Sébastien Leblanc
# Sébastien Leblanc

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, 6–7, 7–6, 9–7 at Roland Garros and 7–6(5) 4–6 6–3. 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, 6–7 6–3 6–4. 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, 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, 2–6, 7–6(2), 6–0 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)

| Result | Year | Tournament | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Win | 1990 | French Open | Clay | Sébastien Lareau | Clinton Marsh Marcos Ondruska | 7–6, 6–7, 9–7 |
| Win | 1990 | Wimbledon | Grass | Sébastien Lareau | Clinton Marsh Marcos Ondruska | $7–6^{(7–5)},$ 4–6, 6–3 |
| Win | 1990 | US Open | Hard | Greg Rusedski | Mårten Renström Mikael Tillström | 6–7, 6–3, 6–4 |

## ATP Challenger and ITF Futures Finals

### Doubles: 9 (5–4)

* Legend
* ATP Challenger (5–4)
* ITF Futures (0–0)
* Finals by surface
* Hard (4–1)
* Clay (1–3)
* Grass (0–0)
* Carpet (0–0)

| Result | W–L | Date | Tournament | Tier | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Loss | 0–1 | Sep 1991 | Graz, Austria | Challenger | Clay | Markus Naewie | Jan Apell Raviv Weidenfeld | 3–6, 3–6 |
| Win | 1–1 | Jul 1994 | Montebello, Canada | Challenger | Hard | Sébastien Lareau | Sergio Gomez-Barrio Brian Gyetko | 6–2, 6–3 |
| Loss | 1–2 | Jun 1995 | Eisenach, Germany | Challenger | Clay | Chris Woodruff | Dirk Dier Lars Koslowski | 6–3, 3–6, 6–7 |
| Win | 2–2 | Jul 1995 | Aptos, United States | Challenger | Hard | Brian Macphie | Bill Barber Ari Nathan | 6–3, 6–2 |
| Win | 3–2 | Nov 1995 | Santiago, Chile | Challenger | Clay | Brandon Coupe | Nicolás Lapentti Gabriel Silberstein | 3–6, 7–5, 6–4 |
| Loss | 3–3 | Apr 1996 | Prague, Czech Republic | Challenger | Clay | Aleksandar Kitinov | Donald Johnson Francisco Montana | 6–3, 3–6, 1–6 |
| Win | 4–3 | Jul 1996 | Aptos, United States | Challenger | Hard | Jocelyn Robichaud | Neville Godwin Geoff Grant | 7–6, 6–7, 7–5 |
| Loss | 4–4 | Sep 1996 | Aruba, Aruba | Challenger | Hard | Grant Stafford | Mahesh Bhupathi Leander Paes | 2–6, 2–6 |
| Win | 5–4 | Jul 1997 | Aptos, United States | Challenger | Hard | Jocelyn Robichaud | David Caldwell Adam Peterson | 7–6, 6–4 |
