Gustavo Kuerten

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Gustavo Kuerten
Nickname(s)	Guga
Country	Brazil
Residence	Florianópolis, Brazil
Date of birth	September 10, 1976 (1976-09-10) (age 32)
Place of birth	Florianópolis, Brazil
Height	190 cm
Weight	83 kg
Turned pro	1995
Retired	2008
Plays	Right-handed; one-handed backhand
Career prize money	$14,807,000
Singles
Career record:	358–195
Career titles:	20
Highest ranking:	No. 1 (December 4, 2000)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open	3rd (2004)
French Open	W (1997, 2000, 2001)
Wimbledon	QF (1999)
US Open	QF (1999, 2001)
Major tournaments
Masters Cup	W (2000)
Olympic Games	QF (2000)
Doubles
Career record:	108–95
Career titles:	8 (+3 Challengers)
Highest ranking:	No. 38 (October 13, 1997)
Infobox last updated on: September 27, 2008.

Gustavo Kuerten (born September 10, 1976 in Florianópolis, Santa Catarina) is a former World No. 1 tennis player from Brazil. He won the French Open three times between 1997 and 2001, and was the Tennis Masters Cup champion in 2000. After 12 years on the international tour, he retired from top-level tennis in May 2008.

Kuerten was born in Florianópolis in southern Brazil.

Kuerten is also known as "Guga", an affectionate nickname which is a common abbreviation of the name "Gustavo" in Portuguese-speaking countries.

He began playing tennis when he was six, an early start to a life and career marked by family tragedy. His father, a former amateur tennis player, died of a heart attack in 1985 while umpiring a junior tennis match in Florianópolis, when Kuerten was only eight years old. His youngest brother suffered prolonged oxygen deprivation and consequently irreparable brain damage during birth, and as a result suffered from mental retardation and severe physical disability until his death in 2007.^[1] Kuerten was deeply affected by his brother's daily struggles, later donating the entire prize money from one tournament he has won every year of his professional career so far to a hometown NGO that provides assistance for people suffering from similar disabilities. He gave every trophy he won to his younger brother as a souvenir, including the three miniature replicas of the French Open men's singles trophy.

As a young player, Kuerten was heavily influenced by Oscar Wegner, then teaching in Florianópolis, who coached him for eight years. When he was 14 years old, Kuerten met Larri Passos who would be his coach for the following 15 years. Passos convinced Kuerten and his family that the youth was talented enough to make a living out of playing tennis. The two started traveling all over the world to participate in junior tournaments. Kuerten turned professional in 1995.

1 Professional career 1.1 1997 1.2 1999 1.3 2000 1.4 2001 1.5 2004 1.6 2005 1.7 2006 1.8 2007 1.9 2008 1.10 Retirement 2 Distinctions 3 Miscellaneous 4 Grand Slam singles finals 4.1 Wins (3) 5 Masters Series singles finals 5.1 Wins (5) 5.2 Runners-up (5) 6 Tennis Masters Cup singles finals 6.1 Win (1) 7 Titles (28) 7.1 Singles (20) 7.2 Doubles (8) 8 Runner-ups (11) 8.1 Singles (9) 8.2 Doubles (2) 9 Performance Timelines 10 Titles detail 10.1 Grand Slam tournaments 10.2 Masters Series 10.3 2000 Tennis Masters Cup (Lisbon) 11 ATP Tour career earnings 12 Davis Cup 13 References 14 Further reading 15 External links

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After two years as a professional, Kuerten rose to the position of no. 2 player in Brazil, second only to Fernando Meligeni, and had his then highest point by helping the Brazil Davis Cup team defeat Austria in 1996 and reach the competition's first division, the World Group.

