Ruben Bemelmans

Bemelmans in 2021
Country (sports)	Belgium
Residence	Maasmechelen, Belgium
Born	(1988-01-14) 14 January 1988 (age 36) Genk, Belgium
Height	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Turned pro	2006
Retired	Oct 2022
Plays	Left-handed (two-handed backhand)
Prize money	US$2,192,636
Singles
Career record	30–61
Career titles	0
Highest ranking	No. 84 (28 September 2015)
Current ranking	No. 547 (17 October 2022)[1]
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	2R (2018)
French Open	2R (2018)
Wimbledon	3R (2017)
US Open	3R (2015)
Doubles
Career record	13–16
Career titles	1
Highest ranking	No. 128 (1 October 2012)
Current ranking	No. 183 (17 October 2022)[1]
Grand Slam doubles results
Wimbledon	Q1 (2012, 2017, 2018)
Team competitions
Davis Cup	F (2015, 2017)
Hopman Cup	F (2011)
Last updated on: 22 October 2022.

Ruben Bemelmans (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈrybən ˈbeːməlmɑns]; born 14 January 1988) is a Belgian former professional tennis player. He has a career-high ATP ranking of world No. 84 in singles, achieved on 28 September 2015, and world No. 128 in doubles, achieved on 1 October 2012. Bemelmans competed mainly on the ATP Challenger Tour.

Tennis career

2006–2009: Turned Pro

Bemelmans won his first Futures event in Espelkamp, Germany in July 2007. His best performance to date was in winning the Volkswagen Challenger event in Wolfsburg in March 2009, winning three matches in qualifying before going on to beat Stefano Galvani of Italy in the final. He won this tournament again in 2011.^[2]

2010–2014: ATP and Grand Slam debut, Hopman Cup finalist

In February 2010 Bemelmans succeeded in qualifying for his first ATP level event, the Zagreb Indoors tournament. However he lost in the first round to Alexandre Sidorenko of France in three sets.^[3]

In June 2010, he entered the main draw of the 2010 Gerry Weber Open in Halle as a lucky loser. In the opening round he lost to German Philipp Kohlschreiber in three close sets.

In September 2010, Ruben played for Belgium in the Davis cup play-off tie against Australia. He was a late replacement for an injured Steve Darcis. He played Lleyton Hewitt and after a solid effort, he succumbed in a 6–7, 5–7, 6–2, 4–6 duel.^[4]

In January 2011, Bemelmans was invited to represent Belgium in the Hopman Cup alongside Justine Henin. They reached the final, beating Kazakhstan and Serbia along the way, where they were defeated by USA 2–1.^[5]

Bemelmans won his first match in a Grand Slam main draw at 2012 Wimbledon, defeating Carlos Berlocq in 4 sets. He was bested by Richard Gasquet in straight sets in the second round. About a month later, Bemelmans (playing doubles with fellow countryman Xavier Malisse) won his first title on the ATP Tour, the 250 level Los Angeles Open.

In 2013, Bemelmans made the final of 2 Challenger Tour events, Nottingham (a Challenger event from 2011 to 2014) and Eckental where he lost to Steve Johnson and Benjamin Becker respectively. As a qualifier, Bemelmans reached the quarterfinals of Vienna in 2013, defeating No. 4 seed Philipp Kohlschreiber en route.

2014 saw Bemelmans have another strong showing at Eckental, this time winning the tournament, beating 2012 champion Daniel Brands en route.

2015–2018: US Open and Wimbledon third rounds

In September 2015, Bemelmans defeated Gilles Müller and Jack Sock (retired) to reach the third round of the US Open where he lost against Switzerland's Stan Wawrinka in three sets.^[6]

He was unable to defend his title in Eckental however, falling in the semi-finals to Benjamin Becker. Bemelmans also played an active part in the Belgian Davis Cup team that reached the final that season, and played the second singles rubber where he was beaten by Andy Murray.

Bemelmans made 2 Challenger finals late in 2016, at Charlottesville and Champaign.

In 2017, Bemelmans won the title in Koblenz,^[7] which pushed him back inside the Top 150, before losing to Denis Shapovalov in the final of the Challenger in Drummondville.

He then made the third round of Wimbledon, his best result at the tournament, beating former world No. 2 Tommy Haas in the first round.

