Steven Diez


Steven Diez is a Canadian and former Spanish professional tennis player. Raised primarily in and competing for Spain early in his career, he has since gone on to represent the country of his birth, Canada, in the Davis Cup.

Tennis career

2007

Diez competed in the main draw of two senior level ITF Futures tournaments in the autumn, losing both times in the first round. In his first match, at Spain F39 in late October, he fell to world No. 422 Carles Poch-Gradin. He fared much better a month later taking a set off world No. 425 Juan Albert Viloca-Puig before losing.

2008

Diez won his first tour match in his third tournament of the year, Spain F11. He won his first ever doubles match too, partnering Ignacio Morente-Gemas to the second round of Spain F13. He then won two matches partnering Javier Valenzuela-Gonzalez to reach the semi-finals of Spain F14. The same pairing reached the semis in their next tournament too, in July, at Spain F26.
In late April he competed in qualifying for an ATP World Tour event, the 2008 Torneo Godó, losing in the first round to Marc López. In July in consecutively played Futures he won his first round match, but he failed, in singles, to reach the second round in his last five events of the year. Partnering Valenzuela-Gonzalez, he reached the second round in more events than not during this same stretch. He finished the year ranked World No. 1190 in singles and No. 1274 in doubles.

2009

In his third main draw for the year Diez had a break through in reaching the semi-finals of Spain F5. Two weeks later he reached his first career final, in doubles partnering Jose Checa-Calvo at Spain F7. In June, he competed in his first main draw in an ATP Challenger, as a wild card entrant at the 2009 Open Diputación Ciudad de Pozoblanco, and reached the quarter-finals, where he lost to eventual runner-up, Thiago Alves.
The following week Diez captured his first tour title, that of Spain F23 in singles, defeating David Canudas-Fernandez in the final. His singles wins stopped there as he won only one further tour main draw main for the remainder of the year while losing 8. In doubles however Diez continued to do well not losing in the first round for the year aside from his very first tourney. He finished the year ranked World No. 571 in singles and No. 893 in doubles.

2010

Diez did not win a singles main draw match in his first five events of the year leading into a call-up of sorts by Tennis Canada to represent the country of this birth in Davis Cup. Diez was recruited for his clay court ability as Canada faced Colombia on red clay in Bogota. Despite breaking the serve in the first game of the match, Diez went down to World No. 93 Santiago Giraldo in straight sets as Canada lost the tie, 1-4.
In April, Diez finally won a main draw singles match, at Spain F11. He reached the second round in three consecutive events before taking his second title of this career, Spain F15 in May. He then reached the semi-finals in two of his next three events. As one of the top-ranked Canadians, Diez received wild cards into events in Canada this summer. After losing in the first round of the 2010 Challenger Banque Nationale de Granby, he qualified for the main draw of the 2010 Odlum Brown Vancouver Open, but lost in three close sets to Alex Kuznetsov in the first round. He won a set from Michael Russell before falling in the first round of qualifying for the 2010 Rogers Cup in Toronto in early August.
After reaching the semi-finals of Spain F30 the week after the Rogers Cup, and losing in the first round of Belgium F3 the following week, Diez was off from match play until last week, where, as the No. 6 seed at Canada F4, he reached the semi-finals. En route he won his quarter-final match over No. 2 seed Brendan Evans, 3-6, 6-1, 3-0 retired. In doubles, he and partner Nikolai Haessig, a top Canadian junior, lost in the first round.
The following week Diez was upset in the first round of Canada F5, as the No. 4 seed, to World No. 792 Phillip Simmonds, 2-6, 3-6. He and partner Haessig reached the semi-finals in doubles however. This result saw Steven's doubles ranking reach a new career high the following week, of World No. 769. After two weeks off, he played three consecutive Futures events in Spain, reaching the second round in Spain F37 in Sabadell, the quarter-finals at Spain F38 in Sant Cugat, and losing in the first round of Spain F39 in Vilafranca del Penedes. In doubles, he and partner Abraham Gonzalez-Jimenez reached the second round of Spain F37 and lost in the first round of Spain F38. They did not compete at Spain F39.

