Luis Horna Biscari (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈlwis ˈoɾna]; born 14 September 1980 in Lima) is a former tour professional tennis player from Peru, who turned professional in 1998. Known by his nickname "Lucho", he won 2 career singles titles, reached the quarterfinals of the 2004 Madrid Masters and achieved a career-high singles ranking of World No. 33 in August 2004.

Luis Horna
Country (sports) Peru
ResidenceLima, Peru
Born (1980-09-14) 14 September 1980 (age 44)
Lima, Peru
Height1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Turned pro1998
Retired2009
PlaysRight-handed (one-handed backhand)
CoachFrancisco Mastelli
Prize money$2,648,482
Singles
Career record140–146
Career titles2
Highest rankingNo. 33 (30 August 2004)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open3R (2006)
French Open3R (2005)
Wimbledon1R (2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008)
US Open2R (2006, 2007)
Other tournaments
Olympic Games1R (2004)
Doubles
Career record76–70
Career titles6
Highest rankingNo. 15 (2 February 2009)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open1R (2004, 2006, 2007, 2008)
French OpenW (2008)
Wimbledon2R (2008)
US Open2R (2007, 2008)
Other doubles tournaments
Tour FinalsSF (2008)
Last updated on: 8 June 2021.

Together with Pablo Cuevas, Horna also won the men's doubles at the 2008 French Open. At the 2003 French Open, he defeated Roger Federer in the first round.

Career

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Juniors

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Horna was an outstanding junior player, reaching as high as No. 4 in the world in singles 1997 (and No. 3 in doubles). He made the final of the boys singles at the French Open in 1997 losing to Daniel Elsner. Horna won the French Open and Wimbledon doubles with José de Armas and Nicolás Massú respectively.

1998–2001

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Horna turned professional in 1998 and he moved up over 1,000 places in the rankings with victories in the Ecuadorian, where he defeated Sergio Roitman as a qualifier and three Futures events in Peru and in 1999 made his first ATP Challenger final in Aschaffenburg. In 2000 he was finalist in Salinas and again in Aschaffenburg and it was not until 2001 that Horna was able to get his first win on the ATP tour in Umag defeating Martin Damm. He also made another Challenger final in Curitiba losing to Flávio Saretta.

2002–2004

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2002 was a successful year for Horna when he became the first Peruvian since Jaime Yzaga to finish in the top 100 in the end of season rankings, who finished 34th in 1994. This was achieved through winning three Challenger titles in Zagreb, Fürth, and Weiden defeating Dominik Hrbatý, Jürgen Melzer and Zeljko Krajan respectively and finalist in the São Paulo Challenger losing to Franco Squillari.

Horna made his debut in the four Grand Slam events in 2003. At the French Open, Horna defeated Roger Federer who was the fifth pre-tournament favourite and was the last time that Federer lost in the first round of a Grand Slam event. At the time Horna said after the victory that it was "the best feeling I have had in my whole life".[1] Horna lost his second round match after having a match point against eventual finalist Martin Verkerk. He won another Challenger title in Seville and was a three time semi finalist in Amersfoort, Sopot and Palermo.

In 2004, Horna reached his career-high ranking of World No. 33, which was achieved on 30 August. Horna won the Bermuda Challenger over Martín Vassallo Argüello and made his first ATP final in Long Island losing to Lleyton Hewitt. Horna also made three semi finals at the Brasil Open, Houston and Munich. Horna finished inside the top 50 at the end of the year equalling the same feat by Jaime Yzaga.

2005–2006

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2005 was not as successful for Horna and his singles ranking slipped to outside the top 50. He won his first doubles title with Argentine Martín García in Amersfoort and achieved his best ever performance at the French Open making the third round and defeating the seeded Tim Henman in the second round before losing to Victor Hănescu.

Despite Horna winning his first ever ATP singles title defeating Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina 7–6(5), 6–4 in Acapulco. After winning the title he said "Acapulco will stay in my heart. I've had an unbelievable experience here,". "It's like being at home".[2] As well as reaching the third round of the Australian Open for the first time defeating Gaël Monfils before losing to Paul-Henri Mathieu and winning his second doubles title with Martín García in Palermo. Horna finished 2006 ranked outside the top 50 and had various injury problems relating to his arm and shoulder which affected his final end-of-year ranking.

