Artem Sitak

Junior years

Coached during the 1990s by Santini, As a 13-year-old in 1999, Sitak received a wildcard into the main draw of an ITF junior tournament in Russia as a 13-year-old in 1999. He was defeated by Evgeni Smirnov 6–4, 6–1. The following year he entered the qualifying draw of the same tournament, and defeated future ATP top 50 player Denis Istomin 6–0, 6–1 to win his first ITF junior match. Sitak was taken out in the third and final round of qualifying by a future ATP top 100 player Teimuraz Gabashvili 6–4, 7–5.

At the age of 14, Sitak won the prestigious Orange Bowl.

Sitak made his first junior Grand Slam appearance at the age of 15 at the 2002 Australian Open where he was beaten in straight sets by Australian Christopher Roman. Sitak's last junior tournament came a year later at the 2003 Australian Open where he was eliminated by Korean Suk Hyun-Joon in the first round.

Senior career

Sitak began his senior career in 2002 at a challenger event in Togliatti, Russia, where he received a wildcard into the main draw but fell in the first round to Thomas Blake, older brother of former top 10 player James Blake. Sitak's first title came in 2005 in a Russian futures tournament, where he defeated Pavel Chekhov 4–6, 6–4, 6–4 in the final.

2011

Sitak began 2011 under the New Zealand flag and received a wildcard into the 2011 Heineken Open qualifying, where he was defeated by Frenchman Ludovic Walter 6–3, 6–4 in the first round.

2014 – first ATP Doubles title

Sitak partnered Polish tennis player Mateusz Kowalczyk to win the 2014 MercedesCup doubles title, defeating Philipp Oswald and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 2–6, 6–1, 10–7 in the final.

2017

Sitak's long-running doubles partnership with Nicholas Monroe came to an end after Wimbledon in 2017, and he subsequently teamed up with Dutch player Wesley Koolhof. They reached the final in Atlanta, losing to the Bryan brothers, and lost in the first round at the US Open before winning a Challenger event in Szczecin, Poland, and losing another ATP final, this time in Metz, to Julien Benneteau and Édouard Roger-Vasselin.

2018

Starting the new year in Brisbane, Sitak and Koolhof lost in the semi-finals to Leonardo Mayer and Horacio Zeballos. They lost in the first round in Auckland to Michael Venus and Raven Klaasen, and then 7–6 (5), 4–6, 4–6 in the second round of the Australian Open to the eventual winners, Oliver Marach and Mate Pavić. Although they were not in the original draw for the Mixed Doubles, Sitak and Olga Savchuk teamed up as alternates after an injury to Anastasia Rodionova in her women's doubles match meant that she and Marach could not participate. They were beaten in a first-round match tie-break by Nadiia Kichenok and Marcel Granollers.

Sitak and Koolhof then went to Newport Beach in California where, as top seeds, they lost in the first round, 2–6, 1–6, to Treat Huey and Denis Kudla. After that came the Davis Cup where, in Tianjin, Sitak and Marcus Daniell lost their doubles tie to the lowly-ranked Chinese pair of Gong Mao-Xin and Zhang Ze. Sitak and Koolhof then lost in the quarter-finals at Montpellier before going all the way to the final in the New York Open, being beaten by Max Mirnyi and Philipp Oswald in a match tie-break. They followed that up with a first round loss at Delray Beach to Scott Lipsky and Divij Sharan.

Their up and down season continued in Brazil, where they reached the final in São Paulo, but were beaten in straight sets by Federico Delbonis and Máximo González. Their next stop was Irving, Texas, where they lost in the semi-finals of the ATP Challenger to Alexander Peya and Philipp Petzschner. Moving to Europe, and playing in the Alicante Challenger in Spain as preparation for the European clay court season, they won their second title together when they beat Guido Andreozzi and Ariel Behar 6-3, 6-2, in the final, but they lost in the first round of their next tournament in Marrakech. In the Hungarian Open they beat the top seeds Nikola Mektic and Alexander Peya in the first round, but lost in the second to Marcin Matkowski and Sitak's former partner Nicholas Monroe.

Their next tournament was at Estoril where they went all the way to the final before losing to the British pair of Kyle Edmund and Cameron Norrie, 2-6, 4-6. They then lost in the first round of the Bordeaux Challenger tournament after Sitak had been hit in the right ear by a smash from Radu Albot, and also in the first round in Geneva, the last tournament before the French Open.

