Sergiy Stakhovsky

Sergiy Stakhovsky
Сергій Стаховський
Stakhovsky in 2017
Born	(1986-01-06) January 6, 1986 (age 38) Kyiv, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union (now Ukraine)
Tennis career
Country (sports)	Ukraine
Residence	Budapest,[1] Hungary
Height	1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)
Turned pro	2003
Retired	2022
Plays	Right-handed (one-handed backhand)
Coach	Tibor Toth (2007–2014) Fabrice Santoro (2014–2016) Burghard Riehemann
Prize money	US$ 5,588,638
Official website	stakhovskywines.com
Singles
Career record	177–215
Career titles	4
Highest ranking	No. 31 (27 September 2010)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	3R (2011)
French Open	3R (2011)
Wimbledon	3R (2013, 2014)
US Open	3R (2010, 2015)
Doubles
Career record	81–102
Career titles	4
Highest ranking	No. 33 (6 June 2011)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open	3R (2013)
French Open	2R (2009, 2010, 2011)
Wimbledon	3R (2010)
US Open	3R (2010, 2011, 2013)
Military career
Allegiance	Ukraine[2]
Service / branch	Ukrainian Army[3]
Years of service	2022–present[2]
Battles / wars	Russo-Ukrainian War Russian invasion of Ukraine[2] Battle of Bakhmut[4]

Sergiy Eduardovych Stakhovsky (Ukrainian: Сергій Едуардович Стаховський, pronounced [serˈɦij stɐˈxɔu̯sʲkɪj]; born January 6, 1986) is a Ukrainian former tennis player. Stakhovsky turned professional in 2003 and played mostly at the Challenger level from 2005 to 2008. His career-high rankings were World No. 31 in singles (September 2010) and No. 33 in doubles (June 2011).^[5]

Stakhovsky won his first career title in March 2008, as a lucky loser ranked No. 209, defeating top seed Ivan Ljubičić in the final, thus becoming the first lucky loser to win a title since Christian Miniussi in 1991. He is the elder brother of tennis player Leonard Stakhovsky. He was coached by Burghard Riehemann. He is perhaps best known for beating eight-time winner and defending champion Roger Federer in the second round of the 2013 Wimbledon Championships, ending the latter's record run of 36 consecutive major quarterfinals.

Stakhovsky retired from tennis in January 2022, and following the Russian invasion of Ukraine he joined the Ukrainian Army.

Stakhovsky reached career-high world rankings of No. 28 in singles and No. 32 in doubles in 2003. In 2004, he had his best junior result, losing in the final of the US Open to Andy Murray, beating Donald Young in the first round. In 2002, he beat Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals of Luxembourg, before losing to Dudi Sela in the final.^[6]

Stakhovsky played his first ATP-level singles match in October in Moscow's Kremlin Cup. After beating Alejandro Falla in qualifying to reach the main draw, he lost to Nikolay Davydenko in the first round. He then reached the quarterfinals of a couple Challengers to finish the year ranked No. 335 in singles.

Stakhovsky began 2005 where he left off, qualifying into the ATP stop in Qatar in January and losing to Lee Hyung-taik in the first round. In February, he won his first ATP-level singles match, qualifying into the main draw, where he beat No. 100 Christophe Rochus and No. 29 Mario Ančić before losing to No. 37 Robin Söderling in the quarterfinals. He spent most of the rest of the year having moderate success at the Challenger level, but did qualify once more into an ATP tournament in Russia in October, reaching the second round. He finished the year ranked No. 173 in singles.

In doubles, he won two Challenger tournaments, in Spain in July and Prague in November.

Stakhovsky had a rough start to the year, losing in the first round of qualifying at three straight ATP stops. By May, his ranking had slipped back to No. 260 before he began making progress again on the Challenger Tour. Semifinal results at major Challengers in Spain and Istanbul in July got his ranking back to No. 181.

In October, he qualified into ATP main draws two weeks in a row, losing in the first round to No. 26 Richard Gasquet in France and beating No. 21 Dmitry Tursunov in the first round in Moscow before losing to No. 54 Arnaud Clément. That brought his singles ranking to a career high of No. 158.

Although he did win his fourth career doubles Challenger title in Ukraine in November, he had no further singles success and finished the year ranked No. 198 in singles.