2007

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Horna had an unfortunate start to 2007 by losing his first round match at the Australian Open to doubles' specialist Max Mirnyi, after being frustrated by the umpire's refusal to eject an abusive heckler in the fifth set. His concentration was disturbed by the calls of "Well done, Beast" (Max Mirnyi's nickname) and "C'mon, roadkill". In February of that year he won his second ATP singles title, defeating Nicolás Massú for the only time in 7 matches 7–5, 6–3 in Viña del Mar, Chile, without losing a set in the tournament. In September, Horna and Iván Miranda took the Peruvian team of Davis Cup to the World Group for the first time by beating Belarus in Lima 4–1.

2008

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While Horna has only made one semi final in 2008 in Acapulco, he has won 3 doubles titles in Auckland with Juan Mónaco, in Buenos Aires with Agustín Calleri and the 2008 French Open with the Uruguayan Pablo Cuevas. The 2008 Australian Open started an unusual sequence for Horna, in which he played against his sometime doubles partner and friend Agustín Calleri in his first four tournaments of the year in addition to the Australian Open, the others were Viña del Mar, Buenos Aires and Acapulco.[3] This sequence was broken by Horna's elbow injury that caused him to withdraw from Costa do Sauipe.

The highlight of 2008 was the unexpected win in the 2008 French Open men's doubles crown, partnering Uruguayan Pablo Cuevas, the duo became the first all-South American doubles team to win a Grand Slam title. It was a surprise that Cuevas said "We were not expecting to go that far."[4] Horna and Cuevas were unseeded and defeated four seeded teams starting with Michaël Llodra and Arnaud Clément in the first round, Leander Paes and Lukáš Dlouhý in the third round. In the quarter-finals they defeated the No. 1 ranked team Bob and Mike Bryan and in the final defeated the No. 2 seeded team of Nenad Zimonjić and Daniel Nestor.[5] The trophy was presented by Andrés Gómez Horna said that "Gomez has been like an idol for us Peruvians,". "To have a trophy from him is, I think, one of the important moments in my professional career."[6]

While having doubles success, Horna struggled in his singles and finished outside the top 100 since 2001.[5] He won the Lugano Challenger without losing a set defeating Nicolas Devilder in the final.

Horna and Cuevas by virtue of winning Roland Garros had qualified for the Tennis Masters Cup doubles where they made the semi-finals losing to Nenad Zimonjić and Daniel Nestor, by finishing second in their round robin group behind Bob and Mike Bryan.

Horna became the first player from Peru to win a Grand Slam title in the professional era. The Peruvian Alejandro Olmedo won two before the Open era, Wimbledon and Melbourne (Australian Open) in 1959 but representing the United States.

2009 was Horna's last season on tour, and played his final tournament at Lima Challenger,[7] where he lost in the second round to Chilean Jorge Aguilar.

Playing style

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Horna plays right-handed, he has a strong serve for a relatively short player and the forehand is his best stroke. He uses a single-handed backhand and his favourite surface is clay.

Miscellaneous

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  • He previously shared coach Francisco Mastelli with Juan Mónaco and Mastelli was the former coach of current Argentine Davis cup captain Alberto Mancini.[1]
  • Horna is currently the Peruvian Davis Cup captain.

Grand Slam finals

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Doubles: 1 (1–0)

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Result Date Championship Surface Partner Opponents Score
Win 2008 French Open Clay   Pablo Cuevas   Daniel Nestor
  Nenad Zimonjić
6–2, 6–3

ATP career finals

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Singles: 3 (2 titles, 1 runner-up)

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Legend
Grand Slam tournaments (0–0)
Tennis Masters Cup (0–0)
ATP Masters Series (0–0)
ATP International Series Gold (1–0)
ATP International Series (1–1)
Titles by surface
Hard (0–1)
Clay (2–0)
Grass (0–0)
Titles by setting
Outdoor (2–1)
Indoor (0–0)
Result W–L Date Tournament Tier Surface Opponent Score
Loss 0–1 Aug 2004 Long Island Open, United States International Hard   Lleyton Hewitt 3–6, 1–6
Win 1–1 Mar 2006 Mexican Open, Mexico Intl. Gold Clay   Juan Ignacio Chela 7–6(7–5), 6–4
Win 2–1 Feb 2007 Chile Open, Chile International Clay   Nicolás Massú 7–5, 6–3

