He began playing tennis aged 10 and trained with other juniors including Marat Safin in Valencia.

[2] In the late 1990s he started competing professionally and in his early satellite career had wins over Juan Carlos Ferrero, Gastón Gaudio and a young Rafael Nadal, who he beat twice in a week at a Spanish tournament in 2001.

At Challenger level he won one title, the doubles at Antwerp in 2001, partnering Canada's Jerry Turek.

[3] In 2002 he made the quarter-finals at the Romanian Open, an ATP Tour tournament, which he played as a qualifier.

He beat Željko Krajan and Irakli Labadze, before being eliminated by top seed Andrei Pavel.