In 2001 Starace became a professional tennis player. In 2004 he reached the third round of the French Open as a qualifier with victories over Dmitri Tursunow and Sébastien Grosjean . There he was defeated by the former number 1, Marat Safin , after two match points awarded in five sets with 7: 6, 4 , 4: 6, 6: 3, 5: 7 and 5: 7. In the same year he reached the second round of the US Open and made his debut in the Davis Cup .
In 2007 he moved into the final of the ATP tournament in Valencia , where he lost to Nicolás Almagro in three sets. At the French Open he again reached the third round, in which he was defeated by world number one Roger Federer . At the end of July he reached the final of the Kitzbühel tournament , which he lost to Juan Mónaco . On October 15, 2007, Starace was number 27 in the world, its top ranking.
On December 22, 2007 it was announced that Starace was suspended for six weeks from January 1, 2008 for illegal sports betting.
In 2010 Starace was in the final of the Umag ATP tournament , in which he was defeated in two sets by Juan Carlos Ferrero . In 2011 he reached the final of Casablanca , which he lost in straight sets to Pablo Andújar . With that he also lost his fourth ATP final.
In 2012 Starace reached the semi-finals of the French Open with his doubles partner Daniele Bracciali , they were defeated by the number 1 pairing Max Mirny / Daniel Nestor with 3: 6 and 4: 6. Starace won a total of six tournaments in the doubles competition on the ATP World Tour .
On August 7, 2015, the court of the Italian Tennis Association gave him a life ban and a fine of 20,000 euros. He and Daniele Bracciali were accused of manipulating games and being involved in betting fraud. Finally, in early 2018, they were acquitted by an Italian court. Both now want to demand compensation.
successes
Legend (number of victories)
Grand Slam
ATP World Tour Finals
ATP World Tour Masters 1000
ATP International Series Gold ATP World Tour 500 (2)