Gastón Etlis

Gaston Etlis (born November 4, 1974, in Buenos Aires) is a former tennis player from Argentina.

In doubles Etlis was ranked # 17 in January 2005.

The righthander won four career titles in doubles, and reached his highest singles ATP-ranking in May 2000, when he became the # 114 player in the world.

Tennis career

He turned professional in 1993.

In August 1995 in San Marino he beat world # 40 Carlos Costa 7–6(4), 6–4. In January 1997 he beat world # 24 Marc Rosset 6–3, 7–6(1), in Zagreb.

Having competed as well as a singles player at the 1996 Australian and French Opens, and in the 1997 French Open (he reached the 2nd round at Roland Garros in 1997), Etlis switched to doubles.

In 2000 and 2002, he reached the third round of the French Open.

Etlis competed in the 2003 Australian Open in the doubles competition; he and partner Martin Rodriguez reached the semifinals. After defeating Leander Paes and David Rikl (6–3, 6–3) in the quarterfinals, they played # 1 seed Mark Knowles and Daniel Nestor and lost 3–6, 4–6.

At the 2003 French Open Etlis and Rodriquez, after easily winning their matches in the first two rounds (without dropping a set), upset # 1 seed Mark Knowles and Daniel Nestor in the 3rd round. In the quarterfinals, however, they lost to # 11 seed Paul Haarhuis and Yevgeny Kafelnikov.

At Roland Garros, Etlis also competed in the mixed doubles with Clarisa Fernandez. They lost in the quarterfinals to # 4 seed Cara Black and Wayne Black, 6–3, 6–3.

Etlis and Rodriguez reached the 3rd round at the 2003 Wimbledon tournament.

Etlis and Rodriguez made it to the semifinals at the 2004 Australian Open. The quarterfinals were a difficult hurdle for the duo but they battled past favorites Mark Knowles and Daniel Nestor 7–6 (7–3), 6–7 (8–6), 6–3. The run came to an end in the semifinals, where Michael Llodra and Fabrice Santoro defeated Rodriguez and Gaston 6–2, 7–5.

They fell to the Belgian team of Xavier Malisse and Olivier Rochus in the 2004 French Open quarterfinal 6–4,6–4.

Etlis and Rodriguez won the Valencia International Series in April 2004 without dropping a set, utilizing the clay surface to their advantage.

Olympics

He represented Argentina at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, where he was defeated in the first round by South Africa's Wayne Ferreira.

In the 2004 Olympics he competed in the doubles event with partner Martin Rodriguez, and they defeated Tommy Robredo and Feliciano Lopez of Spain 6–3, 6–4. The Argentines lost a 2nd round match to Fernando Gonzalez and Nicolas Massu 6–3, 7–6 (2), and were eliminated.

Davis Cup

Etlis split two Davis Cup matches in 1996. [http://www.daviscup.com/teams/player.asp?player=10006408]

Miscellaneous trivia

* Etlis is Jewish. [http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:1dnAggOBjhAJ:www.jewsinsports.org/tennis.asp%3FID%3D103+Gast%C3%B3n+Etlis+jewish&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=4&gl=us]
* Etlis's primary doubles partner from 2000 and beyond was Martin Rodriguez.

Links

* [http://www.atptennis.com/en/players/playerprofiles/default2.asp?playersearch=etlis Profile at ATP-site]
* [http://tennis.matchstat.com/player_stats.phtml?ID_Player=8540 Stats]
* [http://www.daviscup.com/teams/player.asp?player=10006408 Davis Cup bio]
* [http://www.sonyericssonopen.com/bios/2006/ATPE138.html Sony Ericsson bio]
* [http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Etlis.html Jewish Virtual Library bio]
* [http://www.jewsinsports.org/Olympics.asp?sport=olympics&ID=716 Jews in Sports bio]