Stakhovsky was not as successful in 2007 in singles. He qualified twice into ATP Tour main draws in January and February, but lost in the first round. He had more success in doubles, winning two more Challenger titles to get to a career-high doubles ranking of No. 128 in August. But by October, his singles ranking had slipped to No. 294 before he began making progress on the Challenger Tour again. He reached his first Challenger singles final in Malaysia in his final tournament of 2007 to finish the year ranked No. 199 in singles.

Stakhovsky began 2008 by failing to qualify into several ATP and Challenger tournaments, before qualifying and reaching the quarterfinals of a major Challenger in Poland in February, losing to No. 68 Simone Bolelli. He then entered qualifying of the Zagreb Indoors, losing in the final round to Slovenian Blaž Kavčič, but due to Michaël Llodra's withdrawal, he entered the main draw as a lucky loser. He went on to win the tournament, defeating top players along the way, including No. 2 seed Ivo Karlović in the first round, eighth seed Janko Tipsarević in the quarterfinals, Simone Bolelli in the semifinals, and top seed Ivan Ljubičić in the final.

This year has seen Stakhovsky match it with the best in a number of ATP World Tour events. In the season opener in Doha, Stakhovsky lost in the quarterfinals to third seed Andy Murray. In Zagreb, as defending champion, he once again made the quarterfinals, losing to Viktor Troicki. Stakhovsky played Andy Murray once more in the first round of the Dubai Tennis Championships and, after being one set up and with a break in the second, he twisted his ankle whilst trying to volley. Unable to finish the match, Stakhovsky retired hurt.

As the leading player in the Ukrainian Davis Cup team, Stakhovsky defeated Chris Eaton on the opening day of the Europe/Africa Zone Playoff versus Great Britain in Scotland and partnered Sergei Bubka Jr. in closing out the tie by winning the doubles in five sets.

Stakhovsky won his maiden Grand Slam singles and doubles matches at Roland Garros. Stakhovsky qualified for the main draw with impressive performances in his three qualifying matches, coming from 1–4 down in the third set versus Rik de Voest to record an 8–6 victory. Playing Brian Dabul of Argentina in the first round of the main draw, Stakhovsky recorded a four set victory and set up a meeting with Novak Djokovic, the fourth seed. In a match lasting two days due to poor light, Stakhovsky was comprehensively defeated by the 2007 and 2008 semifinalist in three sets. Partnering James Cerretani in the doubles, the pair won their first round match, before eventually losing to the eventual champions, Lukáš Dlouhý and Leander Paes.

Stakhovsky won his second career title in St. Petersburg, after winning epic matches against former world No. 1, two time Grand Slam champion and twice St. Petersburg Open champion, Marat Safin (who was playing his last St. Petersburg Open), and he narrowly defeated Horacio Zeballos in the final.

Stakhovsky continued his good form in Davis Cup play with two victories in Ukraine's tie against Latvia in the first round Europe/Africa Zone 1 tie.^[7] He also won his third career title, beating Janko Tipsarević in the final of the UNICEF Open – a tournament Stakhovsky did not receive a seeding for. At New Haven, he won his fourth career title with highlight wins over Tommy Robredo and Marcos Baghdatis, becoming the first Ukrainian to win two titles in a season since Andrei Medvedev in 1994.

At the 2010 US Open, after knocking out Australian Peter Luczak in the first round, Stakhovsky battled into the third round with a five-set win over American qualifier Ryan Harrison, coming back from triple match point down in a fifth-set tiebreaker to win a match marked by dramatic serve-and-volleying, rallies at net, and leaping overheads from both players. In the third round, Sergiy retired in the second set trailing Feliciano López with an infected toe.

Sergiy reached a career high ranking of No. 31 on 27 September 2010.^[8] He ended the 2010 season ranked No. 46 and would begin 2011 at the Qatar Open in Doha.

He was the 31st seed (only time he has been seeded in a major) in the 2011 French Open, he faced David Guez who he beat in four sets he then beat future US Open finalist Kei Nishikori. However, his run was stopped when he faced David Ferrer where he lost in straight sets.