Following his unexpected victory in the 1997 French Open, Kuerten had a difficult year and a half, adjusting to his sudden fame and the pressure of being expected to win. 1998 was the worst year in his career that was not related to injuries (in that year, Kuerten played beneath his potential, despite not being hindered by physical problems). The pressure for him to become an "ambassador" for tennis in Brazil was made evident after his early defeat to a then unknown Marat Safin in the 1998 French Open: the entire body of Brazilian journalists that had been dispatched to Paris to cover the event immediately returned home, leaving the rest of the tournament unaccounted for in Brazil.

Like many South Americans his favorite court surface is clay. He has won three Grand Slam titles, all of them at the French Open, played on the clay courts of Roland Garros. He won these titles in 1997, 2000 and 2001. Kuerten became the No. 1 player in the world in 2000 using his unique serve and strong ground strokes.

Kuerten embraces the baseline style of play, with heavily topspun ground strokes and a solid serve that enables him to wear down his opponent from the back of the court. His unique "grunt" when he strikes the ball is recognised by millions of fans around the world.

Kuerten represents Brazil in the Davis Cup competition, but in the past few years his seasons have been plagued by injuries. Kuerten is one of the most widely recognised and popular tennis players on the ATP tour.

At the 1997 French Open, he became the first Brazilian to win a Grand Slam singles title since Maria Ester Bueno last single title at 1966 U.S. Open. Victories over three former champions: Thomas Muster (3rd round), Yevgeny Kafelnikov (quarterfinals) and Sergi Bruguera (final) made him the second-lowest ranked Grand Slam Champion (ranked 66th) and this led to him entering the ATP top 20.

In 1999, he became one of three South Americans to complete the year in the top 10 in all the history of the ATP rankings. He reached the quarterfinals at the French Open. At Wimbledon, he became the first Brazilian to reach the quarterfinals since Thomaz Koch in 1967. He was defeated by Andre Agassi in the quarterfinals, but had lost just one set until that stage. In July, he defeated Sébastien Grosjean 9–7 in the fifth set of the 1999 Davis Cup quarterfinal between Brazil and France. That match lasted 4 hours and 43 minutes. He also became the first Brazilian to qualify for the ATP World Championship, today known as the ATP Tennis Masters Cup, which is exclusive to the eight best ranked players in the calendar year.

Kuerten won his second French Open title and became the first South American to finish the year as World No. 1 in the history of the ATP rankings (since 1973). It was a close contest with Marat Safin(who was tipped to be the future of tennis for many years to come) at the year's last event, the Tennis Masters Cup (in its first year under that name) in Lisbon, Portugal, with one loss meaning that Safin would have been No. 1. In order to finish the year as the world No. 1 player, Kuerten did what many critics had deemed impossible (for him to do): beat Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi in back-to-back matches on an indoor hard court.

He broke an eight-year hold of players from the U.S. on the year-end No. 1 position. He also became the first South American to finish in Top 5 in consecutive years since Guillermo Vilas of Argentina in 1977-78.

In 2001, he won his third French Open crown, joining former greats Björn Borg (6), Ivan Lendl (3) and Mats Wilander (3) with three or more French Open titles in the Open Era. His road to the title was not uneventful: Kuerten saved a match point against Fourth Round opponent Michael Russell. He also won the biggest hardcourt title of his career in August at the Cincinnati Masters, where he defeated Patrick Rafter in the final. He led the ATP in prize money for the second straight year, with US$4,091,004.

In an injury-ridden year, Kuerten still managed to win one ATP Tour title, which he did at home, by winning the Brasil Open for the second time. In that year, the tournament had been moved from September to February, and the surface had been changed from hard to clay (all this was done as a result of a compromise with the Buenos Aires Open, in Argentina, and the Viña del Mar Open, in Chile, so as to tighten up a clear South American tournament circuit). With his victory, Kuerten became the only player so far to have won the title on both surfaces and dates (he had won the previous version of the tournament in 2002).

