Mikhail Kukushkin
Kukushkin Mikhail Alexandrovich (Russian: Михаил Александрович Кукушкин, English transcription. Mikhail Kukushkin; born December 26, 1987 in Volgograd, Russian SFSR, USSR) is a tennis player who plays first for Russia and Kazakhstan since 2008.
- 2.1 Single 2.1.1 Tournament Win 2.1.1.1 ATP World Tour
- 2.1.1.2 ATP Challenger Tour
- 2.1.2.1 ATP World Tour
- 3.1 Individual
Tennis career
To 2006: career and first experiences as a professional
Mikhail Kukushkin began at the age of six years playing tennis and was trained up to the age of 17 by his father, Alexander Kukushkin.
Kukushkin never played on the junior tour. He started from 2005 equal to Futures tournaments in adults. In 2006 he qualified for the first time for tournaments in the ATP Challenger Tour and reached in November in Russia his first Futures final.
2007-2009: Challenger tournament victories and successes in the Davis Cup and the ATP Tour
In August 2007, Mikhail Kukushkin won two Challenger tournaments in a row: In Saransk, he defeated Ivan Sergeyev, and a week later he triumphed in Samarkand on Manuel Jorquera. In October 2007, the first time Kukushkin could qualify for an ATP tournament in St. Petersburg, but he lost in the first round against Mikhail Ledowskich. In the tennis world rankings then he climbed up to rank 201
In March 2008, followed in Barletta with a victory over Boris Pašanski the third Challenger title. After Kukushkin won in Russia a futures tournament, and then allowed to April 2008 qualify for the ATP tournament in Barcelona. There he defeated in the first round of the then world number -24. Jarkko Nieminen, and reached after a victory over Pablo Cuevas the second round, where he defeated Albert Montanes. The following week he reached his hitherto best world ranking placement with rank 131. At the French Open in 2008 for the first time Kukushkin tried to qualify for a Grand Slam tournament, but he left in the second qualifying round. In summer 2008, Mikhail Kukushkin moved from Russia to Kazakhstan Astana and took (just like his countrymen Andrei Golubev Shchukin and Yuri ), the Kazakh citizenship. Then he could play for the first time in September 2008, Kazakhstan in Davis Cup, and contributed to the 5-0 victory over the Philippines in a single victory. Since then he has won in eight Davis Cup matches ten of 14 Single. In October 2008, Kukushkin could qualify for both Russian indoor ATP tournaments of Moscow and Saint Petersburg. In Moscow, he was eliminated in the first round, in St. Petersburg, he reached after a win over top 25 player Marin Cilic the second round.
In 2009, Mikhail Kukushkin could qualify for more ATP tournaments and also recorded several victories: In March 2009 he defeated in the first round of the Masters tournament in Miami Tommy Haas, and in April 2009 in Barcelona also in the first round Pere Riba. In July 2009 Kukushkin celebrated in Penza after a victory over Ilya Marchenko his fourth Challenger title. For a Grand Slam tournament he could not qualify this year: Achieving the third qualifying round at the U.S. Open in September 2009, his best result so far this tournament category. In October 2009 Kukushkin managed to be far greater success in an ATP tournament: In Moscow he came through the qualifying and then reached after victories over Top 100 players Fabio Fognini, Wayne Odesnik and Pablo Cuevas the semi-finals, where he later Mikhail Youzhny defeated tournament winner.
2010-2012: entry into the Top 100 and first ATP title
The year 2010 began much like the previous: Kukushkin could qualify for more ATP tournaments and reached in Zagreb and Houston respectively the second round. In July he won his fifth in Braunschweig Challenger title, where he profited in the finals of the task his opponent Marcos Daniel. Then Kukushkin rose for the first time into the top 100 in the world rankings. Three weeks later, in Penza with a win over Konstantin Kravchuk successful title defense. In August Kukushkin lost in Istanbul against Adrian Mannarino in his seventh Challenger finals for the first time a playoff. Nevertheless, he was qualified for the first time thanks to his world ranking at the U.S. Open in 2010 for a Grand Slam tournament. There, however, he lost in the first round of the later quarter-finalists Stanislas Wawrinka in three sets. Only two weeks later, he took revenge for this defeat, when he defeated Wawrinka in Davis Cup in five sets, and thus paved the way to Kazakhstan 's 5-0 victory over Switzerland. Kazakhstan managed by the first entry into the World Group. In October Kukushkin reached at the Thailand Open in Bangkok the quarter-finals, but was there against the world number one Rafael Nadal a chance. Two weeks later Kukushkin reached in St Petersburg for the first time an ATP final. With a two- set victory over top-seeded Mikhail Youzhny to he secured his first ATP title. In the world ranking list earned him the rank 58 its best ever placing.
At the beginning of 2011, Mikhail Kukushkin lost in his Australian Open debut in the first round to eventual quarter-finalists Alexander Dolgopolov. The following months were very successful for Kukushkin: Although he could for the first time to the second round of a Grand Slam tournament at the French Open by defeating Daniel Brands, along with two other Erstrundensiegen at the Miami Masters, and in Eastbourne remained the however, his only ATP win the match. This contrasted with nine Erstrundenniederlagen in four other tournaments he had already failed in qualifying. The only highlight was the beginning of March the 3-2 win over the Czech Republic of Kazakhstan in the first round of the Davis Cup World Group, to the Kukushkin contributed the decisive victory about Jan Hájek. The quarterfinal match against Argentina, Kazakhstan lost then with 0:5. In July Kukushkin played in Penza for the first time this year a tournament on the Challenger Tour. As in the previous two years he reached the final, but lost in three sets against Arnau Brugués. Just a week later he was in Astana again in a Challenger final, this time he sat down in two sets against Serhiy Bubka through and secured his first title this year. At the U.S. Open Kukushkin won in the first round against the top 50 players Albert Montanes, but had to retire against the set at position 31 Marcel Granollers. In the world rankings, he climbed to rank 56, but later fell a few weeks out of the Top 100, when he retired in Saint Petersburg as the defending champion in the first round. Through his quarter-finals as a lucky loser in Basel, however he managed to end of the year the leap back into the top 100
He was qualified directly for the 2012 Australian Open. With a five- set victory over the set at position 19 Viktor Troicki first time he reached the third round of a Grand Slam tournament and met on the set at position 14 Gaël Monfils, whom he also beat in five sets. In the second round, he retired from the world rankings Fourth Andy Murray, where he was defeated at the beginning of the year in Brisbane just in three sets, from. In April 2012, Kukushkin qualified for the Masters tournament in Monte Carlo and reached there among other things by a victory over the set at position 14 Florian Mayer the knockout stages, but where he had no chance against the eventual tournament winner Rafael Nadal.