 | Born: 27/1/74 Nationality: Romanian Seeded: 22 World ranking: 21 Wimbledon best:
3rd round (2000-2) Recent record:
2003: N/A
2002: 3rd round
2001: 3rd round |
Now 30, Pavel is defying the odds by improving with age. He turned professional 14 years ago and reached his first ATP semi-final in 1996 and won his first title in 1998.
In 2001 he caused an upset by capturing the Masters title in Montreal and a year later he improved his best ever year-end ranking to 26.
When on song, Pavel is lethal from the baseline and a joy to watch as he proved to reach the Paris Masters final last year, falling to Tim Henman.
He has kept up that good form this season, reaching the fourth round at the Australian Open, the quarter-finals at the Miami Masters and the semi-finals in Houston - all on hard courts.
However, he came unstuck on the clay of Roland Garros, losing in the second round to Mikhail Youzhny.
MMIX
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