The one other noteworthy event in Kuerten's season was that he was responsible for the only defeat of Roger Federer in a Grand Slam event in that year. In Kuerten's only previous encounter against Federer on clay, in the Hamburg Masters 2002, Federer defeated Kueren 6-0, 1-6, 6-2. When they met again in the third round at the French Open in 2004, it was Federer who was in dominant form and was expected to win handily against the injury-ridden Kuerten. Instead, it was Kuerten who overpowered and dominated Federer and sent him off in straight sets (6–4, 6–4, 6–4).

On September 1, Kuerten announced that he would be withdrawing from the ATP Tour for an indefinite period of time, in order to undergo detailed exams of his operated hip, which had reportedly started to bother him again. He did not play again for the rest of the year.

In February 2005, Kuerten announced his return in the Valencia Open, in Spain, which he would enter thanks to his ATP protected rank (a fictional ranking designed to help injured players: Kuerten would be able to enter automatically in as many as eight tournaments without the need of a wildcard or playing qualifying matches).

On March 15, 2005, Kuerten announced that Larri Passos, his coach for 15 years, would no longer be his coach as of his return to the tour at the Valencia Open. Reportedly, the decision to break up the partnership was harmonius and mutual, since Passos had expressed his unwillingness to continue travelling the world after the birth of his first daughter. Kuerten also announced that he had no plans of hiring a new coach at the moment. After a slow start, however, Kuerten decided to hire temporarily Argentine former player Hernán Gumy, who started coaching him in the Italian Open 2005 and would continue to do so in the weeks leading up to the French Open and during Kuerten's campaign in the Grand Slam event. After a poor campaign at the French Open (lost in the first round), Kuerten decided to retain Gumy's orientation for an undisclosed amount of time. Kuerten has also announced that he would not be playing any tournaments in the following months, with the exception of Davis Cup matches. He would return only in the tournaments that serve as preparation for the U.S. Open (but he did not play the two Tennis Masters Series events in North America). Following a second round defeat at the US Open (despite a promising first round win), Kuerten focused solely on his Davis Cup matches for the remainder of the season, which also resulted in 2005 being the first year without a title for Kuerten since 1996 (his second year as a professional player). Kuerten also decided to retain Gumy as his coach, apparently abandoning the idea of playing in the Tour without a coach.

In the first months of 2006, injuries and weak performances kept Kuerten from reclaiming his condition as a top world player. Ranked out of the top 200, Kuerten is no longer the top player in Brazil (currently behind Ricardo Mello and Flávio Saretta) and is expected to need wildcards to play any of the main tournaments of the season. His main attempt to come back, at the 2006 Brasil Open, was cut short in the first round. Following this debacle, Kuerten managed to obtain wildcards to play in the two North American Masters Series events, Miami and Indian Wells, but injuries forced Kuerten to withdraw from both. The French Tennis Federation had announced that Kuerten, as a three-time champion, would have every chance of being granted a wildcard to play at the 2006 French Open, provided that he managed to remain active throughout the 2006 season leading up to the French Open. Because Kuerten had been inactive in the Men's Tour since mid-February, he was not granted the wildcard to play, thus missing the French Open for the first time in his professional career.

Kuerten's form did not improve in 2007. Because his ranking was not high enough to qualify for ATP Tour tournaments, Kuerten relied on wild cards to enter those events. Kuerten finished with a 2–7 win-loss record for the year.

In November, Gustavo Kuerten's younger brother, Guilherme, who had cerebral palsy, died.

Kuerten has made an announcement that he expects 2008 to be his final year of play.^[2] Kuerten has chosen to devise his schedule around tournaments that have sentimental value to him, such as the French Open where he lost in the first round, the Brasil Open, and the Miami Masters. After two first-round defeats in singles (Costa do Sauípe, l. to Berlocq and Miami, l. to Grosjean), Kuerten won his first ATP Masters Series level match in a long time, partnering Nicolas Lapentti, in Miami, against Feliciano López and Fernando Verdasco.

