Akira Santillan

Akira Santillan (アキラ サンティラン, Santiran Akira, born 22 May 1997) is an Australian tennis player. He represents Australia in competitions, though he played for Japan from 2015 to 2017.

Akira Santillan
アキラ サンティラン
Santillan at the 2017 US Open
Country (sports) Australia (2010–2015, 2017–current)
 Japan (2015–2017)
ResidenceBrisbane, Australia
Born (1997-05-22) 22 May 1997 (age 27)
Tokyo, Japan
Height1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Turned pro2013
PlaysRight-handed (one-handed backhand)
CoachMark Woodforde (2017–2018)Marinko Matosevic (2021–present)
Prize money$453,404
Singles
Career record2–7 (at ATP Tour level, Grand Slam level, and in Davis Cup)
Career titles0
Highest rankingNo. 144 (13 November 2017)
Current rankingNo. 389 (2 January 2023)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian OpenQ2 (2017)
French OpenQ2 (2018)
WimbledonQ2 (2019)
US OpenQ3 (2017)
Doubles
Career record0–2 (at ATP Tour level, Grand Slam level, and in Davis Cup)
Career titles0
Highest rankingNo. 197 (29 July 2019)
Current rankingNo. 249 (2 January 2023)
Last updated on: 8 January 2023.

Early life

Santillan was born in Tokyo to a Japanese mother and a South African father of Spanish descent. He lived the first 8 years of his life in Japan before his family relocated to the Gold Coast, Australia and became citizens. He played much of his junior tennis at the Gold Coast before moving to Brisbane to join the national academy program at the Queensland Tennis Centre.[citation needed]

Junior career

On the junior tour, Santillan has a career high ITF junior ranking of 7 achieved in September 2015. Santillan's major highlights on the junior tour included a semi-final at the 2015 Australian Open and doubles finals at the 2014 French Open and the 2015 Wimbledon Championships.

In March 2015, Santillan opted to play under the Japanese flag instead due to a fractious relationship with Tennis Australia.[1] He returned to playing under the Australian flag in 2017.

Junior Grand Slam finals

Doubles

ResultYearChampionshipSurfacePartnerOpponentScore
Loss2014French OpenClay Lucas Miedler Benjamin Bonzi
Quentin Halys
3–6, 3–6
Loss2015WimbledonGrass Reilly Opelka Lý Hoàng Nam
Sumit Nagal
6–7(4–7), 4–6

Professional career

Santillan has a career high ATP singles ranking of 160 achieved on 24 July 2017. He also has a career high ATP doubles ranking of 265 achieved also on 17 July 2017. Santillan has won 6 ITF Futures singles titles and 1 ITF Futures doubles title.

Santillan made his ATP main draw debut at the 2016 Generali Open Kitzbühel, receiving singles and doubles main draw wildcards.

Santillan lost in the first round of the 2022 Australian Open – Men's singles qualifying.[2]

Challenger and Futures/World Tennis Tour finals

Singles: 14 (8–6)

Legend (singles)
ATP Challenger Tour (1–0)
ITF Futures/World Tennis Tour (7-6)
Titles by surface
Hard (8-5)
Clay (0–1)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)
ResultW–L   Date   TournamentTierSurfaceOpponentScore
Win1–0Apr 2015Thailand F1, BangkokFuturesHard Kento Takeuchi6–3, 6–2
Loss1–1May 2015Thailand F2, BangkokFuturesHard Andre Dome4–6, 7–6(9–7), 1–6
Win2–1Apr 2016Spain F7, MadridFuturesHard Steven Diez6–4, 7–6(7–5)
Loss2–2Apr 2016Spain F11, MostolesFuturesHard Antoine Escoffier4–6, 7–6(7–5), 3–6
Win3–2May 2016China F7, WuhanFuturesHard Chung Yun-seong6–1, 6–4
Win4–2May 2016China F8, LuanFuturesHard Finn Tearney6–3, 1–6, 6–4
Win5–2Jun 2016Spain F18, Palma del RíoFuturesHard Rémi Boutillier7–5, 6–3
Win6–2Dec 2016Spain F39, Cuevas del AlmanzoraFuturesHard Roberto Ortega Olmedo6–1, 6–1
Win7–2Jul 2017Winnetka, USAChallengerHard Ramkumar Ramanathan7–6(7–1), 6–2
Loss7-3Feb 2022M25 Canberra, AustraliaWorld Tennis TourHard Dane Sweeny3–6, 6–4, 5–7
Loss7-4May 2022M25 Monastir, TunisiaWorld Tennis TourHard Yasutaka Uchiyama6-7(3-7), 7-6(7-5), 3-6
Win8-4May 2022M25 Monastir, TunisiaWorld Tennis TourHard Li Zhe2-6, 7-6(7-3), 6-2
Loss8-5Jun 2022M25 Mungia, SpainWorld Tennis TourClay Inaki Montes-De La Torre3-6, 5-7
Loss8-6Mar 2023M25 Portimão, PortugalWorld Tennis TourHard Gonçalo Oliveira6-7(2–7), 4-6

