well as that nation's main port...

) is a former professional tennis

Tennis

Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...

 player from Ecuador

Ecuador

Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...

 who is ranked 214th (Oct. 18, 2010). He is Andrés Gómez

Andrés Gómez

Andrés Gómez Santos is a former professional tennis player from Ecuador. He is best remembered for winning the men's singles title at the French Open in 1990.-Career:...

's nephew.

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

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

 in 1994, when he also captured the junior doubles titles at the French Open (partnering with Gustavo Kuerten

Gustavo Kuerten

Gustavo Kuerten is a retired former World No. 1 tennis player from Brazil. He won the French Open three times between 1997 and 2001, and was the Tennis Masters Cup champion in 2000...

) and the US Open

U.S. Open (tennis)

The US Open, formally the United States Open Tennis Championships, is a hardcourt tennis tournament which is the modern iteration of one of the oldest tennis championships in the world, the U.S. National Championship, which for men's singles was first contested in 1881...

.

Professional

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

Bogotá

Bogotá, Distrito Capital , from 1991 to 2000 called Santa Fé de Bogotá, is the capital, and largest city, of Colombia. It is also designated by the national constitution as the capital of the department of Cundinamarca, even though the city of Bogotá now comprises an independent Capital district...

.

In 1999, Lapentti was a semi-finalist at the Australian Open

Australian Open

The Australian Open is the only Grand Slam tennis tournament held in the southern hemisphere. The tournament was held for the first time in 1905 and was last contested on grass in 1987. Since 1972 the Australian Open has been held in Melbourne, Victoria. In 1988, the tournament became a hard court...

. 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

Sankt Pölten

Sankt Pölten is the capital city of the State of Lower Austria in northeast Austria. With inhabitants , it is Lower Austria's largest city...

, beating Fernando Vicente

Fernando Vicente

Fernando Vicente Fibla is a tennis player from Spain, who turned professional in 1996. He reached his highest singles ATP-ranking on 12 June 2000, when he became the World Number 29.-Singles: 6 :Wins...

 in straight sets in the final. In the second round of that tournament, his rival, Irakli Labadze

Irakli Labadze

Irakli Labadze |Georgia]]) is a professional tennis player. His career high singles ranking was "World No. 42" which he attained in July, 2004.Labadze turned pro in 1998, and has recently passed the $1 205 296 career prize money mark...

, 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

Giovanni Lapentti

Giovanni Lapentti Gómez is a Ecuadorian tennis player. His brother is Nicolás Lapentti, another professional tennis player, while a third brother, Leonardo, has also been active at the lower levels of professional tennis....

, is also a professional tennis player, ranked 224 (as of October 23, 2008). In addition, another brother, Leonardo, has been active at the lower levels of professional tennis.

In his last participation in a Grand Slam

Grand Slam (tennis)

The four Major tennis tournaments, also called the Slams, are the most important tennis events of the year in terms of world tour ranking points, tradition, prize-money awarded, strength and size of player field, and public attention. They are the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and...

, he lost to Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

i Dudi Sela

Dudi Sela

David "Dudi" Sela is an Israeli professional tennis player.Sela reached a career-high singles ranking of # 29 in July 2009. He is currently Israel's top men's singles player, ahead of Amir Weintraub.As a 17-year-old junior, he won the 2003 French Open boys' doubles championship with his doubles...

 in the first round in 2007 at the US Open in Flushing Meadows

Flushing Meadows-Corona Park

Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, often referred to as Flushing Meadow Park, Flushing Meadows Park or Flushing Meadows, is a public park in New York City. It contains the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, the current venue for the U.S...

.

In the Cincinnati Open 2008, Lapentti defeated David Ferrer

David Ferrer

David Ferrer Ern is a Spanish professional tennis player who lives in Valencia, Spain who is currently no. 5 in the ATP Rankings and the second-highest ranked Spaniard behind world no. 2 Rafael Nadal. He turned professional in 2000...

 in second round, Fernando Verdasco

Fernando Verdasco

Fernando Verdasco Carmona is a professional tennis player. He is currently ranked no. 22 in the world. Verdasco started playing tennis at four years of age and had a full-time coach when he was eight...

 in the third round and faced No 2 seed Rafael Nadal

Rafael Nadal

Rafael "Rafa" Nadal Parera is a Spanish professional tennis player and a former World No. 1. , he is ranked No. 2 by the Association of Tennis Professionals...

 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.

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.

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

Robert Ludlum

Robert Ludlum was an American author of 23 thriller novels. The number of his books in print is estimated between 290–500 million copies. They have been published in 33 languages and 40 countries. Ludlum also published books under the pseudonyms Jonathan Ryder and Michael Shepherd.-Life and...

 books.

