Mario Ancic

Titles Won (3) : 

(2005) 's-Hertogenbosch, (2006) 's-Hertogenbosch, Petersburg

Mario Ancic is a professional tennis player from Croatia. He began playing tennis at the age of seven and turned professional in 2001. As a youngser he practiced at his local tennis club with Goran Ivanisevic from the age of 10, with whom he played doubles matches later in his career. Ancic has an all-court playing style and is able to adapt his game to all surfaces, making him a difficult player to opponents. His main strengths are his powerful serves and volley game. During his years as a junior he rose to number one in the world junior rankings in 2001, reaching the finals at the 2000 Australian Open, losing to Andy Roddick and at the 2000 Wimbledon Championships, losing to Nicolas Mahut. Ancic made his debut for the Croatia Davis Cup team in 2000 and also represented his country at the Olympic Games in Sydney, where he partnered Goran Ivanisevic. In 2002, Ancic made his ATP deubt as a wildcard at the Masters Series event in Miami, losing in the first round. During the season he went on to make his Grand Slam debut at Wimbledon, defeating Roger Federer in the first round as teenager. This win made him the last player to defeat Roger Federer at Wimbledon and on grass courts for five years before his loss to Rafa Nadal in the 2008 Wimbledon final. The Croatian defeated Federer on Centre Court in straight sets 6-3, 7-6(2), 6-3 before falling to Jan Vacek in the second round. He also made his US Open deubt as a lucky loser, but Ancic retired in the fifth set of the opening round against Dominik Hrbaty, because of leg cramps. He finished the season in the Top 100 for the first time, winning three Challenger events at Belgrade, Prague and Milan as well as reaching two other finals.

In 2003, Ancic started the season by reaching the fourth round of the Australian Open on his debut, losing to world number four Juan Carlos Ferrero in straight sets. In the next tournament he won the Challenger Hamburg, defeating Rafa Nadal in the final 6-2, 6-3. In May, he reached his first ATP quarter final at St. Poelten (l. Sanchez) and just two weeks later made his Roland Garros debut (l. Agassi). At Wimbledon (l. Nadal) and the US Open (Novak), Ancic made early first round exits but reached his second ATP quarter final of the season in October at Stockholm. In 2004, Ancic reached the third round of the Australian Open, losing to local favourite Mark Philippoussis and in February reached his first ATP final (l. Dupuis) at Milan. Starting the European clay court season, Ancic reached the quarter final at Valencia (l. Ferrero). At Roland Garros, the Croatian reached the third round before losing to world number three Guillermo Coira. In the build up to Wimbledon, Ancic played at Queens Club and lost in the third round to world number two Andy Roddick. At Wimbledon he made his tennis breakthrough by reaching a career best semi-final, defeating Tim Henman in the quarter final before losing to Andy Roddick in four sets. At the Olympic games in Athens, Ancic lost in the first round to Germany's Tommy Haas 1-6, 5-7. In the final months of the season, Ancic reached his second ATP semi-final of the season at Delray Beach (l. Mello).

The Croatian continued his rise up the rankings in 2005 by winning his first title, as well as helping Croatia to their first Davis Cup title, winning a decisive fifth rubber against Slovakia in the final. In the Croat's first event of the season he reached the third round of the Australian Open, losing to Russia's Marat Safin. In February he reached back-to-back semi-finals at Marseille (l. Ljubicic) and Rotterdam (l. Federer). In his next tournament he reached his first ATP final at Scottsdale, losing to Wayne Arthurs in the final 5-7, 3-6. At roland Garros he reached the third round for the second successive year, losing to David Nalbandian in four sets. The week before Wimbledon, Ancic won his first ATP title on the grass courts at 's-Hertogenbosch, defeating Michael Llodra in the final. However, at Wimbledon he suffered a dissapointing fourth round lost to Spain's Feliciano Lopez. In October he reached his third final of the year in Tokyo (l. Moodie). In 2006, the Croatian won a career high 55 matches and won two ATP titles, breaking in to the Top 10 for the first time in his career. In January, Ancic reached the final at Auckland in his second tournament of the year, defeating top seed Fernando Gonzalez on his way. However, he could not repeat his form in the final and lost in straight sets to Finland's Jarkko Nieminen. In February, he also reached the final at Marseille, losing to Arnaud Clement. He made the quarter finals at the Masters event in Miami, losing to David Nalbandian in straight sets. The Croat was also defeated by Nalbandian at the same stages of the Masters Series event in Rome. A week later, Ancic played in his fourth Masters Series event of the season, reaching a career best semi-final at Hamburg (d. Blake, Davydenk, l. Robredo). At Roland Garros, Ancic reached a career best quarter final, losing to world number one and eventual finalist Roger Federer in straight sets. It was at the French Open, when Ancic was involved in a shoving incident with Paul Capdeville in a second round match after the Croatian became bothered by the Chilean's repeated complaints to the chair umpire. In his next tournament at 's-Hertogenbosch, Ancic successfully defended his title by beating Jan Hernych in the final 6-0, 5-7, 7-5. A week later at Wimbledon, Ancic reached his second Grand Slam quarter final of the season, again losing to Roger Federer. Ancic then missed the US hard court season due to a knee injury while jet skiing and just before the US Open, injured his back. In September, in the first event after injuies, reached the final of the China Open in Beijing, losing to Marcos Baghdatis. In October, he won his third singles title at St. Petersburg (d. Johansson). In the final event of the season, Ancic reached the quarter final of the Paris Masters.

Ancic finished the 2007 season in the Top 100 despite missing nearly six months of the tour due to illness. He began the year reaching the fourth round at the Australian Open (l. Roddick) and then retired in the first round at Marseille. He was diagnosed with mononucleosis, also known as glandular fever. He returned in August to play in two Masters events in Canada and Cincinatti, losing in the second round of each. In October, he reached his first ATP quarter final of the season in Stockholm (l. Johansson) and followed this up by reaching the same stages at the Masters Series event in Madrid (l. Djokovic). The Croatian bounced back in 2008 by finishing in the Top 40 for the fourth time in the past five years despite being sidelined part of the season with illness. He returned in February after missing the first month with a stomach ilness to reach his tenth career ATP final in Marseille (l. Murray). He followed this up with a semi-final at Zagreb (l. Ljubicic). On clay, his best results came with a third round at Barcelona (l. Almagro) and Roland Garros (l. Federer). On grass he posted impressive form, reaching the quarter finals at 's-Hertogenbosch (l. Ferrero) and Wimbledon (l. Verdasco). Later in the season he withdrew from the Cincinnati and US Open due to reoccurence of mononucleosis.