Doubles: 17 (9–8)

Legend (doubles)
ATP Challenger Tour (2–5)
ITF Futures/World Tennis Tour (7–3)
Titles by surface
Hard (8–5)
Clay (1–3)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)
ResultW–L   Date   TournamentTierSurfacePartnerOpponentsScore
Loss0–1Mar 2016Spain F6, TarragonaFuturesClay Gonçalo Oliveira Marc López
Jaume Munar
7–6(7–4), 3–6, [7–10]
Loss0–2Apr 2016Spain F8, MadridFuturesHard Carlos Gómez-Herrera Carlos Boluda-Purkiss
Alex de Minaur
4–6, 4–6
Win1–2May 2016China F7, WuhanFuturesHard Harry Bourchier He Yecong
Wang Aoxiong
4–6, 6–2, [10–7]
Loss1–3Jul 2016Segovia, SpainChallengerHard (i) Joaquín Muñoz Hernández Purav Raja
Divij Sharan
3–6, 6–4, [8–10]
Loss1–4Oct 2016Ningbo, China, P.R.ChallengerHard Stefan Kozlov Jonathan Eysseric
Sergiy Stakhovsky
4–6, 6–7(4–7)
Win2–4Dec 2016Spain F39, Cuevas del AlmanzoraFuturesHard Peter Bothwell Roberto Ortega Olmedo
David Vega Hernández
6–2, 5–7, [10–2]
Win3–4May 2018Savannah, USAChallengerClay Luke Bambridge Enrique López Pérez
Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan
6–2, 6–2
Loss3–5Sep 2018Zhangjiagang, China, P.R.ChallengerHard Bradley Mousley Gong Maoxin
Zhang Ze
w/o
Win4–5Nov 2018Kobe, JapanChallengerHard (i) Gonçalo Oliveira Li Zhe
Go Soeda
2–6, 6–4, [12–10]
Loss4–6Apr 2019Nanchang, China, P.R.ChallengerClay (i) Alex Bolt Sander Arends
Tristan-Samuel Weissborn
2–6, 4–6
Win5–6Feb 2022M25, Canberra, AustraliaWorld Tennis TourHard Rubin Statham Calum Puttergill
Naoki Tajima
6–4, 6–3
Win6–6Mar 2022M25, Bendigo, AustraliaWorld Tennis TourHard Philip Sekulic Dane Sweeny
Li Tu
7–5, 6–7(7–9), [10–7]
Loss6–7Mar 2022M25, Medellín, ColombiaWorld Tennis TourClay Rubin Statham Benjamin Lock
Courtney John Lock
6−4, 4−6, [6−10]
Win7–7May 2022M15, Monastir, TunisiaWorld Tennis TourHard Skander Mansouri Xin Gao
Zhe Li
6–3, 6–0
Win8–7May 2022M25, Monastir, TunisiaWorld Tennis TourHard Aziz Dougaz Théo Arribagé
Luca Sanchez
7–6(7−1), 7–6(7−3)
Win9–7Jun 2022M25, Martos, SpainWorld Tennis TourHard James Frawley Adria Soriano Barrera
Benjamin Winter Lopez
6–7(7−9), 6–3, [10−6]
Loss9–8Jan 2023Nonthaburi, ThailandChallengerHard Christopher Rungkat Yuki Bhambri
Saketh Myneni
6–2, 6–7(7–9), [12–14]

References

External links