At Roland Garros, Sitak and Koolhof beat Andre Begemann and Antonio Sancic in the first round, then the ninth seeds Ivan Dodig and Rajeev Ram, before going down to fifth seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah. All three matches went to a deciding set. After the tournament finished it was announced that the pair would split, with Koolhof joining Sitak's fellow New Zealander, and former partner, Marcus Daniell, and Sitak linking up with Indian Divij Sharan.^[4]

Sitak and Sharan's first tournament together was at 's-Hertogenbosch, where they were beaten in the semi-finals by Michael Venus and Raven Klaasen. They then lost in a big upset in the first round of qualifying at Halle, before finding top seeds Cabal and Farah their nemesis in the first round at Eastbourne.

They reached the quarter-finals at Wimbledon, the best-ever result in a Grand Slam tournament for either of them. They had to come from two sets down in both their second and third round matches, against Julio Peralta and Horacio Zeballos and Marcin Matkowski and Jonathan Erlich respectively, before lining up against Mike Bryan and Jack Sock in the quarter-finals. There were three tie-break sets to start, and just one loss of serve in the fourth set was enough to seal their defeat at the hands of the eventual champions. In mixed doubles, Sitak teamed up with Ukrainian Lyudmyla Kichenok to beat Argentina's Leonardo Mayer and Maria Irigoyen, but he withdrew from the second round due to fatigue from the length of the men's doubles matches.

Sitak teamed up with Erlich for the Hall of Fame Championships in Newport, marching imperiously to the final, where they very quickly swept aside clay-court specialists Marcelo Arevalo and Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela. Sitak maintained that it was their experience which counted - it was the 39th ATP final for Erlich, and the 11th for Sitak, but just the first for both their opponents.

Moving on to Washington DC for the Citi Open, Sitak and Sharan beat Jamie Cerretani and Leander Paes in the first round before losing to Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares in the quarter-finals. Sitak then entered the Toronto Masters with Stefanos Tsitsipas, and received a first-round call up as an alternate for a withdrawn pair. They ended up playing Michael Venus and Raven Klaasen, and lost 6-4, 6-4. Moving on to Cinncinati for the next Masters event, the pair qualified for direct acceptance. In the first round they were drawn against Ivan Dodig and Robin Haase, and lost in a match tie-break.

In his last tournament before the US Open, Sitak teamed up with Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi at Winston-Salem. They beat Max Mirnyi and Philipp Oswald, then Marcelo Demoliner and Santiago Gonzalez, before falling to Jamie Cerretani and Leander Paes in the semi-final. In the US Open, Sitak and Sharan lost to eventual runners-up Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo in the second round, while Sitak and Lyudmyla Kichenok were beaten in a tight first round battle in the mixed doubles, losing 10-8 in the match tie-break to fourth seeds Latisha Chan and Ivan Dodig.

The US Open was followed by New Zealand's Davis Cup tie against Korea in Gimcheon, where Sitak and debutant Ajeet Rai were successful in their doubles rubber. However, New Zealand lost the tie 3-2, and were relegated to Group II of the Asia/Oceania zone for the first time in five years.

Doubles: 11 (4 titles, 7 runners-up)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1–0	Jul 2014	Stuttgart Open, Germany	250 Series	Clay	Mateusz Kowalczyk	Guillermo García-López Philipp Oswald	2–6, 6–1, [10–7]
Win	2–0	Feb 2015	Open Sud de France, France	250 Series	Hard (i)	Marcus Daniell	Dominic Inglot Florin Mergea	3–6, 6–4, [16–14]
Loss	2–1	Feb 2015	Memphis Open, United States	250 Series	Hard (i)	Donald Young	Mariusz Fyrstenberg Santiago González	7–5, 6–7(1–7), [8–10]
Loss	2–2	Apr 2015	Romanian Open, Romania	250 Series	Clay	Nicholas Monroe	Marius Copil Adrian Ungur	6–3, 5–7, [15–17]
Win	3–2	Jun 2016	Stuttgart Open, Germany (2)	250 Series	Grass	Marcus Daniell	Oliver Marach Fabrice Martin	6–7(4–7), 6–4, [10–8]
Loss	3–3	Jul 2017	Atlanta Open, United States	250 Series	Hard	Wesley Koolhof	Bob Bryan Mike Bryan	3–6, 4–6
Loss	3–4	Sep 2017	Moselle Open, France	250 Series	Hard (i)	Wesley Koolhof	Julien Benneteau Édouard Roger-Vasselin	5–7, 3–6
Loss	3–5	Feb 2018	New York Open, United States	250 Series	Hard (i)	Wesley Koolhof	Max Mirnyi Philipp Oswald	4–6, 6–4, [6–10]
Loss	3–6	Mar 2018	Brasil Open, Brazil	250 Series	Clay (i)	Wesley Koolhof	Federico Delbonis Máximo González	4–6, 2–6
Loss	3–7	May 2018	Estoril Open, Portugal	250 Series	Clay	Wesley Koolhof	Kyle Edmund Cameron Norrie	4–6, 2–6
Win	4–7	Jul 2018	Hall of Fame Tennis Championships, United States	250 Series	Grass	Jonathan Erlich	Marcelo Arévalo Miguel Ángel Reyes-Varela	6–1, 6–2