On May 25, 2008, Gustavo Kuerten played his last professional singles match in front of 15,000 spectators at Roland Garros. He arrived on court wearing his 'lucky' uniform, the same blue & yellow one that he wore in 1997 when he won his first French Open tournament. Despite saving a match point against his opponent Paul-Henri Mathieu, he finally lost in 3 sets (6-3, 6-4, 6-2). He was honoured after the game by the tournament organizers and by all the fans present for what he has achieved throughout his career.

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• Guga is the only tennis player to reach and win his first top-level final in a Grand Slam.
• He and Roger Federer are the only non-North American tennis players who have appeared in the finals of all four ATP Masters Series events played on the continent (Indian Wells, Miami, Montreal/Toronto and Cincinnati).
• His fastest serve was measured at 212 km/h (131 mph) at the Gstaad Open in 1999.
• Kuerten has won ATP Tour singles titles in 13 different countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Monaco, New Zealand, Spain, Portugal, Russia, and the United States.
• His highest rank in the ATP Champions Race was #1 June 12, 2000.
• When Kuerten won the 1997 French Open ranked 66th in the world (Entry system, prior to the creation of the Champions' Race), he became the second lowest ranked player to win a Grand Slam event (second to Mark Edmondson, who won the 1976 Australian Open ranked 212th in the world). Since then, Kuerten has been bumped down to third place, when Goran Ivanišević won the 2001 Wimbledon ranked 125th in the world.
• For two years, Kuerten had the second highest number of aces in a single match: 47 (second to Netherlands' Richard Krajicek's 49). This was achieved in a 2003 Davis Cup rubber against Canada's Daniel Nestor. The match was valid for that year's Repechage Round. Despite the aces, Kuerten lost the match in five sets. Kuerten's record has since been bumped to fourth place, when in 2005 both Joachim Johansson, of Sweden, and Ivo Karlović, of Croatia, fired 51 aces in their respective matches.
• In 2005, Tennis Magazine put him in 37th place in its list of "The 40 Greatest Players of the Tennis Era".

Since retirement he has settled down in his place of birth, the Brazilian island paradise of Florianopolis where he enjoys being an active member of life in the lake side town of Lagoa de Conceicao. He still enjoys teaching and playing tennis with the local enthusiasts and is known to enjoy some saki after a match down at the local Mexican restaurant come club of Cafe do Sol where he is loved for his achievements and honour he has brought to the island and is known as the "Cachorro Grande" (literally Big Dawg but "Big Cheese" is a term more commonly used in the English language).

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Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (July 2007)

• He is fluent in Portuguese, Spanish and English.
• His elder brother, Rafael Kuerten, looks after his business matters.
• Plays: Right-handed with a one-handed backhand using a western grip.
• Kuerten won at least one title a year between 1997 and 2004 (which meant that he had not won titles only in the first two years of his professional career: 1995 and 1996). The streak came to an end in 2005, when injuries and below-average performances kept him from winning tournaments.
• Kuerten was fortunate enough that every time he won the French Open, he received the trophy from a tennis star from the past (as opposed to athletes from other sports or even unrelated celebrities): in 1997, the trophy was presented to him by Guillermo Vilas and Björn Borg, in 2000, he received the award from Boris Becker, and in 2001, from Jim Courier.
• The 1997 French Open trophy presentation was marked by two amusing passages: first, when called to the stage to receive the winner's trophy, Kuerten bowed a few times to Björn Borg, who was waiting at the top of the stairs to shake his hand. It was a reverence to one of Kuerten's childhood icons. Later, during the ceremony, Guillermo Vilas whispered something in Kuerten's ear that caused him to laugh during the speech of the chairman of the event. Kuerten later refused to reveal what it was that Vilas had said, claiming it would be inelegant to do so, but journalists that were equipped with powerful lenses were able to read Vilas's lips, and it was revealed that he had said (in Spanish) something like: "Get ready kid, it's going to rain women on your lap!"
• In every one of the three times Kuerten won the French Open: 1) he defeated Yevgeny Kafelnikov, of Russia, in the quarterfinal match; 2) he defeated exactly two Top 10 players (at the time of each event).
• Gustavo is renowned for having one of the most characteristic "grunts" when he strikes the ball; it is actually more of a moan.

