Igor Sijsling
Igor Sijsling is a Dutch professional tennis player. He is coached by Dennis Schenk. Sijsling reached his career-high ATP singles ranking of World No. 52 on 17 February 2014. His biggest accomplishment is reaching the final of Australian Open Doubles with countryman Robin Haase in 2013, where they lost to the Bryan Brothers. In singles, he reached the third round of the 2013 Wimbledon Championships and has victories over top players including Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Milos Raonic and Mikhail Youzhny.
Personal life
Sijsling grew up in Amsterdam, where his Serbian mother tried to instill her love of sports in her son. He played all kinds of sports as a young child, street football, basketball, and tennis. He even studied ballet.He started playing tennis at the age of five with his parents, studying at the Amstelpark tennis school. By the time he was 12, tennis was clearly his sport. He was chosen for the Dutch national youth team. He won the Dutch under-18 championship twice and was runner-up at the European under-18 championships in Switzerland.
He received his diploma from the Vossius Gymnasium and began to play on the Futures and Challenger tours in 2006.
Professional career
2012
Sijsling's first success on the ATP tour came in 2011, when he reached the quarterfinals in Metz, losing to Ivan Ljubičić.In 2012, he again reached the quarterfinals in s-Hertogenbosch, after beating Jarkko Nieminen and Olivier Rochus in the first two rounds. He was beaten by David Ferrer. He qualified for the US Open that year and reached the second round of the main draw, where he again lost to Ferrer. In Kuala Lumpur, he again reached the quarterfinals, falling yet again to Ferrer. He reached the second round in Moscow and Paris-Bercy, falling to Andreas Seppi and Janko Tipsarević, respectively. In doubles, he reached the quarterfinals in Rotterdam, partnering Thomas Schoorel. He also reached the quarterfinals in Moscow, partnered with Roberto Bautista Agut.
2013
In 2013, he qualified in Auckland and beat Dutch no. 1 Robin Haase in the first round, only to fall to Tommy Haas in the second. He also reached the second round in Zagreb. At the Australian Open, he teamed with Robin Haase to reach the doubles final, losing to the Bryan brothers. In Rotterdam, Sijsling beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the first round for his first top-10 victory. At Wimbledon, Sijsling had his best showing in the singles tournament of a Grand Slam event by reaching the third round, beating seeded player Grigor Dimitrov in the process.2014
Igor prepared for the first Grand Slam tournament of the season with two warm-up tournaments, in Brisbane, where he lost in the first round to Nicolas Mahut, followed by the Heineken Open, where he again lost in the first round, this time to eventual finalist Lu Yen-hsun. At the Australian Open, he lost to Australian wildcard Thanasi Kokkinakis in the first round. The following week he played in a Challenger event in Heilbronn, where he made the final, losing to home favourite Peter Gojowczyk in straight sets. In Zagreb he entered the tournament as the eighth seed. He beat Kavčič in the first round, but lost to Russian qualifier Andrey Kuznetsov in the second. Sijsling played his first ATP World Tour 500 series event of the year in Rotterdam, beating seventh seed and world no. 15 Mikhail Youzhny in the first round, losing just four games in the process.Career finals