Singles: 17 (5 titles, 12 runners-up)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	0–1	Dec 2004	Qatar F5, Doha	Futures	Hard	Melvyn Op der Heijde	4–6, 3–6
Loss	0–2	Jun 2005	Spain F13, Lanzarote	Futures	Hard	Jimmy Wang	3–6, 3–6
Win	1–2	Aug 2005	Russia F3, Korolyov	Futures	Clay	Pavel Chekhov	4–6, 6–4, 6–4
Loss	1–3	Aug 2007	Russia F4, Moscow	Futures	Clay	Vladimir Voltchkov	6–7(4–7), 1–6
Loss	1–4	Feb 2008	Portugal F3, Albufeira	Futures	Hard	Victor Ioniță	3–6, 4–6
Win	2–4	Mar 2008	USA F6, McAllen	Futures	Hard	Tim Smyczek	6–4, 6–2
Win	3–4	Apr 2008	USA F8, Little Rock	Futures	Hard	Matthew Roberts	6–4, 6–3
Loss	3–5	Oct 2008	USA F26, Hammond	Futures	Hard	Jean-Yves Aubone	4–6, 0–6
Loss	3–6	Jun 2009	USA F12, Loomis	Futures	Hard	Jesse Witten	6–4, 6–7(5–7), 2–6
Loss	3–7	Sep 2009	Russia F7, Sergiyev Posad	Futures	Clay	Evgeny Kirillov	0–6, 3–6
Loss	3–8	Nov 2009	USA F29, Amelia Island	Futures	Clay	Jack Sock	6–7(5–7), 6–1, 3–6
Win	4–8	Mar 2010	USA F7, McAllen	Futures	Hard	Mario Ančić	6–1, 6–4
Loss	4–9	Jun 2010	USA F14, Davis	Futures	Hard	Fritz Wolmarans	3–6, 4–6
Loss	4–10	Aug 2010	Russia F4, Moscow	Futures	Clay	Mikhail Vasiliev	6–7(3–7), 4–6
Loss	4–11	Jun 2011	Mexico F7, Morelia	Futures	Hard	Marcel Felder	6–2, 4–6, 4–6
Loss	4–12	Sep 2011	USA F24, Costa Mesa	Futures	Hard	Steve Johnson	3–6, 3–6
Win	5–12	Dec 2012	Cambodia F2, Phnom Penh	Futures	Hard	Alexander Ward	6–4, 6–7(3–7), 7–6(7–4)

