1998 IN REVIEW
Argentina's best doubles player continued to excel, playing primarily with Spaniard Javier Sanchez...Duo reached QF at Australian and U.S. Opens along with SF in Memphis, Barcelona and Rome...With fellow Argentineans, reached SF in Prague (w/Orsanic), San Marino and Palermo (w/Puerta)...Went 2-0 in Davis Cup (w/Arnold), winning against Chile and Slovakia...Failed to win a doubles title for first time since 1993...Finished No. 17 in Team Rankings (w/Sanchez) and No. 39 individually...Also advanced to French Open mixed doubles final (w/Serena Williams), losing to Venus Williams and Justin Gimelstob.
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
1990-Winner in singles at Argentinean (26 points) and Chilean (20 points) Satellites...Also won doubles title in Argentina (18 points)...1991-Reached final at Lins Challenger (l. to Pereira) and SF at Vina del Mar and Ribeirao Challengers...QF at Santiago, Sao Paulo-2, Sao Paulo-4 and Bogota Challengers...In doubles, won at Sao Paulo-4 Challenger and reached final at Sao Paulo-7 Challenger (both w/Albano)...1992-Success came in doubles, reaching final at Santiago (w/Stringari) and Parioli (w/Orsanic) Challengers...SF in Guaruja Tour stop (w/Aerts) and four other Challengers...1993-Doubles SF at Vina del Mar Challenger (w/Orsanic)...1994-Earned his first career ATP Tour doubles title in Athens (w/J. Sanchez) and added titles at Oporto (w/J. Sanchez), Eisenach (w/Curry) and Geneva (w/Orsanic) Challengers...Reached final at Punte del Este Challenger (w/Miniussi) and SF at Tour stops in San Marino (w/Arnold), Umag (w/Orsanic), Tel Aviv (w/J. Sanchez) and Montevideo (w/Garat)...1995-Reached six finals and won two doubles titles with J. Sanchez...The duo qualified for ATP Tour World Doubles Championship...Reached consecutive finals at Mercedes Super 9 in Monte Carlo (l. to Eltingh-Haarhuis) and Munich (l. to Kronemann-Macpherson)...Won title in Gstaad in July after six-week layoff...Won second title in Umag in August...Finished year No. 8 in Team Rankings and compiled a 31-19 record (w/J. Sanchez)...1996-Won doubles titles in Barcelona (w/J. Sanchez) and Umag (w/Albano) while reaching the finals in Prague Tour stop and Barcelona Challenger (both w/J. Sanchez)...Played in 22 tournaments with J. Sanchez and compiled 28-21 record...Also advanced to SF in Mercedes Super 9 stops in Monte Carlo and Toronto and QF at U.S. Open (all w/Sanchez)...Finished No. 12 in Team Rankings and No. 29 individually...1997-Captured a career-best five titles, four (w/J. Sanchez) as duo compiled a 33-13 record and finished No. 10 in Team Rankings...Earned a career-high $219,328. CAREER DOUBLES TITLES (10). FINALIST (5).
PERSONAL
Began playing at age 11...Enjoys soccer, going to the beach and reading...Favorite soccer team is B.A. Boca Juniors...Favorite surface is clay...Has a 7-4 career Davis Cup record (7-3 in doubles) in 10 ties...Played in Atlanta Olympics (l. 1st RD in doubles w/Frana)...Wife, Maria Lilia...South America's No. 1 doubles player plans to coach Marcelo Rios, South America's No. 1 singles player, in 1999.