User:Ibranin/Illya Marchenko

Illya Marchenko (Ілля Марченко) (born September 8, 1987 in Dneprodzerzhinsk) is a Ukrainian male tennis player. Marchenko turned professional in 2005 and had been playing mostly at the Futures level from 2005-2007. His career high in singles is #188 (October, 2009) and he is inactive in doubles. . Marchenko has not won a singles or doubles title on the ATP World Tour to date. He is noted for his backhand, which he cites as his best shot. His favorite surface is Hard courts.

2005-2008
After turning pro in 2005, Marchenko mostly played on the ITF Futures circuit.

In 2006, he reached his first Futures final (Nigeria F5) and won his first futures title a week later (Nigeria F6). He then attempted to qualify for his first ATP World tour event in Marseille, but lost in the first round of qualification to Jeremy Chardy of France.

In 2007, Marchenko reached his third Futures final (Belarus F2) before losing to Russian Michail Elgin. Again attempting to qualify for the main draw of an ATP World Tour event, Marchenko lost in the second round of the Kremlin Cup qualifiers, and the final round of the St.Petersburg qualifier a week later.

In 2008, Marchenko reached his 4th Futures final (Russia F2) before bowing out to Pavel Chekhov of Russia in the final. In May, Marchenko reached the semi-final of the Izmir Challenger before losing to Gilles Muller of Luxembourg. This was his best Challenger performance to date. In August, however, Marchenko topped out his previous Challenger performances by reaching the final of the Bukhara Challenger in Uzbekistan before losing to hometown favorite Denis Istomin in 3 sets. Marchenko then closed out his year with solid performances in 2 Ukrainian Challengers, reaching the Quarterfinals and Semifinals in each, respectively. Marchenko played his first Davis Cup tie in 2008, winning his only rubber.

2009
Marchenko played his first ATP World Tour match in Marseille after winning 3 rounds of qualification. However, he lost to Mischa Zverev of Germany in 3 sets, despite winning the first set. In May, Marchenko reached the semifinal of another challenger in Uzbekistan, before reaching the final of the Penza Cup Challenger in Russia (losing to Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan in the final).

In August, Marchenko won the Istanbul Challenger in Turkey, beating 4 players ranked inside the Top 200 best of the world, including Karol Beck of Slovakia (ranked #100 at the time). Marchenko beat Florian Mayer of Germany to win the title, the first professional title of his entire career (singles or doubles).

Marchenko followed his good form to the final round of qualification for the 2009 US Open, but lost to Marco Chiudinelli in the final round.

In October, Marchenko won 6 matches in a row before losing to countryman Sergiy Stakhovsky in the semifinal of the Mons Challenger in Belgium.

Currently, Illya Marchenko is playing in the main draw of the Kremlin Cup event in Moscow, Russia. After winning 3 rounds of Qualification matches, Marchenko reached his third ever ATP World Tour main draw. He then beat Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan in hist first match, Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan in his second match, and Evgeny Korolev in his Round of 16 Match to reach his first ATP World Tour Quarterfinals. This run in Moscow is Marchenko's best ever ATP results.

He is set to face off against Serbia's Janko Tipsarevic for a spot in the finals in Moscow.