Doubles: 55 (27 titles, 28 runners-up)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1–0	Aug 2003	Russia F1, Sergiyev Posad	Futures	Clay	Dmitri Sitak	Alexei Ageev Alexander Markin	6–3, 6–2
Loss	1–1	Aug 2003	Russia F3, Zhukovsky	Futures	Clay	Dmitri Sitak	Vitali Chvets Alexey Sergeev	6–7(4–7), 1–5 ret.
Win	2–1	Dec 2004	Qatar F3, Doha	Futures	Hard	Dmitri Sitak	Jaco Mathew Ravishankar Pathanjali	6–3, 6–3
Win	3–1	Dec 2004	Qatar F4, Doha	Futures	Hard	Dmitri Sitak	Yordan Kanev Ilia Kushev	7–6(7–5), 6–0
Win	4–1	Dec 2004	Qatar F5, Doha	Futures	Hard	Dmitri Sitak	Yordan Kanev Ilia Kushev	Walkover
Loss	4–2	Feb 2005	Spain F2, Murcia	Futures	Clay	Gerald Bremond	Antonio Baldellou-Esteva Germán Puentes	3–6, 5–7
Loss	4–3	Apr 2005	Uzbekistan F2, Guliston	Futures	Hard	Dmitri Sitak	Alexey Kedryuk Sunil-Kumar Sipaeya	3–6, 6–1, 3–6
Win	5–3	Jun 2005	Spain F12, La Palma	Futures	Hard	Dmitri Sitak	Javier Genaro-Martinez Daniel Vallverdu	7–6(8–6), 7–6(7–4)
Win	6–3	Aug 2005	Russia F3, Korolyov	Futures	Clay	Dmitri Sitak	Victor Kozin Alexei Miller	6–4, 7–6(7–4)
Win	7–3	Jan 2006	Germany F2, Stuttgart	Futures	Hard (i)	Stéphane Bohli	Philipp Marx Torsten Popp	6–3, 7–5
Win	8–3	Mar 2006	France F5, Lille	Futures	Hard (i)	Stéphane Bohli	Fred Gil Filip Urban	6–1, 6–2
Loss	8–4	Jul 2006	Penza, Russia	Challenger	Hard	Denis Matsukevich	Murad Inoyatov Denis Istomin	1–6, 3–6
Loss	8–5	Dec 2006	Tunisia F7, Mégrine	Futures	Hard	Ludwig Pellerin	Patrick Briaud Adam Davidson	3–6, 7–6(7–5), 4–6
Win	9–5	Feb 2007	Italy F2, Trento	Futures	Hard (i)	Dmitri Sitak	Raphael Durek Joseph Sirianni	7–6(7–4), 6–3
Loss	9–6	Apr 2007	Russia F2, Tyumen	Futures	Hard (i)	Dmitri Sitak	Evgeny Kirillov Konstantin Kravchuk	6–7(5–7), 4–6
Loss	9–7	May 2007	Belarus F1, Minsk	Futures	Hard	Ivan Cerović	Sergey Betov Vladimir Voltchkov	4–6, 7–5, 3–6
Loss	9–8	Aug 2007	Russia F4, Moscow	Futures	Clay	Dmitri Sitak	Alexandre Krasnoroutskiy Denys Molchanov	4–6, 2–6
Win	10–8	Sep 2008	Lubbock, US	Challenger	Hard	Roman Borvanov	Alex Bogomolov Dušan Vemić	6–2, 6–3
Loss	10–9	Aug 2009	Russia F3, Moscow	Futures	Clay	David Savić	Ilya Belyaev Evgeny Donskoy	6–1, 6–7(5–7), [10–12]
Win	11–9	Nov 2009	USA F27, Birmingham	Futures	Clay	Tigran Martirosyan	Colt Gaston Michael Venus	6–3, 6–4
Win	12–9	Nov 2009	USA F28, Niceville	Futures	Clay	Tigran Martirosyan	Sekou Bangoura Denis Kudla	6–4, 7–5
Win	13–9	Feb 2010	USA F6, Harlingen	Futures	Hard	Cătălin-Ionuț Gârd	Matej Bocko Vladimir Obradović	6–4, 7–6(7–3)
Loss	13–10	May 2010	Carson, US	Challenger	Hard	Leonardo Tavares	Brian Battistone Nicholas Monroe	7–5, 3–6, [4–10]
Win	14–10	Jun 2010	Ojai, US	Challenger	Hard	Leonardo Tavares	Harsh Mankad Izak van der Merwe	4–6, 6–4, [10–8]
Win	15–10	Aug 2010	Beijing, China	Challenger	Hard	Pierre-Ludovic Duclos	Sadik Kadir Purav Raja	7–6(7–4), 7–6(7–5)
Loss	15–11	Aug 2010	Russia F4, Moscow	Futures	Clay	Anton Manegin	Ilya Belyaev David Savić	3–6, 3–6
Win	16–11	Apr 2011	USA F9, Little Rock	Futures	Hard	Nima Roshan	Taylor Fogleman Benjamin Rogers	6–3, 7–5
Win	17–11	Jun 2011	Mexico F7, Morelia	Futures	Hard	Marcus Daniell	Ruben Gonzales Chris Kwon	6–0, 6–3