The 2018 Australian Open saw Bemelmans win his first match at the tournament in 3 main draw appearances when he earned a credible first round victory over 18th seed Lucas Pouille.^[8]

At the 2018 French Open he made it past the first round for the second consecutive grand slam when he beat Yuki Bhambri in his opening match.^[9] However he lost in five sets in round two to Estonian Jürgen Zopp.^[10]

Bemelmans qualified for the 2018 Wimbledon Championships defeating Bernard Tomic in the final qualifying round.^[11] He then defeated American Steve Johnson in five sets to reach round 2 of a slam for the third consecutive time in 2018.^[12]

2019–2022: Retirement

He made history when he qualified for an Open Era record sixth time at the 2019 Wimbledon Championships beating American Donald Young 6–4, 6–4, 6–1. Bemelmans had been tied for the qualifying record with Alejandro Falla, Ken Flach, Edouard Roger-Vasselin and Jimmy Wang.^[13]

In February 2021, He won his sixth singles Challenger title at the 2021 Challenger La Manche defeating Lukáš Rosol. In September, he also won his tenth doubles Challenger title at the 2021 Challenger Biel/Bienne partnering Daniel Masur.

He played his last singles professional match in the qualifying draw as a wildcard at the 2022 European Open in Antwerp.^[14] He also participated in the doubles event having received also a wildcard partnering compatriot Alexander Blockx where he lost in the first round.^[15]

ATP career finals

Doubles: 1 (1 title)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1–0	Jul 2012	Los Angeles Open, US	250 Series	Hard	Xavier Malisse	Jamie Delgado Ken Skupski	7–6(7–5), 4–6, [10–7]

Team competition finals

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partners	Opponents	Score
Loss	0–1	Jan 2011	Hopman Cup, Perth, Western Australia	Hard	Justine Henin	Bethanie Mattek-Sands John Isner	1–2
Loss	0–2	Nov 2015	Davis Cup, Ghent, Belgium	Clay (i)	David Goffin Steve Darcis Kimmer Coppejans	Andy Murray Kyle Edmund James Ward Jamie Murray	1–3
Loss	0–3	Nov 2017	Davis Cup, Lille, France	Hard (i)	David Goffin Steve Darcis Joris De Loore	Jo-Wilfried Tsonga Lucas Pouille Richard Gasquet Pierre-Hugues Herbert	2–3