Doubles: 11 (6 titles, 5 runner-ups)

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Legend
Grand Slam tournaments (1–0)
Tennis Masters Cup (0–0)
ATP Masters Series (0–0)
ATP International Series Gold (1–1)
ATP International Series (4–4)
Titles by surface
Hard (0–0)
Clay (6–5)
Grass (0–0)
Titles by setting
Outdoor (6–5)
Indoor (0–0)
Result W–L Date Tournament Tier Surface Partner Opponents Score
Loss 0–1 Jul 2004 Dutch Open, Netherlands International Clay   José Acasuso   Jaroslav Levinský
  David Škoch
0–6, 6–2, 5–7
Loss 0–2 Apr 2005 Grand Prix Hassan II, Morocco International Clay   Martín García   František Čermák
  Leoš Friedl
4–6, 3–6
Loss 0–3 Apr 2005 U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships, United States International Clay   Martín García   Mark Knowles
  Daniel Nestor
3–6, 4–6
Win 1–3 Jul 2005 Dutch Open, Netherlands International Clay   Martín García   Fernando González
  Nicolás Massú
6–4, 6–4
Loss 1–4 Sep 2006 Romanian Open, Romania International Clay   Martín García   Mariusz Fyrstenberg
  Marcin Matkowski
7–6(7–5), 6–7(5–7), [8–10]
Win 2–4 Oct 2006 Campionati Internazionali di Sicilia, Italy International Clay   Martín García   Mariusz Fyrstenberg
  Marcin Matkowski
7–6(7–1), 7–6(7–2)
Win 3–4 Jul 2007 Austrian Open, Austria Intl. Gold Clay   Potito Starace   Tomas Behrend
  Christopher Kas
7–6(7–4), 7–6(7–5)
Win 4–4 Jan 2008 Auckland Open, New Zealand International Clay   Juan Mónaco   Xavier Malisse
  Jürgen Melzer
6–4, 3–6, [10–7]
Win 5–4 Feb 2008 Argentina Open, Argentina International Clay   Agustín Calleri   Werner Eschauer
  Peter Luczak
6–0, 6–7(6–8), [10–2]
Loss 5–5 Mar 2008 Mexican Open, Mexico Intl. Gold Clay   Agustín Calleri   Oliver Marach
  Michal Mertiňák
2–6, 7–6(7–3), [7–10]
Win 6–5 Jun 2008 French Open, France Grand Slam Clay   Pablo Cuevas   Daniel Nestor
  Nenad Zimonjić
6–2, 6–3

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures Finals

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Singles: 15 (10–5)

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Legend (singles)
ATP Challenger Tour (6–5)
ITF Futures (4–0)
Finals by surface
Hard (0–1)
Clay (10–4)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)
Result W–L Date Tournament Tier Surface Opponent Score
Win 1–0 Aug 1998 Ecuador F1, Guayaquil Futures Clay   Sergio Roitman 6–1, 7–6
Win 2–0 Sep 1998 Peru F1, Lima Futures Clay   Marcos Daniel 7–6, 6–4
Win 3–0 Sep 1998 Peru F2, Lima Futures Clay   Carlos Gómez-Díaz 7–6, 7–6
Win 4–0 Sep 1998 Peru F3, Lima Futures Clay   Carlos Gómez-Díaz 6–2, 7–6
Loss 4–1 Sep 1999 Aschaffenburg, Germany Challenger Clay   Rene Nicklisch 6–3, 2–6, 6–7
Loss 4–2 Mar 2000 Salinas, Ecuador Challenger Hard   Davide Sanguinetti 2–6, 2–6
Loss 4–3 Sep 2000 Aschaffenburg, Germany Challenger Clay   Nicolas Coutelot 7–6(7–2), 3–6, 1–6
Loss 4–4 Sep 2001 Curitiba, Brazil Challenger Clay   Flávio Saretta 6–7(3–7), 1–6
Win 5–4 May 2002 Zagreb, Croatia Challenger Clay   Dominik Hrbatý 6–2, 6–1
Win 6–4 Jun 2002 Furth, Germany Challenger Clay   Jürgen Melzer 6–4, 6–2
Win 7–4 Jun 2002 Weiden, Germany Challenger Clay   Zeljko Krajan 6–0, 6–4
Loss 7–5 Nov 2002 São Paulo, Brazil Challenger Clay   Franco Squillari 2–6, 4–6
Win 8–5 Oct 2003 Seville, Spain Challenger Clay   Guillermo García López 6–0, 4–6, 6–3
Win 9–5 Apr 2004 Paget, Bermuda Challenger Clay   Martín Vassallo Argüello 6–4, 4–6, 6–4
Win 10–5 Jul 2008 Lugano, Switzerland Challenger Clay   Nicolas Devilder 7–6(7–1), 6–1

