André Sá

André Rezende Sá (born 6 May 1977) is a professional Brazilian tennis player. In singles, he was a Wimbledon quarterfinalist in 2002 and has reached a career-high doubles ranking of World No. 17, winning 9 doubles titles. Sá reached the semifinals of ATP tournaments Memphis and Hong Kong in 2000 and 2001 respectively.

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 for five years. In 1996, he graduated from Brandenton Academy, where he played basketball for three years.

Sá is married and now lives in Blumenau, Santa Catarina, Brazil.

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 Challenger 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 after a 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 semifinals^[1] 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 Wimbledon match, which, at 5 hours and 58 minutes and a fifth set of over three hours, is the second longest ever at Wimbledon.^[2] The final score was 7–5, 6–7, 6–4, 6–7, 28-26. 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.^[3] 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 6 ATP-Tour titles, along with 11 Challenger and 9 ATP-Tour finals, Sá is considered one of the best Brazilian doubles player of all time, reaching the respectable 17th place in the ranking. Partnering with Brazilian Flávio Saretta, he reached the quarterfinals at the 2004 Australian Open and with Paraguayan Ramón 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 Óscar 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.^[4]

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.

ATP career finals

Doubles: 27 (10 titles, 17 runners-up)

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 (10–17)

Finals by Surface
Hard (3–5)
Clay (6–9)
Grass (1–3)
Carpet (0–0)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Runner-up	1.	February 9, 1998	SAP Open, San Jose, United States	Hard	Nelson Aerts	Todd Woodbridge Mark Woodforde	1–6, 5–7
Runner-up	2.	January 28, 2001	ATP Bogotá, Bogotá, Colombia	Clay	Martín Rodríguez	Mariano Hood Sebastián Prieto	2–6, 4–6
Runner-up	3.	July 9, 2001	Hall of Fame Tennis Championships, Newport, United States	Grass	Glenn Weiner	Bob Bryan Mike Bryan	3–6, 5–7
Winner	1.	September 24, 2001	Hong Kong Open, Hong Kong, China	Hard	Karsten Braasch	Petr Luxa Radek Štěpánek	6–0, 7–5
Runner-up	4.	July 15, 2002	Dutch Open, Amersfoort, Netherlands	Clay	Alexandre Simoni	Jeff Coetzee Chris Haggard	6–7^(1–7), 3–6
Runner-up	5.	September 9, 2002	Brasil Open, Costa do Sauípe, Brazil	Hard	Gustavo Kuerten	Scott Humphries Mark Merklein	3–6, 6–7^(1–7)
Runner-up	6.	July 14, 2003	Dutch Open, Amersfoort, Netherlands	Clay	Chris Haggard	Devin Bowen Ashley Fisher	0–6, 4-6
Winner	2.	April 29, 2007	Estoril Open, Estoril, Portugal	Clay	Marcelo Melo	Martín García Sebastián Prieto	3–6, 6–2, [10–6]
Winner	3.	February 11, 2008	Brasil Open, Costa do Sauípe, Brazil	Clay	Marcelo Melo	Albert Montañés Santiago Ventura	4–6, 6–2, [10–7]
Winner	4.	May 18, 2008	Hypo Group Tennis International, Pörtschach, Austria	Clay	Marcelo Melo	Julian Knowle Jürgen Melzer	7–5, 6–7^(3–7), [13–11]
Runner-up	7.	June 9, 2008	Queen's Club Championships, London, Great Britain	Grass	Marcelo Melo	Daniel Nestor Nenad Zimonjić	4–6, 6–7^(3–7)
Winner	5.	August 17, 2008	Pilot Pen Tennis, New Haven, United States	Hard	Marcelo Melo	Mahesh Bhupathi Mark Knowles	7–5, 6–2
Runner-up	8.	March 1, 2009	Delray Beach International Tennis Championships, Delray Beach, United States	Hard	Marcelo Melo	Bob Bryan Mike Bryan	4–6, 4–6
Winner	6.	May 23, 2009	Interwetten Austrian Open Kitzbühel, Kitzbühel, Austria	Clay	Marcelo Melo	Andrei Pavel Horia Tecău	6–7^(9–11), 6–2, [10–7]
Runner-up	9.	June 14, 2009	Queen's Club Championships, London, Great Britain	Grass	Marcelo Melo	Wesley Moodie Mikhail Youzhny	4–6, 6–4, [6–10]
Runner-up	10.	February 20, 2011	Copa Claro, Buenos Aires, Argentina	Clay	Franco Ferreiro	Oliver Marach Leonardo Mayer	6–7^(6–8), 3–6
Runner-up	11.	August 06, 2011	Bet-at-home Cup Kitzbühel, Kitzbühel, Austria	Clay	Franco Ferreiro	Daniele Bracciali Santiago González	6–7^(1–7), 6–4, [9–11]
Winner	7.	September 25, 2011	Open de Moselle, Metz, France	Hard (i)	Jamie Murray	Lukáš Dlouhý Marcelo Melo	6–4, 7–6^(9–7)
Runner-up	12.	February 19, 2012	Brasil Open, São Paulo, Brazil	Clay (i)	Michal Mertiňák	Eric Butorac Bruno Soares	6–3, 4–6, [8–10]
Runner-up	13.	February 26, 2012	Copa Claro, Buenos Aires, Argentina	Clay	Michal Mertiňák	David Marrero Fernando Verdasco	4–6, 4–6
Runner-up	14.	March 4, 2012	Delray Beach International Tennis Championships, Delray Beach, United States	Hard	Michal Mertiňák	Colin Fleming Ross Hutchins	6–2, 6–7^(5–7), [13–15]
Runner-up	15.	July 15, 2012	MercedesCup, Stuttgart, Germany	Clay	Michal Mertiňák	Jérémy Chardy Łukasz Kubot	1-6, 3-6
Winner	8.	March 1, 2015	Argentina Open, Buenos Aires, Argentina	Clay	Jarkko Nieminen	Pablo Andújar Olivier Marach	4–6, 6–4, [10–7]
Winner	9.	June 27, 2015	Nottingham Open, Nottingham, United Kingdom	Grass	Chris Guccione	Pablo Cuevas David Marrero	6-2, 7-5
Winner	10.	July 25, 2015	Croatia Open Umag, Umag, Croatia	Clay	Máximo González	Mariusz Fyrstenberg Santiago González	4-6, 6–3, [10-5]
Runner-up	16.	October 4, 2015	Shenzhen Open, Shenzhen, China	Hard	Chris Guccione	Colin Fleming Jonathan Erlich	1–6, 7–6^(7–3), [6–10]
Runner-up	17.	April 25, 2016	BRD Năstase Țiriac Trophy, Bucharest, Romania	Clay	Chris Guccione	Florin Mergea Horia Tecău	5–7, 4–6