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
1997	French Open	Sergi Bruguera	6–3, 6–4, 6–2
2000	French Open (2nd)	Magnus Norman	6–2, 6–3, 2–6, 7–6(6)
2001	French Open (3rd)	Àlex Corretja	6–7(3), 7–5, 6–2, 6–0

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
1999	Monte Carlo	Marcelo Ríos	6–4, 2–1 ret.
1999	Rome	Patrick Rafter	6–4, 7–5, 7–6(6)
2000	Hamburg	Marat Safin	6–4, 5–7, 6–4, 5–7, 7–6(3)
2001	Monte Carlo (2nd)	Hicham Arazi	6–3, 6–2, 6–4
2001	Cincinnati	Patrick Rafter	6–1, 6–3

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
1997	Montreal	Chris Woodruff	7–5, 4–6, 6–3
2000	Miami	Pete Sampras	6–1, 6–7(2), 7–6(5), 7–6(8)
2000	Rome	Magnus Norman	6–3, 4–6, 6–4, 6–4
2001	Rome (2nd)	Juan Carlos Ferrero	3–6, 6–1, 2–6, 6–4, 6–2
2003	Indian Wells	Lleyton Hewitt	6–1, 6–1

Year	Venue	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
2000	Lisbon	Andre Agassi	6–4, 6–4, 6–4

Legend Grand Slam (3) Tennis Masters Cup (1) ATP Masters Series (5) ATP Tour (11)

Titles by Surface Hard (5) Grass (0) Clay (15) Carpet (0)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	June 8, 1997	French Open, Paris, France	Clay	Sergi Bruguera	6–3, 6–4, 6–2
2.	July 26, 1998	Stuttgart, Germany	Clay	Karol Kučera	4–6, 6–2, 6–4
3.	October 4, 1998	Majorca, Spain	Clay	Carlos Moyà	6–7(5), 6–2, 6–3
4.	April 25, 1999	Monte Carlo, Monaco	Clay	Marcelo Ríos	6–4, 2–1 ret.
5.	May 16, 1999	Rome, Italy	Clay	Patrick Rafter	6–4, 7–5, 7–6(6)
6.	March 5, 2000	Santiago, Chile	Clay	Mariano Puerta	7–6(3), 6–3
7.	May 21, 2000	Hamburg, Germany	Clay	Marat Safin	6–4, 5–7, 6–4, 5–7, 7–6(3)
8.	June 11, 2000	French Open, Paris, France	Clay	Magnus Norman	6–2, 6–3, 2–6, 7–6(6)
9.	August 20, 2000	Indianapolis, U.S.	Hard	Marat Safin	3–6, 7–6(2), 7–6(2)
10.	December 3, 2000	Tennis Masters Cup, Lisbon, Portugal	Hard (I)	Andre Agassi	6–4, 6–4, 6–4
11.	February 25, 2001	Buenos Aires, Argentina	Clay	José Acasuso	6–1, 6–3
12.	March 4, 2001	Acapulco, Mexico	Clay	Galo Blanco	6–4, 6–2
13.	April 22, 2001	Monte Carlo, Monaco	Clay	Hicham Arazi	6–3, 6–2, 6–4
14.	June 10, 2001	French Open, Paris, France	Clay	Àlex Corretja	6–7(3), 7–5, 6–2, 6–0
15.	July 22, 2001	Stuttgart, Germany	Clay	Guillermo Cañas	6–3, 6–2, 6–4
16.	August 12, 2001	Cincinnati, U.S.	Hard	Patrick Rafter	6–1, 6–3
17.	September 15, 2002	Costa do Sauípe, Brazil	Hard	Guillermo Coria	6–7(4), 7–5, 7–6(2)
18.	January 12, 2003	Auckland, New Zealand	Hard	Dominik Hrbatý	6–3, 7–5
19.	October 26, 2003	St. Petersburg, Russia	Hard (I)	Sargis Sargsian	6–4, 6–3
20.	February 29, 2004	Costa do Sauípe, Brazil	Clay	Agustín Calleri	3–6, 6–2, 6–3

