Alberto Berasategui

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**Alberto Berasategui**

Country	Spain
Residence	Andorra la Vella, Andorra
Date of birth	June 28, 1973 (1973-06-28) (age 34)
Place of birth	Bilbao, Spain
Height	1.72 m (5 ft 7+¹⁄₂ in)
Weight	65 kg (140 lb/10.2 st)
Turned pro	1991
Retired	2001
Plays	Right-handed; one-handed backhand
Career prize money	US$4,676,187
Singles
Career record:	278-199
Career titles:	14
Highest ranking:	No. 7 (November 14, 1994)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open	QF (1998)
French Open	F (1994)
Wimbledon	1R (2000)
US Open	2R (1993, 1996)
Doubles
Career record:	47-59
Career titles:	1
Highest ranking:	No. 55 (October 6, 1997)
Infobox last updated on: November 11, 2007.

Alberto Berasategui (born June 28, 1973, in Bilbao, Spain) is a former professional tennis player from Spain. He is best remembered for reaching the men's singles final at the French Open in 1994.

Berasategui began playing tennis at age 7 and was the European junior champion in 1991. He turned professional later that year, and won his first top-level singles title in 1993 in São Paulo. He established a reputation on the tour in the early 1990's as a very strong clay court player.

1994 was without doubt the pinnacle of Berasategui's career. He reached nine finals, winning seven of them. And he qualified for his first (and only) Grand Slam final at the French Open, where he faced fellow-Spaniard and defending-champion Sergi Bruguera. Bruguera won the final in four sets in 6–3, 7–5, 2–6, 6–1. Berasategui reached his career-high singles ranking of World No. 7 in November 1994.

During his career, Berasategui won a total of 14 top-level singles titles and 1 tour doubles titles. His career prize-money earnings totalled US$4,676,187. His last singles title was won in Estoril in 1998.

He was also well known for his extreme forehand grip where his unusual hold on the racket would allow him to hit both forehands and backhands with the same side of the racket. This grip was comically referred to as the Hawaiian grip for being so far West. This helped him on the clay services only but on other surfaces he did not have much of an impact save for a quarter final appearance at the Australian Open.

He retired from the professional tour in 2001.

[edit] Grand Slam singles final

[edit] Runner-up

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
1994	French Open	Sergi Bruguera	6–3, 7–5, 2–6, 6–1

[edit] Singles titles

Legend
Grand Slam (0)
Tennis Masters Cup (0)
ATP Masters Series (0)
ATP Tour (14)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	8 November 1993	São Paulo, Brazil	Clay	Sláva Doseděl	6–4, 6–3
2.	18 April 1994	Nice, France	Clay	Jim Courier	6–4, 6–2
3.	25 July 1994	Stuttgart Outdoor, Germany	Clay	Andrea Gaudenzi	7–5, 6–3, 7–6(5)
4.	29 August 1994	Umag, Croatia	Clay	Karol Kučera	6–2, 6–4
5.	3 October 1994	Palermo, Italy	Clay	Àlex Corretja	2–6, 7–6(6), 6–4
6.	10 October 1994	Athens, Greece	Clay	Óscar Martínez	4–6, 7–6(4), 6–3
7.	31 October 1994	Santiago, Chile	Clay	Francisco Clavet	6–3, 6–4
8.	7 November 1994	Montevideo, Uruguay	Clay	Francisco Clavet	6–4, 6–0
9.	19 June 1995	Oporto, Portugal	Clay	Carlos Costa	3–6, 6–3, 6–4
10.	24 June 1996	Bologna, Italy	Clay	Carlos Costa	6–3, 6–4
11.	29 July 1996	Kitzbühel, Austria	Clay	Àlex Corretja	6–2, 6–4, 6–4
12.	16 September 1996	Bucharest, Romania	Clay	Carlos Moyà	6–1, 7–6(5)
13.	6 October 1997	Palermo, Italy	Clay	Dominik Hrbatý	6–4, 6–2
14.	13 April 1998	Estoril, Portugal	Clay	Thomas Muster	3–6, 6–1, 6–3