Rubén Ramírez Hidalgo

Rubén Ramírez Hidalgo (born 6 January 1978 in Alicante, Spain) is a former professional male tennis player from Spain. His career-high ATP singles ranking is world No. 50, achieved on 2 October 2006. His favourite surface is clay, where he has won numerous ATP Challenger Tour events, and has reached the final in three events of the ATP tour, all in 2007, finishing runner-up in all three finals.

Career
Ramírez Hidalgo turned pro in 1998.

In 2001, Ramírez Hidalgo won his first ATP tour match in Bucharest, defeating Attila Sávolt.

In 2003, he suffered the ignominy of becoming the only player to ever lose a tour level match to French journeyman Éric Prodon, losing 7–6 6–2 in Casablanca. However, he was able to bounce back later in the year at Sopot, where he reached his first ever tour level semi-final, bravely losing in three sets to David Ferrer.

After dropping down the rankings, early 2006 saw a return to good form. A semi-final run at Viña del Mar saw Ramírez Hidalgo climb back into the top 100. This tournament included his first ever win over a top 10 player, a defeat of former French Open champion Gastón Gaudio. Ramírez Hidalgo was eventually defeated by José Acasuso.

At the 2006 French Open, Ramírez Hidalgo won a Grand Slam match for the first time, eventually reaching the 4th round in a Grand Slam event for the first time in his career, defeating Thierry Ascione, Christophe Rochus and future finalist David Ferrer. Before the tournament, he had lost four consecutive times in the first round of a Grand Slam, a pattern he proceeded to return to for a further 9 appearances.

Ramírez Hidalgo's strong form continued into the latter half of 2006, where he reached the semi-final in Amersfoort (l. Nicolás Massú.) and included rare success on hard courts, where he defeated world no. 5 and home favourite James Blake. Further success came in Palermo, where his run to the semi-final was halted by Nicolás Lapentti. In October 2006, his ranking peaked at no. 50.

2007 started strongly for Ramírez Hidalgo, with another semi-final run, this time in Casablanca. An impressive showing was halted by Albert Montañés.

In his later career, Ramírez Hidalgo became a stalwart of the ATP Challenger tour, whilst still enjoying occasional success on the main tour. 2012 marked his last Grand Slam match win, at the US Open, where he defeated Somdev Devvarman, before losing to big serving Sam Querrey. At Houston in 2013, he recorded what was to be his last ever main tour victory, defeating compatriot Fernando Verdasco,before losing to Rhyne Williams in the quarter-final.

On 4 August 2016, after defeating Ante Pavić in the 2nd round of the Chengdu Challenger, Ramírez Hidalgo became the first player ever to win 400 matches in the ATP Challenger Tour tournaments.

Ramírez Hidalgo retired from professional tennis after the end of the 2017 season.