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

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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

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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

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Doubles

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Result Year Championship Surface Partner Opponent Score
Loss 2014 French Open Clay   Lucas Miedler   Benjamin Bonzi
  Quentin Halys
3–6, 3–6
Loss 2015 Wimbledon Grass   Reilly Opelka   Lý Hoàng Nam
  Sumit Nagal
6–7(4–7), 4–6

Professional career

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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

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Singles: 14 (8–6)

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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)
Result W–L    Date    Tournament Tier Surface Opponent Score
Win 1–0 Apr 2015 Thailand F1, Bangkok Futures Hard   Kento Takeuchi 6–3, 6–2
Loss 1–1 May 2015 Thailand F2, Bangkok Futures Hard   Andre Dome 4–6, 7–6(9–7), 1–6
Win 2–1 Apr 2016 Spain F7, Madrid Futures Hard   Steven Diez 6–4, 7–6(7–5)
Loss 2–2 Apr 2016 Spain F11, Mostoles Futures Hard   Antoine Escoffier 4–6, 7–6(7–5), 3–6
Win 3–2 May 2016 China F7, Wuhan Futures Hard   Chung Yun-seong 6–1, 6–4
Win 4–2 May 2016 China F8, Luan Futures Hard   Finn Tearney 6–3, 1–6, 6–4
Win 5–2 Jun 2016 Spain F18, Palma del Río Futures Hard   Rémi Boutillier 7–5, 6–3
Win 6–2 Dec 2016 Spain F39, Cuevas del Almanzora Futures Hard   Roberto Ortega Olmedo 6–1, 6–1
Win 7–2 Jul 2017 Winnetka, USA Challenger Hard   Ramkumar Ramanathan 7–6(7–1), 6–2
Loss 7-3 Feb 2022 M25 Canberra, Australia World Tennis Tour Hard   Dane Sweeny 3–6, 6–4, 5–7
Loss 7-4 May 2022 M25 Monastir, Tunisia World Tennis Tour Hard   Yasutaka Uchiyama 6-7(3–7), 7-6(7–5), 3–6
Win 8-4 May 2022 M25 Monastir, Tunisia World Tennis Tour Hard   Li Zhe 2-6, 7-6(7–3), 6–2
Loss 8-5 Jun 2022 M25 Mungia, Spain World Tennis Tour Clay   Inaki Montes-De La Torre 3-6, 5–7
Loss 8-6 Mar 2023 M25 Portimão, Portugal World Tennis Tour Hard   Gonçalo Oliveira 6-7(2–7), 4–6

Doubles: 17 (9–8)

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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)
Result W–L    Date    Tournament Tier Surface Partner Opponents Score
Loss 0–1 Mar 2016 Spain F6, Tarragona Futures Clay   Gonçalo Oliveira   Marc López
  Jaume Munar
7–6(7–4), 3–6, [7–10]
Loss 0–2 Apr 2016 Spain F8, Madrid Futures Hard   Carlos Gómez-Herrera   Carlos Boluda-Purkiss
  Alex de Minaur
4–6, 4–6
Win 1–2 May 2016 China F7, Wuhan Futures Hard   Harry Bourchier   He Yecong
  Wang Aoxiong
4–6, 6–2, [10–7]
Loss 1–3 Jul 2016 Segovia, Spain Challenger Hard (i)   Joaquín Muñoz Hernández   Purav Raja
  Divij Sharan
3–6, 6–4, [8–10]
Loss 1–4 Oct 2016 Ningbo, China, P.R. Challenger Hard   Stefan Kozlov   Jonathan Eysseric
  Sergiy Stakhovsky
4–6, 6–7(4–7)
Win 2–4 Dec 2016 Spain F39, Cuevas del Almanzora Futures Hard   Peter Bothwell   Roberto Ortega Olmedo
  David Vega Hernández
6–2, 5–7, [10–2]
Win 3–4 May 2018 Savannah, USA Challenger Clay   Luke Bambridge   Enrique López Pérez
  Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan
6–2, 6–2
Loss 3–5 Sep 2018 Zhangjiagang, China, P.R. Challenger Hard   Bradley Mousley   Gong Maoxin
  Zhang Ze
w/o
Win 4–5 Nov 2018 Kobe, Japan Challenger Hard (i)   Gonçalo Oliveira   Li Zhe
  Go Soeda
2–6, 6–4, [12–10]
Loss 4–6 Apr 2019 Nanchang, China, P.R. Challenger Clay (i)   Alex Bolt   Sander Arends
  Tristan-Samuel Weissborn
2–6, 4–6
Win 5–6 Feb 2022 M25, Canberra, Australia World Tennis Tour Hard   Rubin Statham   Calum Puttergill
  Naoki Tajima
6–4, 6–3
Win 6–6 Mar 2022 M25, Bendigo, Australia World Tennis Tour Hard   Philip Sekulic   Dane Sweeny
  Li Tu
7–5, 6–7(7–9), [10–7]
Loss 6–7 Mar 2022 M25, Medellín, Colombia World Tennis Tour Clay   Rubin Statham   Benjamin Lock
  Courtney John Lock
6−4, 4−6, [6−10]
Win 7–7 May 2022 M15, Monastir, Tunisia World Tennis Tour Hard   Skander Mansouri   Xin Gao
  Zhe Li
6–3, 6–0
Win 8–7 May 2022 M25, Monastir, Tunisia World Tennis Tour Hard   Aziz Dougaz   Théo Arribagé
  Luca Sanchez
7–6(7−1), 7–6(7−3)
Win 9–7 Jun 2022 M25, Martos, Spain World Tennis Tour Hard   James Frawley   Adria Soriano Barrera
  Benjamin Winter Lopez
6–7(7−9), 6–3, [10−6]
Loss 9–8 Jan 2023 Nonthaburi, Thailand Challenger Hard   Christopher Rungkat   Yuki Bhambri
  Saketh Myneni
6–2, 6–7(7–9), [12–14]

References

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  1. ^ "Queenslander Akira Santillan opts to take up Japanese nationality". The Australian. Retrieved 18 July 2016.
  2. ^ "Aussie Men Exit Australian Open Qualifying". Tennis Australia. 12 January 2022. Retrieved 14 January 2022.
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