Singles: 12 (5–7)

Wins (5)

Legend (Singles)

Grand Slam (0)

Tennis Masters Cup (0)

ATP Masters Series (0)

ATP International Series Gold (2)

ATP Tour (3)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
1.	September 11, 1995	Bogotá ATP Bogotá The Bancolombia Open is a professional tennis tournament played on outdoor red clay courts. It is currently part of the Association of Tennis Professionals Challenger Tour... , Colombia Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...	Clay	Miguel Tobón	2–6, 6–1, 6–4
2.	August 16, 1999	Indianapolis, United States	Hard	Vincent Spadea	4–6, 6–4, 6–4
3.	October 18, 1999	Lyon Grand Prix de Tennis de Lyon The Open Sud de France is a professional tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts. It is currently part of the ATP World Tour 250 series of the ATP Tour. It was held annually at the Palais des Sports de Gerland in Lyon, France, in October, from 1987 through to 2009, before being relocated to... , France	Carpet (i)	Lleyton Hewitt Lleyton Hewitt Lleyton Glynn Hewitt born 24 February 1981) is an Australian professional tennis player and former world no. 1.In 2000, Hewitt had won ATP titles on all three major surfaces and reached one final on carpet. By 2001, he became the youngest male ever to be ranked no. 1 at the age of 20...	6–3, 6–2
4.	July 23, 2001	Kitzbühel, Austria	Clay	Albert Costa Albert Costa Albert Costa i Casals is a former professional tennis player from Spain. He is best remembered for winning the men's singles title at the French Open in 2002.-Tennis career:...	1–6, 6–4, 7–5, 7–5
5.	May 20, 2002	St. Pölten Hypo Group Tennis International The Hypo Group Tennis International was an annual tennis tournament held in Pörtschach, Austria. The event was part of the ATP Tour's ATP International Series. The tournament had been held since 1981, on clay courts.-List of singles winners:... , Austria	Clay	Fernando Vicente Fernando Vicente Fernando Vicente Fibla is a tennis player from Spain, who turned professional in 1996. He reached his highest singles ATP-ranking on 12 June 2000, when he became the World Number 29.-Singles: 6 :Wins...	7–5, 6–4

Runner-ups (7)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
1.	9 September 1996	Bogotá ATP Bogotá The Bancolombia Open is a professional tennis tournament played on outdoor red clay courts. It is currently part of the Association of Tennis Professionals Challenger Tour... , Colombia Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...	Clay	Thomas Muster Thomas Muster Thomas Muster is a former world no. 1 tennis player from Austria. One of the world's leading clay court players in the 1990s, Muster won the 1995 French Open and at his peak was known as "The King of Clay." In addition, he won eight Masters 1000 series titles, placing him sixth on the all-time list...	7–6(6), 2–6, 3–6
2.	27 October 1997	Bogotá, Colombia	Clay	Francisco Clavet Francisco Clavet Francisco Javier Clavet González is a former tennis player from Spain.From 2009 he has been coaching his countryman Feliciano López.-Singles career titles:* 1990 - Hilversum* 1995 - Palermo* 1996 - Amsterdam...	3–6, 3–6
3.	5 July 1999	Gstaad, Switzerland	Clay	Albert Costa Albert Costa Albert Costa i Casals is a former professional tennis player from Spain. He is best remembered for winning the men's singles title at the French Open in 2002.-Tennis career:...	6–7(4), 3–6, 4–6
4.	9 October 2000	Tokyo, Japan	Hard	Sjeng Schalken Sjeng Schalken Sjeng Schalken is a former professional tennis player from the Netherlands.-Playing style:A right-handed baseliner with a single-handed backhand, Schalken's game is characterised by his consistency of both wings and his continental technique on both the forehand and backhand...	4–6, 6–3, 1–6
5.	11 February 2002	Viña del Mar Movistar Open The Movistar Open is an ATP International Series men's tennis tournament held in February 2010 in Las Condes commune, and it's played on clay. It was previously played in Viña del Mar.-History:In 1992, Brazil suspended its three ATP tournaments... , Chile Chile Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...	Clay	Fernando González Fernando González ----Fernando Francisco González Ciuffardi is a professional tennis player from Chile. He is known for having one of the hardest forehands on the circuit. In Spanish he is called El Bombardero de La Reina and Mano de Piedra...	3–6, 7–6(5), 6–7(4)
6.	7 July 2003	Båstad, Sweden	Clay	Mariano Zabaleta Mariano Zabaleta Mariano Zabaleta is a retired professional male tennis player from Argentina. He turned professional in 1996. He had an unusual but effective service motion and fighting spirit...	3–6, 4–6
7.	25 September 2006	Palermo, Italy	Clay	Filippo Volandri Filippo Volandri Filippo Volandri is an Italian professional male tennis player. Volandri is a right-handed player who reached a career-high ranking of 25 on July 23, 2007. He turned pro in 1997, and as of January 2006, had earned over $1,300,000 in prize money...	7–5, 1–6, 3–6

