Sébastien LeBlanc (born 27 December 1973) is a former Canadian tour professional tennis player. Leblanc captured three junior Grand Slam titles and played Davis Cup for Canada. More of a doubles specialist, he won five Challenger events in doubles and reached a career-high doubles ranking of World No. 127.
Junior career Leblanc teamed with fellow Québécois and Montrealer Sébastien Lareau to capture first the 1990 French Open junior doubles title and then a month later the 1990 Wimbledon junior doubles title. In both finals they defeated the South African duo of Marcos Ondruska and Clinton Marsh in three sets at Roland Garros. Then in August Leblanc teamed with another Montrealer, Greg Rusedski, to capture the U.S. Open junior doubles crown, defeating Mårten Renström and Mikael Tillström in the final. Leblanc did not compete in the 1990 Australian Open missing out on a chance for completing the 'Grand Slam'. In singles he lost in the first round at both Roland Garros and Flushing Meadows and reached the third round of Wimbledon, falling to eventual champion Leander Paes in three sets.
Senior career Leblanc won the 1991 Montebello Challenger partnering Lareau and the 1995 Santiago Challenger playing with Brandon Coupe. The resident of Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville, Quebec won the Aptos Challenger three times in succession – from 1995 through 1997 – the first time playing with Brian MacPhie and the later two times partnering fellow Québécois and Montrealer Jocelyn Robichaud. In ATP Tour and Grand Slam events, Leblanc posted a career win–loss of 8 and 22 with his best result being reaching the quarter-finals of the Canadian Open in 1991, partnering Lareau. Leblanc also reached the second round of the 1992 Summer Olympics tournament, partnering Brian Gyetko. He played in the main draw of one Grand Slam event at senior level, the 1997 Australian Open – he and partner Mark Keil lost in the first round.
In singles, Leblanc reached a career-high ranking of world No. 361, in August 1996. His career Challenger event win–loss record stood at 3 wins, 9 losses, while at ATP Tour level it was 1 and 4. His sole top flight match win was over World No. 18 Tim Henman in the opening round of the Canadian Open.
Davis Cup Leblanc sole rubber appearance came surprisingly in singles, in a 1997 America Group I semi-final tie versus Venezuela, played in April. He defeated José de Armas in a dead rubber in a tie Canada swept 5–0. The victory allowed gave Canada a place in qualifying for the World Group. They lost the qualifying tie in September however to Slovakia 1–4, despite playing the tie at home (in Jarry Stadium).
Junior Grand Slam finals
Doubles: 3 (3 titles) ResultYearTournamentSurfacePartnerOpponentsScoreWin1990French OpenClay Sébastien Lareau Clinton Marsh Marcos Ondruska7–6, 6–7, 9–7Win1990WimbledonGrass Sébastien Lareau Clinton Marsh Marcos Ondruska7–6(7–5), 4–6, 6–3Win1990US OpenHard Greg Rusedski Mårten Renström Mikael Tillström6–7, 6–3, 6–4
ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals
Doubles: 9 (5–4) LegendATP Challenger (5–4)ITF Futures (0–0)Finals by surfaceHard (4–1)Clay (1–3)Grass (0–0)Carpet (0–0)
ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfacePartnerOpponentsScoreLoss0–1Graz, AustriaChallengerClay Markus Naewie Jan Apell Raviv Weidenfeld3–6, 3–6Win1–1Montebello, CanadaChallengerHard Sébastien Lareau Sergio Gomez-Barrio Brian Gyetko6–2, 6–3Loss1–2Eisenach, GermanyChallengerClay Chris Woodruff Dirk Dier Lars Koslowski6–3, 3–6, 6–7Win2–2Aptos, United StatesChallengerHard Brian Macphie Bill Barber Ari Nathan6–3, 6–2Win3–2Santiago, ChileChallengerClay Brandon Coupe Nicolás Lapentti Gabriel Silberstein3–6, 7–5, 6–4Loss3–3Prague, Czech RepublicChallengerClay Aleksandar Kitinov Donald Johnson Francisco Montana6–3, 3–6, 1–6Win4–3Aptos, United StatesChallengerHard Jocelyn Robichaud Neville Godwin Geoff Grant7–6, 6–7, 7–5Loss4–4Aruba, ArubaChallengerHard Grant Stafford Mahesh Bhupathi Leander Paes2–6, 2–6Win5–4Aptos, United StatesChallengerHard Jocelyn Robichaud David Caldwell Adam Peterson7–6, 6–4
References
External links