Legend Grand Slam (0) Tennis Masters Cup (0) ATP Masters Series (0) ATP Tour (8)

Titles by Surface Hard (1) Grass (0) Clay (7) Carpet (0)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partnering	Opponents in the final	Score
1.	November 10, 1996	Santiago, Chile	Clay	Fernando Meligeni	Dinu Pescariu Albert Portas	6–4, 6–2
2.	April 13, 1997	Estoril, Portugal	Clay	Fernando Meligeni	Andrea Gaudenzi Filippo Messori	6–2, 6–2
3.	June 15, 1997	Bologna, Italy	Clay	Fernando Meligeni	Dave Randall Jack Waite	6–2, 7–5
4.	July 20, 1997	Stuttgart Outdoor, Germany	Clay	Fernando Meligeni	Donald Johnson Francisco Montana	6–4, 6–4
5.	July 12, 1998	Gstaad, Switzerland	Clay	Fernando Meligeni	Daniel Orsanic Cyril Suk	6–4, 7–5
6.	January 10, 1999	Adelaide, Australia	Hard	Nicolás Lapentti	Jim Courier Patrick Galbraith	6–4, 6–4
7.	March 5, 2000	Santiago, Chile	Clay	Antônio Prieto	Lan Bale Piet Norval	6–2, 6–4
8.	March 4, 2001	Acapulco, Mexico	Clay	Donald Johnson	David Adams Martín García	6–3, 7–6(5)

Legend Grand Slam (0) Tennis Masters Cup (0) ATP Masters Series (5) ATP Tour (4)

Titles by Surface Hard (4) Grass (0) Clay (4) Carpet (1)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	June 15, 1997	Bologna, Italy	Clay	Félix Mantilla	4–6, 6–2, 6–1
2.	August 3, 1997	Montreal, U.S.	Hard	Chris Woodruff	7–5, 4–6, 6–3
3.	April 2, 2000	Miami, U.S.	Hard	Pete Sampras	6–1, 6–7(2), 7–6(5), 7–6(8)
4.	May 14, 2000	Rome, Italy	Clay	Magnus Norman	6–3, 4–6, 6–4, 6–4
5.	May 13, 2001	Rome, Italy	Clay	Juan Carlos Ferrero	3–6, 6–1, 2–6, 6–4, 6–2
6.	August 19, 2001	Indianapolis, U.S.	Hard	Patrick Rafter	4–2 retired
7.	October 13, 2002	Lyon, France	Carpet (I)	Paul-Henri Mathieu	4–6, 6–3, 6–1
8.	March 16, 2003	Indian Wells, U.S.	Hard	Lleyton Hewitt	6–1, 6–1
9.	February 15, 2004	Viña del Mar, Chile	Clay	Fernando González	7–5, 6–4

Legend Grand Slam (0) Tennis Masters Cup (0) ATP Masters Series (1) ATP Tour (1)

Titles by Surface Hard (1) Grass (0) Clay (0) Carpet (1)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partnering	Opponents in the final	Score
1.	September 15, 2002	Costa do Sauípe, Brazil	Hard	André Sá	Scott Humphries Mark Merklein	6–3, 7–6(1)
2.	November 3, 2002	Paris, France	Carpet (I)	Cédric Pioline	Nicolas Escudé Fabrice Santoro	6–3, 7–6(6)

Singles

Tournament	2008	2007	2006	2005	2004	2003	2002	2001	2000	1999	1998	1997	1996	SR	Win-Loss
Australian Open	A	A	A	A	3R	2R	1R	2R	1R	2R	2R	2R	A	0 / 8	7–8
French Open	1R	A	A	1R	QF	4R	4R	W	W	QF	2R	W	1R	3 / 11	36-8
Wimbledon		A	A	A	A	2R	A	A	3R	QF	1R	1R	A	0 / 5	7–5
U.S. Open		A	A	2R	1R	1R	4R	QF	1R	QF	2R	3R	A	0 / 9	15-9