Loss	17–12	Aug 2011	Colombia F4, Medellín	Futures	Clay	Peter Aarts	Raony Carvalho Fabiano de Paula	3–6, 3–6
Loss	17–13	Mar 2012	USA F7, Calabasas	Futures	Hard	Nima Roshan	Carsten Ball Andre Begemann	6–7(7–9), 4–6
Loss	17–14	Apr 2012	Tallahassee, US	Challenger	Hard	Blake Strode	Martin Emmrich Andreas Siljeström	2–6, 6–7(4–7)
Loss	17–15	Oct 2012	Turkey F38, Antalya	Futures	Hard	Edoardo Eremin	Maxim Dubarenco Brydan Klein	4–6, 6–3, [9–11]
Loss	17–16	Nov 2012	USA F31, Niceville	Futures	Clay	Andrei Vasilevski	Jason Jung Ryan Thacher	5–7, 2–6
Loss	17–17	Jan 2013	Nouméa, New Caledonia	Challenger	Hard	Rubin Statham	Sam Groth Toshihide Matsui	6–7(6–8), 6–1, [4–10]
Win	18–17	Mar 2013	Australia F4, Ipswich	Futures	Hard	Rubin Statham	Jacob Grills Dane Propoggia	6–3, 6–1
Loss	18–18	Apr 2013	USA F9, Oklahoma City	Futures	Hard	Saketh Myneni	Jean-Yves Aubone Dennis Nevolo	1–6, 5–7
Loss	18–19	Jul 2013	Oberstaufen, Germany	Challenger	Clay	Stephan Fransen	Dominik Meffert Philipp Oswald	1–6, 6–3, [12–14]
Win	19–19	Oct 2013	São Paulo, Brazil	Challenger	Clay	Roman Borvanov	Sergio Galdós Guido Pella	6–4, 7–6(7–3)
Loss	19–20	Nov 2013	Toyota, Japan	Challenger	Carpet (i)	Marcus Daniell	Chase Buchanan Blaž Rola	6–4, 3–6, [4–10]
Loss	19–21	Apr 2014	León, Mexico	Challenger	Hard	Marcus Daniell	Sam Groth Chris Guccione	3–6, 4–6
Win	20–21	May 2014	Rome, Italy	Challenger	Clay	Radu Albot	Andrea Arnaboldi Flavio Cipolla	4–6, 6–2, [11–9]
Loss	20–22	Jun 2014	Arad, Romania	Challenger	Clay	Radu Albot	Franko Škugor Antonio Veić	4–6, 6–7(3–7)
Win	21–22	Jul 2014	Granby, Canada	Challenger	Hard	Marcus Daniell	Jordan Kerr Fabrice Martin	7–6(7–5), 5–7, [10–5]
Loss	21–23	Aug 2014	Vancouver, Canada	Challenger	Hard	Marcus Daniell	Austin Krajicek John-Patrick Smith	3–6, 6–4, [8–10]
Loss	21–24	Nov 2014	Traralgon, Australia	Challenger	Hard	Marcus Daniell	Brydan Klein Dane Propoggia	6–7(6–8), 6–3, [6–10]
Loss	21–25	Nov 2014	Yokohama, Japan	Challenger	Hard	Marcus Daniell	Bradley Klahn Matt Reid	6–4, 4–6, [7–10]
Loss	21–26	May 2015	Aix-en-Provence, France	Challenger	Clay	Nicholas Monroe	Robin Haase Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi	1–6, 2–6
Win	22–26	Aug 2015	Aptos, US	Challenger	Hard	Chris Guccione	Yuki Bhambri Matthew Ebden	6–4, 7–6(7–2)
Loss	22–27	Oct 2015	Tashkent, Uzbekistan	Challenger	Hard	Andre Begemann	Sergey Betov Mikhail Elgin	4–6, 4–6
Win	23–27	Mar 2016	Puebla, Mexico	Challenger	Hard	Marcus Daniell	Santiago González Mate Pavić	3–6, 6–2, [12–10]
Win	24–27	Mar 2016	San Luis Potosí, Mexico	Challenger	Clay	Marcus Daniell	Santiago González Mate Pavić	6–3, 7–6(7–4)
Win	25–27	Mar 2017	Guadalajara, Mexico	Challenger	Hard	Santiago González	Luke Saville John-Patrick Smith	6–3, 1–6, [10–5]
Loss	25–28	May 2017	Bordeaux, France	Challenger	Clay	Santiago González	Purav Raja Divij Sharan	4–6, 4–6
Win	26–28	Sep 2017	Szczecin, Poland	Challenger	Clay	Wesley Koolhof	Aliaksandr Bury Andreas Siljeström	6–1, 7–5
Win	27–28	Apr 2018	Alicante, Spain	Challenger	Clay	Wesley Koolhof	Guido Andreozzi Ariel Behar	6–3, 6–2