Challenger and Futures finals

Singles: 37 (20–17)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	0–1	Mar 2007	Sweden F1, Malmö	Futures	Hard (i)	Pablo Figueroa	6–7(8–10), 5–7
Loss	0–2	Jun 2007	Romania F5, Bacău	Futures	Clay	Artemon Apostu-Efremov	2–6, 0–6
Loss	0–3	Jul 2007	Germany F9, Römerberg	Futures	Clay	Dustin Brown	3–6, 6–7(4–7)
Win	1–3	Jul 2007	Germany F10, Espelkamp	Futures	Clay	Franz Stauder	6–2, 7–5
Win	2–3	Nov 2007	Israel F4, Ramat HaSharon	Futures	Hard	Niels Desein	6–3, 6–3
Loss	2–4	Jan 2008	Germany F3, Kaarst	Futures	Carpet (i)	Jeroen Masson	2–6, 6–4, 2–6
Win	3–4	Mar 2008	Switzerland F2, Bassersdorf	Futures	Carpet (i)	Ladislav Chramosta	3–6, 6–3, 6–2
Win	4–4	May 2008	Italy F15, Cesena	Futures	Clay	Carlos Avellán	6–4, 3–6, 6–0
Loss	4–5	Nov 2008	Aachen, Germany	Challenger	Carpet (i)	Evgeny Korolev	6–7(5–7), 6–7(3–7)
Win	5–5	Feb 2009	France F3, Bressuire	Futures	Hard (i)	Vincent Millot	6–4, 6–3
Win	6–5	Mar 2009	Wolfsburg, Germany	Challenger	Carpet (i)	Stefano Galvani	7–6(7–5), 3–6, 6–3
Win	7–5	Sep 2009	France F15, Plaisir	Futures	Hard (i)	Pierrick Ysern	6–7(5–7), 6–1, 7–5
Win	8–5	Mar 2010	France F4, Lille	Futures	Hard (i)	Niels Desein	6–4, 6–2
Win	9–5	Mar 2010	France F5, Poitiers	Futures	Hard (i)	Charles-Antoine Brézac	6–4, 4–6, 6–4
Win	10–5	Jul 2010	Spain F23, Palma del Río	Futures	Hard	Niels Desein	4–6, 6–4, 7–6(7–1)
Loss	10–6	Nov 2010	Eckental, Germany	Challenger	Carpet (i)	Igor Sijsling	6–3, 2–6, 3–6
Win	11–6	Feb 2011	Wolfsburg, Germany	Challenger	Carpet (i)	Dominik Meffert	6–7(8–10), 6–4, 6–4
Loss	11–7	Jan 2012	Heilbronn, Germany	Challenger	Hard (i)	Björn Phau	7–6(7–4), 3–6, 4–6
Loss	11–8	May 2012	Athens, Greece	Challenger	Hard	Marinko Matosevic	3–6, 4–6
Loss	11–9	Sep 2012	Orléans, France	Challenger	Hard (i)	David Goffin	4–6, 6–3, 3–6
Loss	11–10	Jun 2013	Nottingham, Great Britain	Challenger	Grass	Steve Johnson	5–7, 5–7
Loss	11–11	Nov 2013	Eckental, Germany	Challenger	Carpet (i)	Benjamin Becker	6–2, 6–7(3–7), 4–6
Win	12–11	Nov 2014	Eckental, Germany	Challenger	Carpet (i)	Tim Pütz	7–6(7–3), 6–3
Win	13–11	Feb 2015	Germany F4, Nußloch	Futures	Carpet (i)	Maximilian Marterer	6–3, 6–7(2–7), 7–6(7–5)
Loss	13–12	Feb 2015	Glasgow, Great Britain	Challenger	Hard (i)	Niels Desein	6–7(4–7), 6–2, 6–7(4–7)
Win	14–12	Apr 2015	Le Gosier, Guadeloupe	Challenger	Hard	Édouard Roger-Vasselin	7–6(8–6), 6–3
Win	15–12	Jul 2016	Belgium F5, Middelkerke	Futures	Hard	Yannick Mertens	6–3, 6–7(3–7), 6–1
Win	16–12	Oct 2016	USA F34, Burlingame	Futures	Hard (i)	Sam Barry	6–1, 6–2
Loss	16–13	Nov 2016	Charlottesville, USA	Challenger	Hard (i)	Reilly Opelka	4–6, 6–2, 6–7(5–7)
Loss	16–14	Nov 2016	Champaign, USA	Challenger	Hard (i)	Henri Laaksonen	5–7, 3–6
Win	17–14	Jan 2017	Koblenz, Germany	Challenger	Hard (i)	Nils Langer	6–4, 3–6, 7–6(7–0)
Loss	17–15	Mar 2017	Drummondville, Canada	Challenger	Hard (i)	Denis Shapovalov	3–6, 2–6
Loss	17–16	Jul 2017	Scheveningen, Netherlands	Challenger	Clay	Guillermo García López	1–6, 7–6(7–3), 2–6
Loss	17–17	Nov 2018	Eckental, Germany	Challenger	Carpet (i)	Antoine Hoang	5–7, 3–6
Win	18–17	Jan 2020	Germany M25, Nußloch	ITF World Tennis Tour	Carpet (i)	Jonáš Forejtek	6–7(4–7), 7–6(7–3), 6–2
Win	19–17	Mar 2020	Italy M25, Trento	ITF World Tennis Tour	Hard (i)	Alexander Erler	4–6, 6–2, 6–4
Win	20–17	Feb 2021	Cherbourg, France	Challenger	Hard (i)	Lukas Rosol	6–4, 6–4