Challenger and Futures finals

Singles: 38 (23–15)

ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfaceOpponentScore
Win1–0Spain F23, ElcheFuturesClay David Cañudas-Fernández6–1, 6–4
Win2–0Spain F15, BalaguerFuturesClay David Estruch6–2, 6–1
Win3–0Brazil F11, AracajuFuturesClay Roman Vogeli6–1, 6–2
Loss3–1Canada F3, MississaugaFuturesHard Li Zhe2–6, 3–6
Win4–1Spain F39, VilafrancaFuturesClay Jordi Samper Montaña3–6, 6–2, 6–4
Win5–1Spain F41, MadridFuturesClay Matthew Pierot6–0, 6–2
Loss5–2Turkey F3, AntalyaFuturesHard Dimitar Kutrovsky3–6, 0–6
Win6–2Spain F3, MurciaFuturesClay Pedro Sousa2–6, 6–4, 6–3
Loss6–3Spain F11, LleidaFuturesClay Sergio Gutiérrez Ferrol6–3, 1–6, 5–7
Win7–3Poland F1, SobotaFuturesClay Andriej Kapaś7–6, 6–3
Win8–3Algeria F1, AnnabaFuturesClay Gerald Melzer6–2, 6–3
Win9–3Algeria F2, AnnabaFuturesClay Alexander Slabinsky4–6, 6–4, 6–1
Win10–3Algeria F3, AlgerFuturesClay Francesco Picco6–1, 4–6, 6–2
Loss10–4Spain F14, ValldoreixFuturesClay Taro Daniel3–6, 2–6
Win11–4Spain F16, Santa Margarida de MontbuiFuturesHard José Checa-Calvo6–1, 6–2
Win12–4Spain F17, MartosFuturesHard Ramkumar Ramanathan7–5, 6–7, 6–4
Loss12–52014 BNP Paribas de Nouvelle-Calédonie – Singles|Nouméa, New CaledoniaChallengerHard Alejandro Falla2–6, 2–6
Win13–5Switzerland F4, SionFuturesClay Federico Coria5–7, 7–5, 6–1
Win14–5Spain F32, Sant Cugat del VallèsFuturesClay Marcos Giraldi Requena6–1, 6–0
Loss14–6Greece F8, HeraklionFuturesHard Václav Šafránek6–7, 4–6
Win15–6Greece F9, HeraklionFuturesHard Stefanos Tsitsipas6–2, 6–0
Loss15–7Spain F1, CastelldefelsFuturesClay Gerard Granollers Pujol3–6, 1–6
Win16–7Spain F2, PegueraFuturesClay Paweł Ciaś4–6, 6–2, 7–6
Win17–7Spain F4, MurciaFuturesClay Alex de Minaur6–3, 6–4
Win18–7Spain F6, TarragonaFuturesClay Gerard Granollers Pujol5–7, 6–1, 6–0
Loss18–8Morocco F2, Beni MellalFuturesClay Lamine Ouahab2–6, 6–4, 2–6
Loss18–9Spain F7, MadridFuturesHard Akira Santillan4–6, 6–7
Loss18–102016 Hoff Open – Singles|Moscow, RussiaChallengerClay Mikhail Kukushkin3–6, 3–6
Loss18–11Spain F31, SabadellFuturesClay Sergio Gutiérrez Ferrol3–6, 6–7
Win19–11Spain F32, MelillaFuturesClay Miguel Semmler6–2, 6–0
Loss19–12Tunisia F31, HammametFuturesClay Nino Serdarušić3–6, 6–3, 4–6
Loss19–13China F2, AnningFuturesClay Yang Tsung-hua3–6, 6–3, 6–7
Win20–13Spain F10, MajadahondaFuturesClay Pedro Cachín6–3, 3–6, 7–5
Loss20–14Tunisia F39, MonastirFuturesHard Ivan Gakhov6–3, 2–6, 1–6
Win21–14Tunisia F43, MonastirFuturesHard Gabriel Petit6–2, 6–3
Win22–14Tunisia F45, MonastirFuturesHard Clément Tabur6–3, 7–6
Win23–142019 Burnie International|Burnie, AustraliaChallengerHard Maverick Banes7–5, 6–1
Loss23-152019 Ningbo Challenger – Singles|Ningbo, ChinaChallengerHard Yasutaka Uchiyama1-6, 3-6

