page_title: Fred Gil
section_title: 2009: ATP World Tour breakthrough
hierarchical_section_title: Fred Gil / Career / 2009: ATP World Tour breakthrough
caption_attribution_description: English: Frederico Gil at 2009 Estoril Open, Oeiras, Portugal
context_page_description: João Frederico Limpo Franco Gil, known as Fred Gil, is a Portuguese professional tennis player, who currently competes in the ITF Men's Circuit. He is ranked no. 432 in the world by the Association of Tennis Professionals, as of 10 April 2017.
  Gil made some Portuguese tennis major breakthroughs during his career. At the 2010 Estoril Open, he was the first Portuguese to reach an ATP Tour final, and in April 2011, he achieved a career-high singles world ranking of 62 – the highest ever for a Portuguese player until he was surpassed by Rui Machado in September that same year. Gil was the first Portuguese man to reach the third round in a Grand Slam singles event and the quarterfinals of a Masters 1000 event. He was the first Portuguese to hit one million dollars in career prize money. In 2009, Gil became the second Portuguese player to reach the singles top 100, and in October 2010, he and Rui Machado were the first Portuguese duo to rank inside the top 100 simultaneously. Gil is currently coached by Vasco Antunes.
context_section_description: After skipping the Australian Open, Gil began his 2009 season with back-to-back semifinals appearances in ATP World Tour tournaments. At the SA Tennis Open, he defeated Guillermo García-López to become the second Portuguese to reach the semifinals at this level, after his coach João Cunha e Silva in 1992. Gil was defeated then by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. At the Brasil Open, and after beating world no. 18 and reigning champion Nicolás Almagro, Gil lost in the semifinals to Thomaz Bellucci. In result, he broke his shared record with Nuno Marques and became the sole holder of the highest ranking ever for a Portuguese player, at no. 82.
  In early March, Gil played against Cyprus at the Davis Cup. After winning the first match over Photos Kallias, he lost both his doubles and singles matches and Portugal moved to the relegation round. Gil then entered his first career Masters 1000 event in Miami, as a qualifier. Following wins over Mischa Zverev and Ivo Karlović, Gil was defeated by then world no. 1 Rafael Nadal in the third round. He moved up again in the ATP ranking, and entered April as world no. 70. Gil continued his form with a quarterfinals presence at the Grand Prix Hassan II, and fell in the second round at the Barcelona Open to Nadal again. A brief return to the Challenger Tour earned Gil a singles runner-up participation in Tunis.
  In May, Gil was the first Portuguese to enter the main draw of the Estoril Open thanks to his world ranking, but was eliminated in the first round by James Blake. After an early exit at the Kitzbühel Open, Gil entered the French Open, where he lost in the first round to David Ferrer. Despite the results, he ended the month ranked in his highest position during 2009, at no. 66. At the Queen's Club Championships, another early round came at the hands of former world no. 1 Lleyton Hewitt, and Gil's participation at the Wimbledon Championships was equally brief – he lost in the first round at both singles and doubles events.
  In July, Gil again was called for Portugal Davis Cup team. Facing Algeria, he won his singles and doubles matches, thus helping Portugal to secure a place in the Europe/Africa Zone Group II the following year. Though he did not move past the early rounds at the Swedish Open, the Croatia Open, the Washington Open and the Connecticut Open, Gil still manage in between the ATP tournaments to return to the Challenger Tour and win a doubles final in Istanbul. At the US Open, Gil lost to Somdev Devvarman in the first round. After losing in the first round of another ATP tournament, the Romanian Open, Gil decided to move back to the Challenger Tour – he won singles and doubles title in Napoli in the end of September.
  Gil finished his season with a second round loss at the Vienna Open and qualifying round exits at the Swiss Indoors and the Paris Masters. Despite his struggles to move past early rounds at ATP Tour level events in the second half of the season, Gil achieved a career high year-end ranking of 69 – the best season-ending ranking for a Portuguese player, which surpassed Nuno Marques' record world no. 92 in 1995 and lasted until Rui Machado broke it in 2011.
caption: Fred Gil at the 2009 Estoril Open.
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