Doubles: 7 (3–4)

Wins (3)
1997—Amsterdam, Mexico City; 1999—Adelaide

Runner-ups (4)
1996—Bogotá; 1997—Santiago; 1999—Prague; 2004—Viña del Mar

Singles

Tournament	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	SR	W–L
Grand Slams
Australian Open Australian Open The Australian Open is the only Grand Slam tennis tournament held in the southern hemisphere. The tournament was held for the first time in 1905 and was last contested on grass in 1987. Since 1972 the Australian Open has been held in Melbourne, Victoria. In 1988, the tournament became a hard court...	A	A	A	1R	A	2R	SF	2R	2R	4R	3R	2R	A	A	2R	A	1R	1R 2010 Australian Open – Men's Singles Rafael Nadal was the defending champion, but retired due to a right knee injury trailing 3–6, 6–7, 0–3 in the quarterfinals against Andy Murray.Roger Federer met Andy Murray in the final of this event...	0 / 11	15–11
French Open	A	A	A	1R	2R	1R	2R	4R	2R	1R	3R	1R	A	2R	2R	3R	1R 2009 French Open – Men's Singles Rafael Nadal was the defending champion but lost in the fourth round to Robin Söderling. This was Nadal's first ever defeat at the French Open, having won the title in all six of his other appearances...	1R 2010 French Open – Men's Singles Roger Federer was the defending champion, but lost in the quarterfinals to Robin Söderling, which allowed him to make a second-successive final here. This was the first time since the 2004 French Open that Federer did not reach the semifinals of a Grand Slam tournament.Rafael Nadal won his fifth...	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 Tennis Masters Cup The Barclays ATP World Tour Finals is a tennis tournament played at the end of each year, involving the top eight players in the men's tennis world rankings....	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 Indian Wells Masters The Indian Wells Masters is an annual tennis tournament held in Indian Wells, California....	A	A	A	1R	A	3R	A	SF	QF	1R	1R	3R	A	A	A	LQ	3R	A	0 / 8	12–8
Miami Miami Masters The Miami Masters is an annual tennis tournament for men and women held in Key Biscayne, Miami, Florida. It is an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event on the men's tour and a Premier Mandatory event on the women's tour and is played on hard courts at the Tennis Center at Crandon Park...	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 Rome Masters The Italian Open is an annual tennis tournament held in Rome, Italy. It is the most prestigious red clay tennis tournament in the world after the French Open, with the men's competition being an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event on the Association of Tennis Professionals tour, and the women's...	A	A	A	A	A	2R	QF	2R	SF	1R	1R	1R	A	A	A	2R	LQ	LQ	0 / 8	10–8
Hamburg Hamburg Masters The German Open Hamburg, established in 1892, is an annual tennis tournament for male professional players held in Hamburg, Germany and part of the Association of Tennis Professionals Tour. Originally a Grand Prix Tennis Tour event between 1978 and 1989 it was part of the Grand Prix Championship...	A	A	A	A	A	2R	SF	1R	3R	1R	1R	2R	A	A	LQ	A	NM1		0 / 7	8–7
Canada Canada Masters The Canada Masters , currently sponsored as the Rogers Cup, is an annual tennis tournament held in Canada. The men's competition is a Masters 1000 event on the Association of Tennis Professionals tour. The women's competition is a Premier 5 tournament on the Women's Tennis Association tour...	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	1R	2R	2R	1R	A	A	A	A	1R	LQ	A	0 / 5	2–5
Cincinnati Cincinnati Masters The Cincinnati Open is an annual outdoor hardcourts tennis event held in the Cincinnati suburb of Mason, Ohio, USA. The event started on September 18, 1899 and is the oldest tennis tournament in the United States played in its original city., Between...	A	A	A	A	A	1R	3R	1R	1R	1R	1R	A	1R	A	LQ	QF	LQ	A	0 / 8	5–8
Madrid (Stuttgart) Madrid Masters There are two sporting events named the Madrid Masters:*Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open — a men's and women's tennis tournament*Madrid Masters...	A	A	A	A	A	A	3R	2R	3R	3R	A	A	A	A	LQ	LQ	A	A	0 / 4	5–4
Paris Paris Masters The Paris Masters is an annual tennis tournament for male professional players held in Paris, France. It is played indoors at the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy. The event is part of the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 on the Association of Tennis Professionals Tour...	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

External links

• Official website