Doubles

Tournament	2008	2007	2006	2005	2004	2003	2002	2001	2000	1999	1998	1997
Australian Open	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1R	-	QF	2R	1R
French Open		-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2R	QF	2R
Wimbledon		-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1R	1R	-	-
US Open		1R	-	-	1R	1R	-	-	-	-	-	1R

1997 French Open

Round	Defeated	Opponent's Rank	Score
1st	Sláva Doseděl (Czech Republic)	73	6–0, 7–5, 6–1
2nd	Jonas Björkman (Sweden)	23	6–4, 6–2, 4–6, 7–5
3rd	Thomas Muster (Austria)	5	6–7(3), 6–1, 6–3, 3–6, 6–4
4th	Andrei Medvedev (Ukraine)	20	5–7, 6–1, 6–2, 1–6, 7–5
QF	Yevgeny Kafelnikov (Russia)	3	6–2, 5–7, 2–6, 6–0, 6–4
SF	Filip Dewulf (Belgium)	122	6–1, 3–6, 6–1, 7–6(4)
Final	Sergi Bruguera (Spain)	19	6–3, 6–4, 6–2

Defeated 3 champions, who had won the previous 4 editions, en route to title: Sergi Bruguera (1993 and 1994), Thomas Muster (1995) and Yevgeny Kafelnikov (1996).

2000 French Open

Round	Defeated	Opponent's Rank	Score
1st	Andreas Vinciguerra (Sweden)	42	6–0, 6–0, 6–3
2nd	Marcelo Charpentier (Argentina)	230	7–6(5), 6–2, 6–2
3rd	Michael Chang (U.S.)	44	6–3, 6–7(9), 6–1, 6–4
4th	Nicolás Lapentti (Ecuador)	15	6–3, 6–4, 7–6(4)
QF	Yevgeny Kafelnikov (Russia)	4	6–3, 3–6, 4–6, 6–4, 6–2
SF	Juan Carlos Ferrero (Spain)	11	7–5, 4–6, 2–6, 6–4, 6–3
Final	Magnus Norman (Sweden)	2	6–2, 6–3, 2–6, 7–6(6)

As in 1997, faced Yevgeny Kafelnikov in the quarterfinal match; Second final of the year against Magnus Norman ("a historical rivalry", in Kuerten's words).

2001 French Open

Round	Defeated	Opponent's Rank	Score
1st	Guillermo Coria (Argentina)	13	6–1, 7–5, 6–4
2nd	Agustín Calleri (Argentina)	88	6–4, 6–4, 6–4
3rd	Karim Alami (Morocco)	117	6–3, 6–7(3), 7–6(5), 6–2
4th	Michael Russell (U.S.)	136	3–6, 4–6, 7–6(3), 6–3, 6–1
QF	Yevgeny Kafelnikov (Russia)	8	6–1, 3–6, 7–6(3), 6–4
SF	Juan Carlos Ferrero (Spain)	2	6–4, 6–4, 6–3
Final	Àlex Corretja (Spain)	32	6–7(3), 7–5, 6–2, 6–0

For the third time faced Yevgeny Kafelnikov in the quartefinal match; For the second time, faced Juan Carlos Ferrero in the Semifinal match. Saved a match point against Michael Russell in the Fourth Round.

