Igor Kunitsyn

Igor Kunitsyn (Russian: И́горь Константи́нович Куни́цын; born September 30, 1981) is a retired tennis player from Russia. He made it into the top 100 for the first time in 2006, and reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 35 in July 2009.[1]

Igor Kunitsyn
И́горь Куни́цын
Country (sports) Russia
ResidenceVladivostok, Russia
Born (1981-09-30) 30 September 1981
Vladivostok, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Height1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Turned pro1999
Retired2013
PlaysRight-handed (two-handed backhand)
Prize money$2,496,799
Singles
Career record84–126
Career titles1
Highest rankingNo. 35 (6 July 2009)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open2R (2010, 2011)
French Open1R (2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012)
Wimbledon2R (2006, 2009, 2011)
US Open3R (2011)
Doubles
Career record53–68
Career titles1
Highest rankingNo. 49 (9 June 2008)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open2R (2009)
French OpenSF (2008)
Wimbledon2R (2007, 2008)
US Open3R (2008)
Team competitions
Davis CupSF (2008)

Early life

Kunitsyn was raised by his grandparents in Vladivostok, on the eastern coast of Russia when he was young. He started playing tennis at age seven.[1]

Tennis career

Kunitsyn is arguably best known for two matches against compatriot Marat Safin. The first of which was at the 2007 Tennis Channel Open's round-robin stage. Kunitsyn had won the first set, and had an early break in the second before Safin fought back and then got a 5–3 lead. While serving for the match, Kunitsyn broke Safin and then held to get it to 5–5. The set went to a tiebreaker which Safin won. Kunitsyn was still dangerous, as he won the first three games of the third set, before losing the next four. Kunitsyn performed the same as before, and broke Safin again to get the set on equal terms. At 5–5, Kunitsyn suffered a service break and Safin ultimately won the third set 7–5.[2] The pair met again in the final of the Kremlin Cup, an ATP tournament played in Moscow, which is to date Kunitsyn's only tour final and was Safin's last appearance in an ATP final before his retirement in 2010. In what was a considerable upset, Kunitsyn defeated the former two-time Grand Slam winner and world No. 1, 7–6, 6–7, 6–3 for his first and, to date, only professional title.

In August 2008, he made the semifinals of the Legg Mason Tennis Classic, beating Mischa Zverev, Fabio Fognini, and Somdev Devvarman, before losing Viktor Troicki. In June 2009, he lost to Israeli Dudi Sela, at 's-Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands in a grass-court tune-up for Wimbledon. In Wimbledon, he lost to Andy Roddick in the second round in four sets, winning the third set.

Heavily favored Russia was hosted by Israel in a Davis Cup quarterfinal tie in July 2009, on indoor hard courts at the Nokia Arena in Tel Aviv. Russia had won the Davis Cup in both 2002 and 2006, and was the top-ranked country in Davis Cup standings.[3] With Israel having won the first two matches, in what proved to be the deciding third match Israelis Andy Ram and Jonathan Erlich beat Kunitsyn and Marat Safin, 6–3, 6–4, 6–7, 4–6, 6–4, in front of a boisterous crowd of over 10,000.[4] Israel defeated Russia 4–1 for the win.[5]

At the 2009 Indianapolis Tennis Championships in July, Kunistyn was beaten in the second round by 23-year-old American Wayne Odesnik.[6]

In 2012 Wimbledon, he lost his first-round match to Go Soeda.[7]

ATP Career finals

Singles: 1 (1–0)
Legend
Grand Slam tournaments (0–0)
ATP World Tour Masters 1000 (0–0)
ATP World Tour 500 Series (0–0)
ATP World Tour 250 Series (1–0)
Finals by surface
Hard (1–0)
Clay (0–0)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)
Outcome No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent Score
Winner 1. 12 October 2008 Moscow, Russia Hard (i) Marat Safin 7–6(8–6), 6–7(4–7), 6–3

Doubles: 4 (1–3)
Legend
Grand Slam tournaments (0–0)
ATP World Tour Masters 1000 (0–0)
ATP World Tour 500 Series (0–0)
ATP World Tour 250 Series (1–3)
Finals by surface
Hard (1–2)
Clay (0–0)
Grass (0–1)
Carpet (0–0)
Outcome No. Date Tournament Surface Partner Opponent Score
Runner-up 1. 25 June 2006 Nottingham, Great Britain Grass Dmitry Tursunov Jonathan Erlich
Andy Ram		 3–6, 2–6
Runner-up 2. 15 July 2007 Newport, United States Hard Nathan Healey Jordan Kerr
Jim Thomas		 3–6, 5–7
Runner-up 3. 4 October 2009 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Hard (i) Jaroslav Levinský Mariusz Fyrstenberg
Marcin Matkowski		 2–6, 1–6
Winner 1. 24 October 2010 Moscow, Russia Hard (i) Dmitry Tursunov Janko Tipsarević
Viktor Troicki		 7–6(10–8), 6–3

Challenger finals

Singles: 13 (7–6)
Outcome No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent Score
Runner-up 1. 15 May 2000 Fergana, Uzbekistan Hard Vladimir Voltchkov 6–4, 0–6, 4–6
Runner-up 2. 13 August 2000 Togliatti, Russia Hard Vadim Kutsenko 4–6, 1–6
Runner-up 3. 27 October 2002 Seoul, South Korea Hard Werner Eschauer 2–6, ret.
Runner-up 4. 9 February 2003 Wroclaw, Poland Hard (i) Karol Kučera 2–6, 1–6
Winner 5. 23 May 2004 Fergana, Uzbekistan Hard Prakash Amritraj 6–4, 7–5
Winner 6. 31 July 2005 Togliatti, Russia Hard Viktor Bruthans 6–1, 6–2
Winner 7. 7 August 2005 Saransk, Russia Clay Boris Pašanski 7–5, 6–4
Winner 8. 25 November 2007 Shrewsbury, Great Britain Hard (i) Igor Sijsling 6–2, 6–4
Runner-up 9. 27 April 2008 Baton Rouge, United States Hard Bobby Reynolds 3–6, 7–6(7–3), 5–7
Runner-up 10. 18 May 2008 Bordeaux, France Clay Eduardo Schwank 2–6, 2–6
Winner 11. 14 September 2008 Donetsk, Ukraine Hard Sergei Bubka 6–3, 6–3
Winner 12. 29 August 2010 Astana, Kazakhstan Hard Konstantin Kravchuk 4–6, 7–6(7–5), 7–6(7–3)
Winner 13. 12 August 2012 Qarshi, Uzbekistan Hard Dzmitry Zhyrmont 7–6(12–10), 6–2

Doubles: 8 (4–4)

References
  1. "Igor Kunitsyn - Overview - ATP World Tour - Tennis". atpworldtour.com.
  2. "Page not found - Taipei Times". www.taipeitimes.com.
  3. "Israel drops Russia 2–0 in Davis Cup," Russia Today, 7/10/09, accessed 7/11/09 Archived 2009-07-13 at the Wayback Machine
  4. "Netanyahu: Davis Cup team has filled nation with pride," The Jerusalem Post, 7/11/09, accessed 7/11/09 Archived 2012-07-09 at Archive.today
  5. Sinai, Allon (4 July 2009). "Netanyahu to Israel tennis team: You put Israel back on the map". The Jerusalem Post. Mirkaei Tikshoret Ltd. Retrieved 3 July 2013.
  6. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-07-11. Retrieved 2009-07-23.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. "Igor Kunitsyn". Retrieved 2012-06-27.
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