Singles 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

Singles performance timeline

Current till 2012 US Open (tennis).

Tournament	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	W–L
Grand Slam Tournaments
Australian Open				2R	1R	1R		1–3
French Open			1R		1R	1R		0–3
Wimbledon	1R	2R	1R	1R	QF	2R	1R	5–7
US Open			2R	2R	1R			2–3
Win–Loss	0–1	1–1	1–3	2–3	3–4	1–3	0–1	8–16

Doubles performance timeline

Current till 2015 Australian Open.

Tournament	1997	1998	1999	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	W–L
Grand Slam Tournaments
Australian Open		1R	1R		1R	1R	QF	1R			1R	2R	1R	1R	2R	2R	1R	1R	6–14
French Open		1R			3R	1R	1R	1R		2R	2R	1R	3R	1R	1R	3R	3R		10–13
Wimbledon		1R			1R	3R	2R	1R	3R	SF	3R	2R	1R	1R	2R	1R	3R		15–14
US Open	1R	1R	1R	1R	1R	1R	1R			QF	3R	2R	1R	1R	1R	2R	2R		8–15
Win–Loss	0–1	0–4	0–2	0–1	2–4	2–4	4–4	0–3	2–1	8–3	5–4	3–4	2–4	0–4	2–4	4–4	5–4	0–1	39–56

References

↑ Sally Easton (2007-07-06). "Brazilian Pair Race To Semi-Finals". Wimbledon. Archived from the original on 2007-07-08. Retrieved 2007-07-19.
↑ Michael Burke-Velji (2007-07-04). "54-game Marathon in Final Set". Wimbledon. Archived from the original on 2007-07-07. Retrieved 2007-04-19.
↑ The Championships, Wimbledon 2007 - Grand Slam Tennis - Official Site by IBM
↑ André Sá and Flávio Saretta inherit spot at the doubles tournament UOL Olímpiadas 2004, 6 August 2004

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to André Sá.

André Sá at the Association of Tennis Professionals
André Sá at the International Tennis Federation
André Sá at the Davis Cup

Association of Tennis Professionals: Top ten Brazilian male doubles tennis players as of 18 April 2016

1. Marcelo Melo (2 ) 2. Bruno Soares (7 5) 3. André Sá (55 ) 4. Marcelo Demoliner (59 ) 5. Thomaz Bellucci (80 )

6. Rogério Dutra Silva (152 27) 7. João Souza (155 1) 8. Fabrício Neis (181 10) 9. Guilherme Clezar (219 2) 10. André Ghem (243 1)

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, April 26, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.