Luis Alberto Ayala Salinas (born 18 September 1932) is a former

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

tennis player Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball cove ...

who competed in the 1950s and 1960s.

Amateur

He was twice a singles runner-up at the

French Championships The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ven ...

. In 1958 he was seeded fifth and reached the final after a victory against first-seeded and world No. 1 Ashley Cooper in the semifinal. In the final, however, he was defeated in straight sets by

Mervyn Rose Mervyn Gordon Rose AM (23 January 1930 – 23 July 2017) was an Australian male tennis player who won seven Grand Slam titles (singles, doubles and mixed doubles). Rose was born in Coffs Harbour, New South Wales, and turned professional in 19 ...

while in 1960 he lost the final in five sets to

Nicola Pietrangeli Nicola "Nicky" Pietrangeli (; born 11 September 1933) is a former Italian tennis player. He won two singles titles at the French Championships and is considered by many to be Italy's greatest tennis champion. Biography Born 11 September 1933, in ...

. Together with Thelma Coyne Long, he won the mixed doubles title at the 1956 French Championships. Ayala won the Gold Medal at the 1959 Pan American Games in Chicago, beating Canadian Bob Bédard in the final. Ayala won the prestigious singles title at the Italian Open in 1959, defeating Pietrangeli in the semifinal and

Neale Fraser Neale Andrew Fraser (born 3 October 1933) is a former number one amateur male tennis-player from Australia, born in Melbourne, Victoria, the son of a Victorian judge. Fraser is the last man to have completed the triple crown, i.e. having won ...

in the final, both matches in four sets. The following year, 1960, he again reached the Italian final but lost in five sets to Barry MacKay. Ayala won the 1960 Argentina Championships at Buenos Aires on clay, defeating Ron Holmberg in the semifinal in three straight sets, and Manuel Santana in the final in five close sets. He won the 1960 Madrid Championships on clay, defeating Andres Gimeno in the final in four sets. Ayala won the 1961 Hanover Championships on clay, defeating

Ramanathan Krishnan Ramanathan Krishnan (born 11 April 1937) is a retired tennis player from India who was among the world's leading players in the 1950s and 1960s. He was twice a semifinalist at Wimbledon in 1960 and 1961, reaching as high as World No. 3 in Potte ...

in the final in five sets. Ayala was ranked world No. 5 for 1958 by

Lance Tingay Lance Tingay (15 July 1915 – 10 March 1990) was a British sports journalist, historian, and author of several tennis books. For many years his annual ranking of top tennis players was "the only one that counted" before ATP rankings were introduc ...

of ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

'' (and No. 6 for 1959, No. 7 for 1960 and 1961).

Professional

In 1961 Ayala turned professional and joined Jack Kramer's tour. In 1964, he won the La Baule Professional Championships on clay, defeating Rod Laver in the semifinal and

Lew Hoad Lewis Alan Hoad (23 November 1934 – 3 July 1994) was an Australian tennis player whose career ran from 1950 to 1973. Hoad won four Major singles tournaments as an amateur (the Australian Championships, French Championships and two Wimbledon ...

in the four-set final. When he retired, he became a tennis professional at

River Oaks Country Club River Oaks Country Club is a country club in the River Oaks neighborhood in Houston, Texas. The club has hosted the River Oaks International Tennis Tournament since 1931. It is located at 1600 River Oaks Boulevard, Houston TX 77019. History Rive ...

in Houston, Texas. Currently, he is the director of tennis at the Forest Club in Houston, Texas.

Davis Cup

Between 1952 and 1960 Ayala played in 18 ties for the Chilean Davis Cup team and compiled a record of 37 wins and 14 losses. During this period the best performance was reaching the semifinal of the Europe zone in 1955 which they lost to Sweden, despite Ayala winning both his singles matches against Lennart Bergelin and

Sven Davidson Sven Viktor Davidson (13 July 1928 – 28 May 2008) was a Swedish tennis player who became the first Swede to win a Grand Slam title when he won the French Championships in 1957, beating Ashley Cooper and Herbert Flam. Career Davidson also ...

Grand Slam finals

Singles (2 runners-up)

Mixed doubles: (1 title, 2 runner-up)

References

External links

* * *
Forest Club bio
Chilean expatriates in the United States Chilean male tennis players French Championships (tennis) champions Tennis players from Houston Tennis players from Santiago Chilean people of Basque descent Tennis players at the 1955 Pan American Games Tennis players at the 1959 Pan American Games Pan American Games gold medalists for Chile Pan American Games bronze medalists for Chile 1932 births Living people Grand Slam (tennis) champions in mixed doubles Professional tennis players before the Open Era Pan American Games medalists in tennis 20th-century Chilean people {{Chile-tennis-bio-stub