Cristian Villagrán (born 20 January 1982) is a Swiss-Argentine professional

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

player. He has a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 200 achieved on 7 July 2009, and a career-high ATP doubles ranking of world No. 115 achieved on 6 February 2006. Villagran reached 28 career singles finals, posting a tally of 20 wins and 8 losses including a 1–2 record in

ATP Challenger Tour The ATP Challenger Tour (known until the end of 2008 as the ATP Challenger Series) is a series of international men's professional tennis tournaments. It was founded in 1976 as a replacement for the ILTF Satellite Circuit (founded in 1971) as ...

finals. He won the 2006 Mantova Challenger tournament held on clay courts in Italy, where he defeated

Giorgio Galimberti Giorgio Galimberti (; born 5 September 1976) is a former Italian professional tennis player. Born in Milan, Galimberti turned professional in 1995. His career-high rankings were World No. 115 (May 2003) in singles and No. 65 (June 2005) in doubl ...

''6–2, 5-7, 6–4'' in the final to win the championship. Additionally, he has also reached 28 career doubles finals with a record of 23 wins and 5 losses which includes a 7–1 record in

finals.

Career

As a junior, Villagrán reached as high as world No. 13 in the singles rankings in 2000, as well as world No. 41 in doubles. Villagran made his

ATP Tour The ATP Tour (known as ATP World Tour between January 2009 and December 2018) is the sole worldwide top-tier tennis tour for men organized by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) founded in 1990 that replaced the earlier dual Grand Prix ...

debut at the 2005 Buenos Aires tournament on clay courts in

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

where he was granted a wild card entry into doubles main draw alongside compatriot Juan Pablo Brzezicki. They pulled off a major upset, defeating first seeds Gastón Etlis and Martín Rodríguez in the first round ''2–6, 6-2, 6–3''. They would continue their run by defeating Enzo Artoni and Ignacio González King in the second round ''7–6^(7–3), 2-6, 6–3'' before finally being defeated in the semifinals by

José Acasuso José Javier "Chucho" Acasuso (; born 20 October 1982) is a tennis coach and a former professional player from Argentina. Like many of his fellow countrymen, he favoured clay. He was known for his strong serve and his hard groundstrokes off bot ...

and Sebastián Prieto by a score of ''6–7^(8–10), 4-6'' to end their impressive run. Two years later at the 2007 Buenos Aires Open he was given another wild card entry into the doubles draw, alongside Eduardo Schwank however they were defeated in the first round by Martin Garcia and Sebastián Prieto in three sets ''4-6, 6–2, 2–14'.

Personal life

Villagrán was born and raised in Argentina, but went to compete in a tennis tournament in

Neuchâtel Neuchâtel (, ; ; ) is a list of towns in Switzerland, town, a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality, and the capital (political), capital of the cantons of Switzerland, Swiss canton of Neuchâtel (canton), Neuchâtel on Lake Neuchâtel ...

, Switzerland. There, he met his future wife and trainer, Pamela, who he married in 2008. He has since moved to Switzerland permanently, eventually becoming a citizen.

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals

Singles: 28 (20–8)

Doubles: 28 (23–5)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Villagran, Cristian Pan American Games bronze medalists in tennis Tennis players from Buenos Aires 1982 births Living people Swiss male tennis players Argentine male tennis players Swiss people of Argentine descent Argentine emigrants to Switzerland Pan American Games bronze medalists for Argentina Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Tennis players at the 2003 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2003 Pan American Games 21st-century Swiss sportsmen 21st-century Argentine sportsmen