Guillermo Canas

Players Under the Microscope / Editor / 26 March 2007 / Leave a Comment

Guillermo Cana, the man who stopped Roger Federer's 41-match unbeaten run in Indian Wells earlier this month, is on course for another showdown with the world No 1 - if they both win their matches later today at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami.
But Canas really has bigger fish to fry as his comeback gains momentum - and win or lose today against Frenchman Richard Gasquet - it's the future that counts.

The Argentine star is battling his way back towards the top after the ignominy of a 15-month ban from the game, having tested positive for a banned diuretic at Acapulco in February 2005.

After his surprise win over Federer in Indian Wells, the former world No 8 found how tough it is to regain lost ground by having to qualify for the Miami tournament last week. But qualify he did with two wins and once into the main draw he came back from a set down to overpower Britain's Tim Henman. Now he has a crack at world No 16 Gasquet - with the prospect of another Federer clash to spur him on.

The 6ft 1in right-hander from Buenos Aires is a man eager to make up for lost time after returning to action in September following his ban. He won his first tournament, a Challenger in Belem, Brazil, by dropping just one set in the whole tournament and that was in the final against Argentina's Carlos Berlocq.

He followed that by reaching the final of the Quito tournament in Ecuador before losing to Australia's Chris Guccione in October and topped off 2006 with Challenger titles in Montevideo, Buenos Aires and Asuncion, Paraguay.

He is up to No 55 in the rankings and back on the main ATP circuit. The right-hander with a strong forehand says: "I came back very motivated and with a lot of energy.

"My goal is to get back in the world top 20 by the end of this year. I think I am playing good tennis and I am confident of achieving this."

Even Federer agreed with that assessment when he said: "I think he can get back to the very top."

Canas has already helped Argentina's Davis Cup team reach the World Group quarter-finals with two singles wins against Austria in February and he will be looking forward to facing Sweden next week.

And after that he and all the Latin players can look forward to their favourite surface as the clay court season gets under way in Europe.

With the clay season in full swing he can look expect to pick up the ranking points which will lift him back to the top ten heights of summer 2005.

He has already won an ATP title this year - his seventh in all in a pro career which began in 1995.
That title was the Costa Do Suipe in Brazil in February when he didn't drop a set on the way to beating Spain's Juan Carlo Ferrero 7-6 6-2, to give him his first final victory in an ATP Tour event since 2004.
That was his best year in terms of successes with titles in Shanghai, Stuttgart and Umag. Now he wants 2007 to be just as good.