Doubles: 40 (27–13)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1–0	Aug 2006	Germany F11, Essen	Futures	Clay	Niels Desein	Antal van der Duim Boy Westerhof	1–6, 7–5, 7–5
Win	2–0	Feb 2007	Spain F7, Cartagena	Futures	Hard	Yannick Mertens	Alessandro da Col Abel Hernández-García	7–6(7–2), 6–2
Loss	2–1	Jun 2007	Netherlands F1, Alkmaar	Futures	Clay	Yannick Mertens	Romano Frantzen Nick van der Meer	4–6, 6–4, 2–6
Win	3–1	Jul 2007	Germany F10, Espelkamp	Futures	Clay	Andre Begemann	Remko de Rijke Bas van der Valk	6–3, 6–3
Loss	3–2	Nov 2007	Great Britain F21, Redbridge	Futures	Hard (i)	Niels Desein	Josh Goodall Ken Skupski	7–5, 6–7(3–7), [5–10]
Win	4–2	Mar 2008	France F5, Poitiers	Futures	Hard (i)	Stefan Wauters	Julien Jeanpierre Josselin Ouanna	7–5, 6–4
Loss	4–3	Apr 2008	Turkey F5, Antalya	Futures	Clay	Yannick Mertens	Karim Maamoun Sherif Sabry	6–3, 4–6, [10–12]
Win	5–3	May 2008	Italy F15, Cesena	Futures	Clay	Horacio Zeballos	Antonio Pastorino Damián Patriarca	6–2, 6–4
Win	6–3	Jun 2008	Slovenia F2, Maribor	Futures	Clay	Bart de Keersmaeker	Markus Hipfl Marco Mirnegg	6–1, 6–3
Win	7–3	Aug 2008	Belgium F2, Koksijde	Futures	Clay	Niels Desein	Alexandre Folie David Goffin	7–5, 7–5
Win	8–3	Sep 2008	France F14, Mulhouse	Futures	Hard (i)	Niels Desein	Dustin Brown Stefan Seifert	7–6(13–11), 6–3
Win	9–3	Oct 2008	France F18, Saint-Dizier	Futures	Hard (i)	Niels Desein	Guillermo Alcaide Nikolai Nesterov	6–4, 3–6, [10–6]
Loss	9–4	Sep 2009	St Remy, France	Challenger	Hard	Niels Desein	Jiří Krkoška Lukáš Lacko	1–6, 6–3, [3–10]
Win	10–4	Sep 2009	France F14, Mulhouse	Futures	Hard (i)	Yannick Mertens	Konstantin Kravchuk Alexander Kudryavtsev	6–3, 7–6(8–6)
Win	11–4	Mar 2010	France F4, Lille	Futures	Hard (i)	Niels Desein	Raven Klaasen Izak van der Merwe	7–6(7–4), 6–3
Win	12–4	Mar 2010	France F5, Poitiers	Futures	Hard (i)	Yannick Mertens	Olivier Patience Nicolas Renavand	3–6, 6–1, [10–6]
Loss	12–5	Oct 2010	Mons, Belgium	Challenger	Hard (i)	Yannick Mertens	Filip Polášek Igor Zelenay	6–3, 4–6, [5–10]
Win	13–5	Nov 2010	Aachen, Germany	Challenger	Carpet (i)	Igor Sijsling	Jamie Delgado Jonathan Marray	6–4, 3–6, [11–9]
Win	14–5	Aug 2012	Vancouver, Canada	Challenger	Hard	Maxime Authom	John Peers John-Patrick Smith	6–4, 6–2
Loss	14–6	Jun 2014	Nottingham, Great Britain	Challenger	Grass	Go Soeda	Rameez Junaid Michael Venus	6–4, 6–7(1–7), [6–10]
Win	15–6	Aug 2014	Aptos, USA	Challenger	Hard	Laurynas Grigelis	Purav Raja Sanam Singh	6–3, 4–6, [11–9]
Loss	15–7	Oct 2014	France F24, Rodez	Futures	Hard (i)	Maxime Authom	James Cluskey David O'Hare	6–7(5–7), 6–3, [8–10]
Win	16–7	Nov 2014	Eckental, Germany	Challenger	Carpet (i)	Niels Desein	Andreas Beck Philipp Petzschner	6–3, 4–6, [10–8]
Win	17–7	Oct 2015	Mons, Belgium	Challenger	Hard (i)	Philipp Petzschner	Rameez Junaid Igor Zelenay	6–3, 6–1
Win	18–7	Nov 2015	Eckental, Germany	Challenger	Carpet (i)	Philipp Petzschner	Ken Skupski Neal Skupski	7–5, 6–2
Win	19–7	Jul 2016	Belgium F5, Middelkerke	Futures	Hard	Yannick Mertens	Hunter Johnson Yates Johnson	6–1, 6–1
Loss	19–8	Jul 2016	Recanati, Italy	Challenger	Hard	Adrián Menéndez Maceiras	Kevin Krawietz Albano Olivetti	3–6, 6–7(4–7)
Loss	19–9	Nov 2016	Knoxville, USA	Challenger	Hard (i)	Joris De Loore	Peter Polansky Adil Shamasdin	1–6, 3–6
Loss	19–10	Nov 2016	Kyoto, Japan	Challenger	Hard (i)	Joris De Loore	Sanchai Ratiwatana Sonchat Ratiwatana	6–4, 4–6, [7–10]
Loss	19–11	Apr 2018	Le Gosier, Guadeloupe	Challenger	Hard	Jonathan Eysseric	John-Patrick Smith Neal Skupski	6–7(3–7), 4–6
Win	20–11	Apr 2019	Tunis, Tunisia	Challenger	Clay	Tim Pütz	Facundo Argüello Guillermo Durán	6–3, 6–1
Loss	20–12	May 2019	Seoul, Korea, Rep.	Challenger	Hard	Sergiy Stakhovsky	Max Purcell Luke Saville	4–6, 6–7(7–9)
Win	21–12	Sep 2019	Glasgow, United Kingdom	Challenger	Hard (i)	Daniel Masur	Jamie Murray John-Patrick Smith	4–6, 6–3, [10–8]
Win	22–12	Mar 2020	Italy M25, Trento	ITF World Tennis Tour	Hard (i)	Daniel Masur	Alexander Erler David Jordà Sanchis	7–6(9–7), 6–2
Win	23–12	Feb 2021	Quimper, France	Challenger	Hard (i)	Daniel Masur	Brandon Nakashima Hunter Reese	6–2, 6–1
Win	24–12	Sep 2021	Biel/Bienne, Switzerland	Challenger	Hard (i)	Daniel Masur	Marc-Andrea Hüsler Dominic Stricker	w/o
Loss	24–13	Nov 2021	Eckental, Germany	Challenger	Carpet (i)	Daniel Masur	Roman Jebavý Jonny O'Mara	4–6, 5–7
Win	25–13	Jan 2022	Bendigo, Australia	Challenger	Hard	Daniel Masur	Enzo Couacaud Blaž Rola	7–6(7–2), 6–4
Win	26–13	Feb 2022	Turin, Italy	Challenger	Hard (i)	Daniel Masur	Sander Arends David Pel	3–6, 6–3, [10–8]
Win	27–13	Mar 2022	Lugano, Switzerland	Challenger	Hard (i)	Daniel Masur	Jérôme Kym Leandro Riedi	6–4, 6–7(5–7), [10–7]

