Denis Olegovich Istomin (born 7 September 1986) is an Uzbekistani professional tennis player. He won two singles titles (at the 2015 Aegon Open Nottingham and 2017 Chengdu Open) and achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 33 in August 2012. In January 2017, he defeated defending champion Novak Djokovic in the second round of the Australian Open.
He is good friends with Varvara Lepchenko, who previously played for Uzbekistan.
At the 2010 US Open Istomin defeated Máximo González in the first round. He was later defeated by No. 1 seed and eventual winner Rafael Nadal in the second round. Following this his ranking slipped down to No. 42. At the 2010 Asian Games tennis finals, Istomin lost to India's Somdev Devvarman in straight sets.
He then reached the quarter-finals in San Jose until being stopped by Fernando Verdasco, then the world no. 9, before losing again two first rounds in a row in Memphis and Indian Wells. In the following week, Istomin reached the second round of Key Biscayne (losing to then world number 2, and triple Grand Slam winner that year, Novak Djokovic), before making another three consecutive first round exits on the clay circuit (Monte Carlo, Barcelona, Munich). After this he reached the second round in Nice on the lead-up to his second Grand Slam of the season, Roland Garros, where he lost his first round match to Italy's Fabio Fognini.
Istomin's poor run continued on grass, with first round exits at Queen's and Eastbourne. Istomin then beat Philipp Kohlschreiber in Wimbledon but lost to Mardy Fish, a top ten player then, in the second round. Amidst the European summer, he then returned to clay and made a second-round exit in Gstaad in between first-round losses in Hamburg and Kitzbühel. By mid-August, Istomin's ranking had slipped to 81 after a prolonged form slump. He travelled to his home country, Uzbekistan, to compete in two Challengers (Samarkand and Karshi), both of which won. It was his third victory in the Karshi Challenger.
He then moved to the US hard courts, losing in the second round of both the new Winston-Salem Open and the US Open, beaten by Julien Benneteau. Following the US Open, Istomin returned to the Challenger circuit, where he won consecutive tournaments in Istanbul and Tashkent. In the Istanbul final he beat Philipp Kohlschreiber, whom he had also beaten in Wimbledon. This was Istomin's first tournament victory outside Uzbekistan in his career. He had an uneventful end of the season, with a second round loss to Viktor Troicki in Kuala Lumpur's indoor courts, and, failing to qualify for further ATP 250, ATP 500 and ATP 1000 tournaments, ended the season with two early exit showings in the Bratislava and Helsinki Challengers. He finished the year at the 74th place of the rankings, still well inside the top-100
In February 2012, Istomin advanced to SAP Open finals, losing to defending champion Milos Raonic of Canada. After a first round loss in Memphis, and a second round loss in Delray Beach, Florida, he played one of his most successful tournaments at the Indian Wells Masters. He made the fourth round of the tournament (his previous best at a Masters tournament was the second round), beating No. 32 seed Juan Ignacio Chela and then the No. 5 player in the world, David Ferrer. He lost to Juan Martín del Potro to end his run. After nearly all first round defeats leading up to the French Open, his ranking was at 43 going into the tournament, losing to Rafael Nadal in the second round.
Following a second round loss at London/Queen's Club and a quarterfinal at Eastbourne, Istomin reached the fourth round of Wimbledon, becoming the first tennis player from Uzbekistan, man or woman, to make the fourth round of a Grand Slam. He lost in five sets to Mikhail Youzhny to end his bid for a quarterfinal appearance. At the Olympics, representing Uzbekistan, Istomin made the round of 16, losing to eventual silver medalist Roger Federer. During the USA hard court swing, Istomin made the second round of the Cincinnati Masters. At the US Open, he lost in the first round to Jürgen Zopp. He finished the year poorly, losing in all remaining tournaments in either the first or second round. During the Davis Cup that year, Istomin nearly led Uzbekistan to a World Group spot; Uzbekistan defeated New Zealand and India, but lost to Kazakhstan in the final playoff round.
Istomin would later win the 2017 Chengdu Open, overcoming Marcos Baghdatis in the final to win the second ATP title of his career.
At the 2018 Austrian Open Kitzbühel, Istomin made his 5th ATP final and his last to date. He lost to Martin Kližan in straight sets.
At the 2018 Asian Games, Istomin won the gold medal in the men's singles which would earn him a spot at the 2020 Summer Olympics.
At the 2020 Olympics, Istomin faced Sumit Nagal in the first round where he lost in three sets.
In March 2025, Istomin came back for one ITF singles tournament.
