He began the year at the Heineken Open and made the quarterfinals. He made his Australian Open debut, making it to the third round, where he was defeated by Younes El Aynaoui in a tight five–setter, 6–7(3–7), 6–4, 6–4, 6–7(5–7), 4–6. Shortly after, he reached the finals at the Dubai Tennis Championships, losing to Nicolas Kiefer, en route earning his first top 10 win over then No. 9 Nicolás Lapentti in the second round. He backed it up with a semifinal showing at the Franklin Templeton Tennis Classic, falling to Australian Lleyton Hewitt. At the first Masters of the year, he lost his first matches at the Indian Wells Masters to Michael Chang 5–7, 4–6 and at the Ericsson Open to George Bastl. He then represented Davis Cup for the first time, winning both his matches.