Stakhovsky represented Ukraine at the 2012 Summer Olympics, losing in the first round of the men's singles to Lleyton Hewitt.^[9]

He got his first top-10 win when he defeated seven-time winner and defending champion Roger Federer at Wimbledon in four sets in the second round, to give Federer his earliest Grand Slam defeat since the 2003 French Open.^[10] This ended Federer's run of 36 consecutive Grand Slam events where he had reached at least the quarterfinals. Stakhovsky was ranked 116 at the time, and Federer was ranked No. 3. Stakhovsky subsequently lost to Jürgen Melzer in the third round, going down in four sets.

After his first round qualifying loss to J. J. Wolf at the Australian Open, Stakhovsky announced his retirement from professional tennis after 19 years.^[11]

During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Stakhovsky returned to Ukraine on 27 February to help defend the country, joining the Ukrainian Army.^[12][3][13] At the beginning of the war Stakhovsky joined a unit of the special forces of Ukraine.^[13] In February 2023 he took part in the Battle of Bakhmut.^[13]

In Ukraine, Stakhovsky was interviewed by Australian journalist Sarah Ferguson for Four Corners. Armed and in uniform, he explained that he was fighting to protect his two young sons who lived in Hungary only 300 kilometres (190 mi) from the border of Ukraine. He believes that if (Russian President) Putin is not stopped in Ukraine, that he would continue into Europe.^[2]

Stakhovsky was married to Russian-Hungarian beauty coach Anfisa Bulgakova, they are now divorced.^[14] He has three children and has lived in Budapest in Hungary since 2014. Since 2018, he has been a winemaker with his own growing area in the region of Carpathian Ukraine in the west of the country in the border area with Hungary, Slovakia and Romania.^[1]

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1–0	Mar 2008	Zagreb Indoors, Croatia	International	Hard (i)	Ivan Ljubičić	7–5, 6–4
Win	2–0	Nov 2009	St. Petersburg Open, Russia	250 Series	Hard (i)	Horacio Zeballos	2–6, 7–6(10–8), 7–6(9–7)
Win	3–0	Jun 2010	Rosmalen Championships, Netherlands	250 Series	Grass	Janko Tipsarević	6–3, 6–0
Win	4–0	Aug 2010	Connecticut Open, US	250 Series	Hard	Denis Istomin	3–6, 6–3, 6–4

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1–0	Oct 2008	Kremlin Cup, Russia	International	Hard (i)	Potito Starace	Stephen Huss Ross Hutchins	7–6(7–4), 2–6, [10–6]
Win	2–0	Jun 2010	Halle Open, Germany	250 Series	Grass	Mikhail Youzhny	Martin Damm Filip Polášek	4–6, 7–5, [10–7]
Win	3–0	Feb 2011	Dubai Championships, UAE	500 Series	Hard	Mikhail Youzhny	Jérémy Chardy Feliciano López	4–6, 6–3, [10–3]
Win	4–0	Jul 2019	Hall of Fame Open, US	250 Series	Grass	Marcel Granollers	Marcelo Arévalo Miguel Ángel Reyes-Varela	6–7(10–12), 6–4, [13–11]

• These records were attained in the Open era of tennis.

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	0–1	Jun 2004	Ukraine F1, Dnipropetrovsk	Futures	Clay	Viktor Bruthans	4–6, 1–6
Loss	0–2	Nov 2007	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Challenger	Hard	Rainer Schüttler	6–7(2–7), 2–6
Loss	0–3	Jul 2008	Penza, Russia	Challenger	Hard	Benedikt Dorsch	6–1, 4–6, 6–7(6–8)
Win	1–3	Aug 2008	Segovia, Spain	Challenger	Hard	Thiago Alves	7–5, 7–6(7–4)
Loss	1–4	Oct 2009	Mons, Belgium	Challenger	Hard (i)	Janko Tipsarević	6–7(4–7), 3–6
Loss	1–5	Jun 2012	Fürth, Germany	Challenger	Clay	Blaž Kavčič	3–6, 6–2, 2–6
Loss	1–6	Mar 2013	Le Gosier, Guadeloupe	Challenger	Hard	Benoît Paire	4–6, 7–5, 4–6
Win	2–6	Aug 2013	Kazan, Russia	Challenger	Hard	Valery Rudnev	6–2, 6–3
Win	3–6	Jul 2014	Binghamton, US	Challenger	Hard	Wayne Odesnik	6–4, 7–6(11–9)
Win	4–6	Sep 2014	Orléans, France	Challenger	Hard (i)	Thomaz Bellucci	6–2, 7–5
Loss	4–7	Oct 2014	Tashkent, Uzbekistan	Challenger	Hard	Lukáš Lacko	2–6, 3–6
Loss	4–8	Sep 2015	Istanbul, Turkey	Challenger	Hard	Karen Khachanov	6–4, 4–6, 3–6
Win	5–8	May 2016	Seoul, Korea Rep.	Challenger	Hard	Lu Yen-hsun	4–6, 6–3, 7–6(9–7)
Win	6–8	Aug 2017	Portorož, Slovenia	Challenger	Hard	Matteo Berrettini	6–7(4–7), 7–6(8–6), 6–3
Win	7–8	Jun 2018	Ilkley Trophy, UK	Challenger	Grass	Oscar Otte	6–4, 6–4
Loss	7–9	Apr 2019	Taipei, Taiwan	Challenger	Hard (i)	Dennis Novak	2–6, 4–6