1999 Monte Carlo Open

Round	Defeated	Opponent's Rank	Score
1st Round	Marcio Carlsson (Brazil)	131	6–1, 6–3
2nd Round	Bohdan Ulihrach (Czech Republic)	34	6–7(5), 6–2, 6–4
Round of 16	Fernando Meligeni (Brazil)	51	6–2, 7–6(2)
QF	Vincent Spadea (U.S.)	33	6–3, 6–3
SF	Felix Mantilla (Spain)	17	3–6, 6–3, 6–4
Final	Marcelo Ríos (Chile)	13	6–4, 2–1 retired

1999 Italian Open (Rome)

Round	Defeated	Opponent's Rank	Score
1st Round	Fernando Vicente (Spain)	54	6–4, 6–3
2nd Round	Francisco Clavet (Spain)	21	6–3, 6–3
Round of 16	Yevgeny Kafelnikov (Russia)	1	7–5, 6–1
QF	Karol Kučera (Slovakia)	12	3–6, 6–4, 7–5
SF	Àlex Corretja (Spain)	7	6–4, 6–2
Final	Patrick Rafter (Australia)	4	6–4, 7–5, 7–6(6)

2000 Hamburg Open

Round	Defeated	Opponent's Rank	Score
1st Round	Karim Alami (Morocco)	28	5–7, 6–2, 6–3
2nd Round	Sébastien Grosjean (France)	30	6–1, 3–6, 6–3
Round of 16	Wayne Ferreira (South Africa)	25	6–1, 6–2
QF	Magnus Norman (Sweden)	4	6–4, 6–2
SF	Andrei Pavel (Romania)	67	6–3, 6–3
Final	Marat Safin (Russia)	18	6–4, 5–7, 6–4, 5–7, 7–6(3)

2001 Monte Carlo Open

Round	Defeated	Opponent's Rank	Score
1st Round	Younes El Aynaoui (Morocco)	72	6–4, 4–6, 6–4
2nd Round	Fernando Vicente (Spain)	26	6–2, 6–2
Round of 16	Tommy Haas (Germany)	18	6–7(6), 6–3, 6–3
QF	Sjeng Schalken (Netherlands)	82	6–7(1), 6–2, 6–4
SF	Guillermo Coria (Argentina)	28	6–4, 6–2
Final	Hicham Arazi (Morocco)	77	6–3, 6–2, 6–4

2001 Cincinnati Open

Round	Defeated	Opponent's Rank	Score
1st Round	Andy Roddick (U.S.)	24	7–6(3), 6–1
2nd Round	Tommy Haas (Germany)	22	7–6(4), 7–6(8)
Round of 16	Goran Ivanišević (Croatia)	11	6–2, 6–1
QF	Yevgeny Kafelnikov (Russia)	10	6–4, 3–6, 6–4
SF	Tim Henman (UK)	8	6–2, 1–6, 7–6(4)
Final	Patrick Rafter (Australia)	4	6–1, 6–3

Kuerten later described this as his best-played tournament, given how many difficult opponents he had to defeat en route to the title. One statistic supports this position: The average ranking of his opponents was 13.16 which was the best of any of his Grand Slam or Masters Series title wins. It's also the best for any Cincinnati champion since the ATP world rankings began in 1973. (The second- and third-best average opponent rankings in Cincinnati were Andre Agassi's 18.16 in 2004, and Patrick Rafter's 18.80 in 1998, although in 1998, Rafter only had to play 5 matches.)

Round	Opponent	Opponent's Rank	Score
Round Robin	Andre Agassi (U.S.)	8	6–4, 4–6, 3–6
	Magnus Norman (Sweden)	4	7–5, 6–3
	Yevgeny Kafelnikov (Russia)	5	6–3, 6–4
Semifinal	Pete Sampras (U.S.)	3	6–7(5), 6–3, 6–4
Final	Andre Agassi (U.S.)	8	6–4, 6–4, 6–4

After losing his first Round Robin match, Kuerten had to win the tournament in order to finish the year as world n.1 (had he won the first match, a semifinal result would have sufficed).

Year	Majors	ATP wins	Total wins	Earnings ($)	Money list rank
1997	1	0	1	1,586,753	7
1998	0	2	2	732,804	25
1999	0	2	2	1,762,269	6
2000	1	4	5