Grand Slam finals
Doubles: 1 (0–1)
ATP Tour finals
Doubles: 4 (1–3)
Result | W–L | Date | Tournament | Tier | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
Loss | 0–1 | 2008 Dutch Open – Doubles| | Dutch Open, Netherlands | International | Clay | Jesse Huta Galung | František Čermák Rogier Wassen | 5–7, 5–7 |
Loss | 0–2 | 2013 Australian Open – Men's Doubles| | Australian Open, Australia | Grand Slam | Hard | Robin Haase | Bob Bryan Mike Bryan | 3–6, 4–6 |
Loss | 0–3 | 2013 Claro Open Colombia – Doubles| | Colombia Open, Colombia | 250 Series | Hard | Édouard Roger-Vasselin | Purav Raja Divij Sharan | 6–7, 6–7 |
Win | 1–3 | 2013 BB&T Atlanta Open – Doubles| | Atlanta Open, US | 250 Series | Hard | Édouard Roger-Vasselin | Colin Fleming Jonathan Marray | 7–6, 6–3 |
ATP Challenger finals
Singles: 17 (7–10)
Outcome | No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Opponent | Score |
Winner | 1. | 31 June 2006 | Saransk, Russia | Clay | Farrukh Dustov | 7–6, 6–4 |
Runner-up | 2. | 19 November 2007 | Shrewsbury, UK | Hard | Igor Kunitsyn | 2–6, 4–6 |
Runner-up | 3. | 13 July 2009 | Manchester, UK | Grass | Olivier Rochus | 3–6, 6–4, 2–6 |
Runner-up | 4. | 2 November 2009 | Chuncheon, South Korea | Hard | Lu Yen-hsun | 2–6, 3–6 |
Winner | 5. | 1 November 2010 | Eckental, Germany | Carpet | Ruben Bemelmans | 3–6, 6–2, 6–3 |
Runner-up | 6. | 8 November 2010 | Aachen, Germany | Carpet | Dustin Brown | 3–6, 6–7 |
Winner | 7. | 11 September 2011 | Alphen, Netherlands | Clay | Jan-Lennard Struff | 7–6, 6–3 |
Winner | 8. | 12 February 2012 | Quimper, France | Hard | Malek Jaziri | 6–3, 6–4 |
Winner | 9. | 26 February 2012 | Wolfsburg, Germany | Carpet | Jerzy Janowicz | 4–6, 6–3, 7–6 |
Runner-up | 10. | 30 July 2012 | Granby, Canada | Hard | Vasek Pospisil | 6–7, 4–6 |
Winner | 11. | 5 August 2012 | Vancouver, Canada | Hard | Sergei Bubka | 6–1, 7–5 |
Runner-up | 12. | 30 September 2013 | Mons, Belgium | Hard | Radek Štěpánek | 3–6, 5–7 |
Runner-up | 13. | 20 January 2014 | Heilbronn, Germany | Hard | Peter Gojowczyk | 4–6, 5–7 |
Runner-up | 14. | 13 September 2015 | Alphen, Netherlands | Clay | Damir Džumhur | 1–6, 6–2, 1–6 |
Runner-up | 15. | 18 October 2015 | Rennes, France | Hard | Malek Jaziri | 7–5, 5–7, 4–6 |
Winner | 16. | 21 November 2015 | Brescia, Italy | Hard | Mirza Bašić | 6–4, 6–4 |
Runner-up | 17. | 3 April 2016 | Saint Brieuc, France | Hard | Alexandre Sidorenko | 6–2, 3–6, 6–7 |
Doubles: 6 (3–3)
Outcome | No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Partner | Opponent | Score |
Winner | 1. | 30 November 2006 | Louisville, United States | Hard | Robin Haase | Amer Delic Robert Kendrick | w/o |
Runner-up | 2. | 11 August 2007 | Vigo, Spain | Clay | Pablo Santos | Leonardo Azzaro Lamine Ouahab | 6–2, 4–6, |
Runner-up | 3. | 25 April 2010 | Athens, Greece | Hard | Robin Haase | Rik de Voest Lu Yen-hsun | 3–6, 4–6 |
Winner | 4. | 14 November 2010 | Aachen, Germany | Carpet | Ruben Bemelmans | Jamie Delgado Jonathan Marray | 6–4, 3–6, |
Runner-up | 5. | 11 September 2011 | Alphen, Netherlands | Clay | Matwé Middelkoop | Thiemo de Bakker Antal van der Duim | 4–6, 7–6, |
Winner | 6. | 6 October 2013 | Mons, Belgium | Hard | Jesse Huta Galung | Eric Butorac Raven Klaasen | 4–6, 7–6, |