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	0–1	Apr 2003	Uzbekistan F2, Gulistan	Futures	Hard	Jiří Vencl	Petr Dezort Jaroslav Levinský	2–6, 2–6
Win	1–1	Aug 2003	Samarkand, Uzbekistan	Challenger	Clay	Viktor Bruthans	Pavel Ivanov Darko Mađarovski	6–2, 6–4
Loss	1–2	Sep 2003	Donetsk, Ukraine	Challenger	Hard	Andrei Stoliarov	Harsh Mankad Jason Marshall	2–6, 4–6
Win	2–2	Mar 2005	Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina	Challenger	Hard (i)	Michal Mertiňák	Lukáš Dlouhý Jan Vacek	6–7(8–10), 6–2, 6–2
Win	3–2	Jul 2005	Córdoba, Spain	Challenger	Hard	Vladimir Voltchkov	Nicolas Mahut Gilles Müller	7–5, 5–7, 6–1
Win	4–2	Nov 2005	Prague, Czech Republic	Challenger	Carpet (i)	Filip Polášek	James Auckland Jasper Smit	6–3, 3–6, 7–6(7–5)
Win	5–2	Nov 2006	Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine	Challenger	Hard (i)	Orest Tereshchuk	Marco Chiudinelli Lovro Zovko	6–4, 6–0
Win	6–2	Mar 2007	Fes, Morocco	Challenger	Clay	Orest Tereshchuk	Rabie Chaki Mounir El Aarej	6–3, 6–3
Loss	6–3	Apr 2007	Bermuda Open	Challenger	Clay	Benedikt Dorsch	Marcelo Melo André Sá	2–6, 4–6
Win	7–3	Jul 2007	Recanati, Italy	Challenger	Hard	Fabio Colangelo	Yu Xinyuan Zeng Shaoxuan	1–6, 7–6(7–3), [10–7]
Win	8–3	May 2008	Ostrava, Czech Republic	Challenger	Clay	Tomáš Zíb	Jan Hernych Igor Zelenay	7–6(8–6), 3–6, [14–12]
Loss	8–4	May 2008	Zagreb Open, Croatia	Challenger	Clay	Tomáš Zíb	Ivan Dodig Júlio Silva	4–6, 6–7(1–7)
Loss	8–5	Sep 2008	Cherkassy, Ukraine	Challenger	Clay	Sergei Bubka	Mikhail Elgin Alexander Krasnorutskiy	4–6, 5–7
Win	9–5	Sep 2008	Orléans, France	Challenger	Hard (i)	Lovro Zovko	Jean-Claude Scherrer Igor Zelenay	7–6(9–7), 6–4
Loss	9–6	Aug 2009	Segovia, Spain	Challenger	Hard	Lovro Zovko	Nicolas Mahut Édouard Roger-Vasselin	7–6(7–4), 3–6, [8–10]
Loss	9–7	Sep 2009	Alphen, Netherlands	Challenger	Clay	Sergei Bubka	Jonathan Marray Jamie Murray	1–6, 4–6
Win	10–7	Sep 2013	Orléans, France	Challenger	Hard (i)	Illya Marchenko	Ričardas Berankis Franko Škugor	7–5, 6–3
Win	11–7	May 2014	Bordeaux, France	Challenger	Clay	Marc Gicquel	Ryan Harrison Alex Kuznetsov	w/o
Loss	11–8	Jul 2014	Binghamton, US	Challenger	Hard	Marius Copil	Daniel Cox Daniel Smethurst	7–6(7–3), 2–6, [6–10]
Win	12–8	Mar 2015	Irving, US	Challenger	Hard	Robert Lindstedt	Benjamin Becker Philipp Petzschner	6–4, 6–4
Loss	12–9	May 2015	Bordeaux, France	Challenger	Clay	Lucas Pouille	Thiemo de Bakker Robin Haase	3–6, 5–7
Win	13–9	Oct 2016	Ningbo, China	Challenger	Hard	Jonathan Eysseric	Stefan Kozlov Akira Santillan	6–4, 7–6(7–4)