Singles performance timeline

Best Grand Slam results details

Australian Open 2018 Australian Open (qualifier) Round Opponent Score Q1 Kamil Majchrzak 7–5, 5–7, 7–5 Q2 Viktor Galović 5–7, 6–3, 7–5 Q3 Lee Duck-hee 6–4, 6–4 1R Lucas Pouille (18) 6–4, 6–4, 6–7(4–7), 7–6(8–6) 2R Nikoloz Basilashvili 5–7, 1–6, 3–6

French Open 2018 French Open (Lucky Loser) Round Opponent Score Q1 Ugo Humbert (WC) 6–4, 6–7(6–8), 6–3 Q2 Nino Serdarušić 6–2, 6–3 Q3 Thomaz Bellucci 2–6, 6–2, 5–7 1R Yuki Bhambri 6–4, 6–4, 6–1 2R Jürgen Zopp (LL) 6–4, 6–4, 3–6, 4–6, 4–6

Wimbledon Championships 2017 Wimbledon (qualifier) Round Opponent Score Q1 Tristan Lamasine 3–6, 6–1, 6–3 Q2 Mathias Bourgue 6–4, 3–6, 6–3 Q3 Gerald Melzer (27) 6–4, 7–5, 6–3 1R Tommy Haas (WC) 6–2, 3–6, 6–3, 7–5 2R Daniil Medvedev 6–4, 6–2, 3–6, 2–6, 6–3 3R Kevin Anderson 6–7(3–7), 4–6, 6–7(3–7)

US Open 2015 US Open Round Opponent Score 1R Gilles Müller 6–4, 1–6, 6–4, 6–4 2R Jack Sock (28) 4–6, 4–6, 6–3, 2–1 ret. 3R Stan Wawrinka (5) 3–6, 6–7(5–7), 4–6

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