Doubles: 16 (7–9)

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Legend (doubles)
ATP Challenger Tour (6–8)
ITF Futures (1–1)
Finals by surface
Hard (1–1)
Clay (6–8)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)
Result W–L Date Tournament Tier Surface Partner Opponents Score
Win 1–0 Aug 1998 Ecuador F1, Guayaquil Futures Clay   Rudy Rake   Rodrigo Pena
  Sergio Roitman
6–4, 6–1
Loss 1–1 Sep 1998 Peru F1, Lima Futures Clay   Rudy Rake   Marcos Daniel
  Rodrigo Monte
7–5, 6–7, 5–7
Win 2–1 Aug 2000 Mönchengladbach, Germany Challenger Clay   Emilio Benfele Álvarez   Germán Puentes Alcañiz
  Francisco Costa
7–6(7–1), 1–6, 7–5
Loss 2–2 Oct 2000 Lima, Peru Challenger Clay   Juan Ignacio Chela   Gastón Etlis
  Martín Rodríguez
2–6, 2–5 ret.
Win 3–2 Mar 2001 Salinas, Ecuador Challenger Hard   David Nalbandian   Daniel Melo
  Flávio Saretta
6–4, 0–6, 6–1
Loss 3–3 Jul 2001 Venice, Italy Challenger Clay   Sebastián Prieto   Mark Merklein
  Mitch Sprengelmeyer
4–6, 6–7(7–9)
Loss 3–4 Jan 2002 São Paulo, Brazil Challenger Hard   Federico Browne   Frédéric Niemeyer
  Brandon Coupe
7–6(7–5), 6–7(4–7), 4–6
Loss 3–5 May 2002 Ljubljana, Slovenia Challenger Clay   Sebastián Prieto   Mariano Hood
  Edgardo Massa
5–7, 1–6
Win 4–5 Jun 2002 Braunschweig, Germany Challenger Clay   Mariano Hood   František Čermák
  Petr Luxa
3–6, 6–3, 6–1
Win 5–5 Oct 2002 Seville, Spain Challenger Clay   Mariano Hood   Álex López Morón
  Albert Portas
4–6, 6–1, 6–4
Loss 5–6 Nov 2002 São Paulo, Brazil Challenger Clay   Sergio Roitman   Mariano Hood
  Sebastián Prieto
3–6, 4–6
Loss 5–7 Nov 2005 Guayaquil, Ecuador Challenger Clay   Iván Miranda   Juan Martín del Potro
  Juan Antonio Marín
walkover
Win 6–7 Nov 2007 Montevideo, Uruguay Challenger Clay   Pablo Cuevas   Santiago Ventura
  Marcel Granollers
walkover
Loss 6–8 Apr 2008 Napoli, Italy Challenger Clay   Fred Gil   Tomáš Cibulec
  Jaroslav Levinský
1–6, 3–6
Win 7–8 Nov 2008 Lima, Peru Challenger Clay   Sebastián Prieto   Ramón Delgado
  Júlio Silva
6–3, 6–3
Loss 7–9 Mar 2009 Barletta, Italy Challenger Clay   Pablo Cuevas   Santiago Ventura
  Rubén Ramírez Hidalgo
6–7(1–7), 2–6

Performance timelines

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Key
W  F  SF QF #R RR Q# DNQ A NH
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.