Win	14–9	May 2017	Karshi, Uzbekistan	Challenger	Hard	Denys Molchanov	Kevin Krawietz Adrián Menéndez Maceiras	6–4, 7–6(9–7)
Win	15–9	Aug 2017	Segovia, Spain	Challenger	Hard	Adrián Menéndez Maceiras	Roberto Ortega Olmedo David Vega Hernández	4–6, 6–3, [10–7]
Loss	15–10	Sep 2017	İzmir, Turkey	Challenger	Hard	Denys Molchanov	Scott Clayton Jonny O'Mara	w/o
Loss	15–11	May 2018	Ostrava, Czech Republic	Challenger	Clay	Lukáš Rosol	Attila Balázs Gonçalo Oliveira	0–6, 5–7
Win	16–11	Sep 2018	Cassis, France	Challenger	Hard	Matt Reid	Marc-Andrea Hüsler Gonçalo Oliveira	6–2, 6–3
Loss	16–12	May 2019	Seoul, Korea Rep.	Challenger	Hard	Ruben Bemelmans	Max Purcell Luke Saville	4–6, 6–7(7–9)
Loss	16–13	March 2021	Biella, Italy	Challenger	Hard (i)	Denys Molchanov	Quentin Halys Tristan Lamasine	1–6, 0–2 ret.
Loss	16–14	March 2021	Biella, Italy	Challenger	Hard (i)	Denys Molchanov	Lloyd Glasspool Matt Reid	3–6, 4–6
Loss	16–15	March 2021	Lugano, Switzerland	Challenger	Hard (i)	Denys Molchanov	Andre Begemann Andrea Vavassori	6–7(11–13), 6–4, [8–10]
Win	17–15	May 2021	Ostrava, Czech Republic	Challenger	Clay	Marc Polmans	Andrew Paulson Patrik Rikl	7–6(7–4), 3–6, [10–7]
Win	18–15	May 2021	Prague, Czech Republic	Challenger	Clay	Marc Polmans	Ivan Sabanov Matej Sabanov	6–3, 6–4
Loss	18–16	Jul 2021	Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan	Challenger	Hard	Peter Polansky	Hsu Yu-hsiou Benjamin Lock	6–2, 1–6, [7–10]
Loss	18–17	Sep 2021	Kyiv, Ukraine	Challenger	Clay	Denys Molchanov	Orlando Luz Aleksandr Nedovyesov	4–6, 4–6
Win	19–17	Nov 2021	Bratislava, Slovakia	Challenger	Hard (i)	Filip Horanský	Denys Molchanov Aleksandr Nedovyesov	6–4, 6–4

• He has a 3–35 record against players who were, at the time the match was played, ranked in the top 10.

#	Player	Rank	Tournament	Surface	Rd	Score
2013
1.	Roger Federer	3	Wimbledon, UK	Grass	2R	6–7(5–7), 7–6(7–5), 7–5, 7–6(7–5)
2014
2.	Ernests Gulbis	10	Wimbledon, UK	Grass	2R	6–4, 6–3, 7–6(7–5)
2015
3.	Stan Wawrinka	7	Marseille, France	Hard (i)	QF	6–4, 3–6, 6–4

• Sergiy Stakhovsky at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• Sergiy Stakhovsky at the Davis Cup
• Sergiy Stakhovsky at the International Tennis Federation
• Sergiy Stakhovsky at Olympics.com
• Sergiy Stakhovsky at Olympedia
• Sergiy Stakhovsky at the Ukrainian Tennis Portal Archived 2010-11-15 at the Wayback Machine
• Sergiy Stakhovsky pictures gallery Archived 2010-06-26 at the Wayback Machine
• Stakhovsky Recent Match Results
• Stakhovsky World Ranking History