Doubles: 21 (9–12)

ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfacePartnerOpponentsScore
Loss0–1Spain F7, TerrassaFuturesClay José Checa-Calvo Francesco Aldi
Alessandro Piccari
0–6, 2–6
Loss0–2Spain F34, CórdobaFuturesHard Juan Lizariturry Agustín Boje-Ordóñez
Pablo Martín-Adalia
3–6, 3–6
Loss0–3Israel F1, EilatFuturesHard Fernando Vicente Jozef Kovalík
Adrian Sikora
6–2, 3–6,
Loss0–4Israel F2, EilatFuturesHard Nikola Čačić Damir Džumhur
Ismar Gorčić
3–6, 4–6
Win1–4Portugal F1, FaroFuturesHard Fernando Vicente Agustín Boje-Ordóñez
Pablo Martín-Adalia
6–3, 6–4
Win2–4Brazil F9, Santa MariaFuturesClay Roman Vogeli Daniel Alejandro López Cassaccia
Martín Ríos-Benítez
7–6, 6–3
Win3–4Brazil F11, AracajuFuturesClay Roman Vogeli Mauricio Doria-Medina
Daniel Alejandro López Cassaccia
6–1, 7–6
Loss3–5Spain F20, MartosFuturesHard Ilya Belyaev Harri Heliövaara
Denys Molchanov
3–6, 4–6
Win4–5Spain F35, SevillaFuturesClay Fernando Vicente Axel Álvarez Llamas
Ricardo Ojeda Lara
6–2, 6–1
Win5–5Spain F38, SabadellFuturesClay João Sousa Miguel Ángel López Jaén
Gabriel Trujillo Soler
6–3, 3–6,
Win6–5Algeria F2, AnnabaFuturesHard Marc Giner Francesc Montañés-Roca
Ronald Slobodchikov
6–4, 6–2
Win7–5Croatia F5, RovinjFuturesClay Tomislav Brkić Nikolaus Moser
Tristan-Samuel Weissborn
6–2, 6–2
Loss7–6Russia F8, MoscowFuturesClay Vladislav Dubinsky Aliaksandr Bury
Volodymyr Uzhylovskyi
0–6, 1–6
Loss7–72014 Città di Como Challenger – Doubles|Como, ItalyChallengerClay Enrique López Pérez Guido Andreozzi
Facundo Argüello
2–6, 2–6
Loss7–8Spain F32, Sant Cugat del VallèsFuturesClay Andrés Artuñedo Martínavarro Sergio Martos Gornés
Pol Toledo Bague
2–6, 3–6
Loss7–9Cyprus F2, LimassolFuturesHard Andrés Artuñedo Martínavarro Petros Chrysochos
Nino Serdarušić
6–1, 4–6,
Loss7–10Cyprus F3, LimassolFuturesHard Andrés Artuñedo Martínavarro Konstantinos Economidis
Markos Kalovelonis
6–4, 3–6,
Win8–10Tunisia F31, HammametFuturesClay Bruno Mardones Guy den Heijer
Sidane Pontjodikromo
6–2, 6–4
Loss8–11Portugal F6, LisbonFuturesHard Bruno Mardones Kenneth Raisma
Emil Ruusuvuori
6–7, 2–6
Win9–11Tunisia F40, MonastirFuturesHard Sergio Martos Gornés Mikalai Haliak
Alexander Zgirovsky
6–3, 6–1
Loss9–12Tunisia F43, MonastirFuturesHard Marco Bortolotti Evan Hoyt
Luke Johnson
4–6, 2–6