Singles

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Tournament 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 SR W–L Win %
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open A A Q2 1R 1R 1R 3R 1R 1R A 0 / 6 2–6 25%
French Open Q3 Q1 Q1 2R 2R 3R 1R 1R 2R Q2 0 / 6 5–6 45%
Wimbledon A A A 1R 1R 1R 1R 1R 1R A 0 / 6 0–6 0%
US Open A A 1R 1R 1R 1R 2R 2R 1R A 0 / 7 2–7 22%
Win–loss 0–0 0–0 0–1 1–4 1–4 2–4 3–4 1–4 1–4 0–0 0 / 25 9–25 26%
ATP Tour Masters 1000
Indian Wells Masters A A A Q2 3R 1R 1R 2R 1R A 0 / 5 3–5 38%
Miami Open A Q2 3R 2R 1R 1R 2R 2R A A 0 / 6 5–6 45%
Monte-Carlo Masters A A A 2R A 1R 1R A A A 0 / 3 1–3 25%
Hamburg Masters A A A Q1 2R 1R 1R Q2 1R A 0 / 4 1–4 20%
Italian Open A A A A 3R 3R 1R Q1 3R A 0 / 4 6–4 60%
Canada Masters A A A A 3R 1R A A A A 0 / 2 2–2 50%
Cincinnati Masters A A A A 2R 3R A A A A 0 / 2 3–2 60%
Madrid Open Not Held A A QF A A A A A 0 / 1 3–1 75%
Paris Masters A A A A 1R A A A A A 0 / 1 0–1 0%
Win–loss 0–0 0–0 2–1 2–2 11–8 4–7 1–5 2–2 2–3 0–0 0 / 28 24–28 46%
Year End Ranking 127 138 77 64 36 84 61 73 106 440

Doubles

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Tournament 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 SR W–L Win %
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open A 1R A 1R 1R 1R A 0 / 4 0–4 0%
French Open 1R 1R A A 1R W 3R 1 / 5 8–4 67%
Wimbledon A 1R 1R A A 2R A 0 / 3 1–3 25%
US Open 1R 1R 1R 1R 2R 2R A 0 / 6 2–6 25%
Win–loss 0–2 0–4 0–2 0–2 1–3 8–3 2–1 1 / 18 11–17 39%
Year End Ranking 404 121 93 76 107 17 275

Top 10 wins

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Season 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 Total
Wins 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 2 1 3 1 0 10
# Player Rank Event Surface Rd Score Horna
Rank
2003
1.   Roger Federer 5 French Open, France Clay 1R 7–6(8–6), 6–2, 7-6(7–3) 88
2.   Juan Carlos Ferrero 2 Sopot, Poland Clay QF 6-1, 7-6(7–1) 92
2004
3.   Guillermo Coria 3 Toronto, Canada Hard 1R 5-1, ret. 41
2005
4.   Tim Henman 8 French Open, France Clay 2R 7–5, 6–7(2–7), 6–3, 6–4 59
5.   Guillermo Coria 10 Cincinnati, United States Hard 2R 6-4, 6-4 63
2006
6.   Gastón Gaudio 8 Acapulco, Mexico Clay SF 4–6, 6–4, 6–3 68
2007
7.   David Nalbandian 8 Buenos Aires, Argentina Clay 1R 6-4, 6-3 50
8.   Ivan Ljubičić 7 Pörtschach, Austria Clay 2R 7-6(7–5), 6-4 82
9.   Tommy Robredo 8 Båstad, Sweden Clay 1R 6–1, 1–6, 6–1 82
2008
10.   Richard Gasquet 9 Rome, Italy Clay 1R 6-4, 6-1 111

Junior Grand Slam finals

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Singles: 1 (1 runner-up)

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Result Year Tournament Surface Opponent Score
Loss 1997 French Open Clay   Daniel Elsner 4–6, 4–6

Doubles: 2 (2 titles)

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Result Year Tournament Surface Partner Opponents Score
Win 1997 French Open Clay   José de Armas   Arnaud Di Pasquale
  Julien Jeanpierre
6–4, 2–6, 7–5
Win 1997 Wimbledon Grass   Nicolás Massú   Jaco Van Der Westhuizen
  Wesley Whitehouse
6–4, 6–2

References

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  1. ^ "French Open: Federer out, Agassi in second round". Rediff. 15 May 2008.
  2. ^ "Horna conquers Chela in Acapulco". BBC News. 15 May 2008.
  3. ^ "Horna and Calleri Head to Head". Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). Retrieved 13 April 2021.
  4. ^ Source
  5. ^ a b "2008 Roland Garros Mens Doubles Draw" (PDF). French Open. 8 June 2008.
  6. ^ "Cuevas-Horna beat Nestor-Zimonjic for men's French Open doubles title". International Herald Tribune. 8 June 2008.
  7. ^ "Horna announces retirement". Living in Peru. 13 November 2009.
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