Alejandro Falla


Alejandro Falla Ramírez is a retired professional male tennis player from Colombia. The left-hander turned pro in 2000 and achieved a career-high singles ranking of World No. 48 in July 2012. At the 2006 Wimbledon tournament, Falla upset 9th seed Nikolay Davydenko and at the 2007 Sony Ericsson Open he beat 9th seed Tommy Haas in straight sets. He reached the semifinals of the Grand Prix de Tennis de Lyon in 2007, beating players such as the 5th seed Ivan Ljubičić.

Career

The Colombian became the first player from his country to break into the top 100 of the ATP Rankings since Mauricio Hadad in 1996. In 2006, Alejandro qualified a career-high five times into the main draw of ATP tournaments. In his second tournament of the year, he reached the final of the Mexico City Challenger. He then went on to earn points for his country in a Davis Cup tie against Paraguay Davis Team. Then later in April, he won the Bogotá Challenger. At Roland Garros, he reached the second round after defeating Justin Gimelstob, though he lost to Roger Federer in the second round. A few weeks later at Wimbledon, he managed to beat Nikolay Davydenko in a four-set thriller. His victory over Davydenko was his first win over a top-10 player, and a first ever for a Colombian player. However, he was then defeated in the second round by Philipp Kohlschreiber in another four-set match. He then reached the second round in the US Open. In the first round, he beat Juan Martín del Potro in four sets, before being defeated by Dmitry Tursunov in straight sets.
Falla almost caused a sensation in the first round of Wimbledon in 2010, winning the first two sets against defending champion Roger Federer and serving for the match at 5–4 in the fourth set, before Federer eventually won 5–7, 4–6, 6–4, 7–6, 6–0.
His best result in a Grand Slam was in 2011 at the French Open. Falla reached the fourth round, where he lost to the unseeded Juan Ignacio Chela.
In the 2014 Gerry Weber Open in Halle, Falla rallied to beat 2011 champion Philipp Kohlschreiber 5-7, 7-6, 6-4 to become the first Colombian to reach the final of a grass-court tournament. He lost to six-time champion Roger Federer in the final.

Juniors

Alejandro Falla made it to the semi-finals in the 2001 French Open, giving a big inspiration to Colombian players aspiring to achieve strong results in junior open tennis.

Doubles

In junior doubles at the French Open, he and compatriot Carlos Salamanca defeated the German duo Markus Bayer and Philipp Petzschner, the first junior title won by Colombians in a Grand Slam.

Doubles: 1 (1 title)

ResultYearTournamentSurfacePartnerOpponentsScore
Win2001French OpenClay Carlos Salamanca Markus Bayer
Philipp Petzschner		3–6, 7–5, 6–4

ATP career finals

Singles: 2 (2 runner-ups)

ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfaceOpponentScore
Loss0–12013 Claro Open Colombia – Singles|Colombia Open, Colombia250 SeriesHard Ivo Karlović3–6, 6–7
Loss0–22014 Gerry Weber Open – Singles|Halle Open, Germany250 SeriesGrass Roger Federer6–7, 6–7

Doubles: 1 (1 runner-up)

ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfacePartnerOpponentsScore
Loss0–12011 SAP Open – Doubles|Pacific Coast Championships, United States250 SeriesHard Xavier Malisse Scott Lipsky
Rajeev Ram		4–6, 6–4,

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures singles finals

Legend
ATP Challenger
ITF Futures

OutcomeNo.DateTournamentSurfaceOpponentScore
Runner–up1.16 June 2002Bogotá, ColombiaClay Pablo González6–7, 6–7
Runner–up2.23 June 2002Bogotá, ColombiaClay Eduardo Bohrer6–7, 6–7
Winner3.13 January 2003San Salvador, El SalvadorClay Jorge Aguilar6–4, 6–4
Winner4.26 May 2003Pereira, ColombiaClay Thiago Alves7–5, 6–3
Winner5.13 October 2003Bogotá, ColombiaClay Marco Mirnegg7–5, 6–3
Runner–up6.1 February 2004Waikoloa, United StatesClay Dmitry Tursunov5–7, 6–7
Winner7.8 March 2004Bogotá, ColombiaClay Adrián García4–6, 6–1, 6–2
Winner8.29 March 2004Salinas, EcuadorHard Gilles Müller6–7, 6–2, 6–2
Runner–up9.6 July 2005Pozoblanco, SpainHard Marcos Baghdatis3–6, 3–6
Runner–up10.15 July 2005Binghamton, United StatesHard Andy Murray6–7, 3–6
Runner–up11.2 April 2006Mexico City, MexicoClay Ramón Delgado3–6, 6–4, 4–6
Winner12.24 April 2006Bogotá, Colombia Clay André Sá6–4, 6–2
Runner–up13.11 November 2007Bratislava, SlovakiaHard Simone Bolelli6–4, 6–7, 1–6
Winner14.3 May 2009Pereira, ColombiaClay Horacio Zeballos6–4, 4–6, 6–2
Winner15.20 September 2009Cali, ColombiaClay Horacio Zeballos6–3, 6–4
Winner16.18 October 2009Rennes, FranceHard Thierry Ascione6–3, 6–2
Runner–up17.5 April 2010Bogotá, ColombiaClay João Souza6–4, 4–6, 1–6
Winner18.25 September 2011Cali, Colombia Clay Eduardo Schwank6–4, 6–3
Runner–up19.31 October 2011Medellín, ColombiaClay Víctor Estrella Burgos7–6, 4–6, 4–6
Winner20.1 April 2012Barranquilla, ColombiaClay Horacio Zeballos6–4, 6–1
Winner21.16 July 2012Bogotá, ColombiaClay Santiago Giraldo7–5, 6–3
Winner22.4 January 2014Nouméa, New CaledoniaHard Steven Diez6–2, 6–2
Winner23.26 January 2014Bucaramanga, ColombiaClay Paolo Lorenzi7–5, 6–1
Runner–up24.9 January 2016Nouméa, New CaledoniaHard Adrian Mannarino7–5, 2–6, 2–6

Singles performance timeline

Doubles Performance Timeline