Igor Kunitsyn

Igor Kunitsyn
И́горь Куни́цын

Country (sports)	Russia
Residence	Vladivostok, Russia
Born	(1981-09-30) September 30, 1981 Vladivostok, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Turned pro	1999
Retired	2013
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Prize money	$2,496,799
Singles
Career record	84–126
Career titles	1
Highest ranking	No. 35 (July 6, 2009)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	2R (2010, 2011)
French Open	1R (2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012)
Wimbledon	2R (2006, 2009, 2011)
US Open	3R (2011)
Doubles
Career record	53–68
Career titles	1
Highest ranking	No. 49 (June 9, 2008)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	2R (2009)
French Open	SF (2008)
Wimbledon	2R (2007, 2008)
US Open	3R (2008)
Team competitions
Davis Cup	SF (2008)

Igor Kunitsyn (Russian: И́горь Константи́нович Куни́цын, born September 30, 1981) is a retired professional male 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]

Early life

Kunitsyn was raised by his grandparents in Vladivostok, on the eastern coast of Russia, when he was young, and started to play 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 2nd 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 3 games of the 3rd set, before losing the next 4. 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 3rd 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 to Serbia's Viktor Troicki. In June 2009 he lost to Israeli Dudi Sela, at 's-Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands in a grass-court tuneup 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 Wimbledon 2012, he lost to Go Soeda in the first round match.^[7]

ATP Career Finals

Singles: 1 (1–0)

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)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponent	Score
Runner-up	1.	June 25, 2006	Nottingham, United Kingdom	Grass	Dmitry Tursunov	Jonathan Erlich Andy Ram	3–6, 2–6
Runner-up	2.	July 15, 2007	Newport, United States	Hard	Nathan Healey	Jordan Kerr Jim Thomas	3–6, 5–7
Runner-up	3.	October 4, 2009	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Hard (i)	Jaroslav Levinský	Mariusz Fyrstenberg Marcin Matkowski	2–6, 1–6
Winner	1.	October 24, 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	Victor 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

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Igor Kunitsyn.

• Igor Kunitsyn at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• Igor Kunitsyn at the International Tennis Federation
• Igor Kunitsyn at the Davis Cup
• Kunitsyn World Ranking History