{class="wikitable" !Legend |
Grand Slam tournaments (0–0) |
ATP World Tour Finals (0–0) |
ATP World Tour Masters 1000 (0–0) |
ATP World Tour 500 Series (0–0) |
ATP World Tour 250 Series (2–3) |
Hard (1–2) |
Clay (0–1) |
Grass (1–0) |
Outdoor (2–2) |
Indoor (0–1) |
Loss | 0–1 | Connecticut Open, US | 250 Series | Hard | Sergiy Stakhovsky | 6–3, 3–6, 4–6 | |
Loss | 0–2 | Pacific Coast Championships, US | 250 Series | Hard (i) | Milos Raonic | 6–7(3–7), 2–6 | |
Win | 1–2 | Nottingham Open, UK | 250 Series | Grass | Sam Querrey | 7–6(7–1), 7–6(8–6) | |
Win | 2–2 | Chengdu Open, China | 250 Series | Hard | Marcos Baghdatis | 3–2 ret. | |
Loss | 2–3 | Austrian Open, Austria | 250 Series | Clay | Martin Kližan | 2–6, 2–6 |
{class="wikitable" !Legend |
Grand Slam tournaments (0–0) |
ATP World Tour Finals (0–0) |
ATP World Tour Masters 1000 (0–0) |
ATP World Tour 500 Series (0–1) |
ATP World Tour 250 Series (3–1) |
Hard (2–2) |
Clay (1–0) |
Grass (0–0) |
Outdoor (1–1) |
Indoor (2–1) |
Loss | 0–1 | China Open, China | 500 Series | Hard | Carlos Berlocq | Bob Bryan Mike Bryan | 3–6, 2–6 | |
Loss | 0–2 | St. Petersburg Open, Russia | 250 Series | Hard (i) | Dominic Inglot | David Marrero Fernando Verdasco | 6–7(6–8), 3–6 | |
Win | 1–2 | Kremlin Cup, Russia | 250 Series | Hard (i) | Mikhail Elgin | Ken Skupski Neal Skupski | 6–2, 1–6, 14–12 | |
Win | 2–2 | Open Sud de France, France | 250 Series | Hard (i) | Nikolay Davydenko | Marc Gicquel Nicolas Mahut | 6–4, 1–6, 10–7 | |
Win | 3–2 | Swiss Open, Switzerland | 250 Series | Clay | Aliaksandr Bury | Oliver Marach Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi | 3–6, 6–2, 10–5 |
{class=wikitable style=font-size:97% !Legend (singles) |
ATP Challenger Tour (12–8) |
ITF Futures Tour (5–0) |
Hard (16–6) |
Clay (1–2) |
Grass (0–0) |
Carpet (0–0) |
Win | 1–0 | Uzbekistan F1, Qarshi | Futures | Hard | Akmal Sharipov | 6–3, 6–2 | |
Win | 2–0 | Uzbekistan F3, Namangan | Futures | Hard | Alexander Markin | 6–4, 7–6(7–5) | |
Win | 3–0 | Uzbekistan F4, Andijan | Futures | Hard | Peng Sun | 7–5, 6–3 | |
Win | 4–0 | Bukhara, Uzbekistan | Challenger | Hard | Ilija Bozoljac | 6–4, 6–7(2–7), 6–5 Ret. | |
Win | 5–0 | Uzbekistan F1, Qarshi | Futures | Hard | Alexey Kedryuk | 7–6(7–2), 6–4 | |
Win | 6–0 | Uzbekistan F1, Andijan | Futures | Hard | Sarvar Ikramov | 7–6(7–3), 6–3 | |
Win | 7–0 | Bukhara, Uzbekistan | Challenger | Hard | Amir Weintraub | 3–6, 6–1, 6–4 | |
Win | 8–0 | Qarshi, Uzbekistan | Challenger | Hard | Marsel İlhan | 6–1, 6–4 | |
Loss | 8–1 | Mordovia Cup, Russia | Challenger | Clay | Mikhail Elgin | 6–7(6–8), 6–3, 3–6 | |
Win | 9–1 | Bukhara, Uzbekistan | Challenger | Hard | Illya Marchenko | 4–6, 6–2, 6–4 | |
Win | 10–1 | Qarshi, Uzbekistan | Challenger | Hard | Mikhail Elgin | 6–3, 7–6(7–4) | |
Loss | 10–2 | Cherkassy, Ukraine | Challenger | Clay | Olivier Patience | 2–6, 0–6 | |
Loss | 10–3 | Tashkent, Uzbekistan | Challenger | Hard | Marcos Baghdatis | 3–6, 6–1, 3–6 | |
Win | 11–3 | Samarkand, Uzbekistan | Challenger | Clay | Malek Jaziri | 7–6(7–2) Ret. | |
Win | 12–3 | Qarshi, Uzbekistan | Challenger | Hard | Blaž Kavčič | 6–3, 1–6, 6–1 | |
Win | 13–3 | Istanbul, Turkey | Challenger | Hard | Philipp Kohlschreiber | 7–6(8–6), 6–4 | |
Win | 14–3 | Tashkent, Uzbekistan | Challenger | Hard | Jürgen Zopp | 6–4, 6–3 | |
Win | 15–3 | Tashkent, Uzbekistan | Challenger | Hard | Lukáš Lacko | 6–3, 6–4 | |
Loss | 15–4 | Tashkent, Uzbekistan | Challenger | Hard | Konstantin Kravchuk | 5–7, 4–6 | |
Loss | 15–5 | Astana, Kazakhstan | Challenger | Hard (i) | Yoshihito Nishioka | 4–6, 7–6(7–4), 6–7(3–7) | |
Win | 16–5 | Chicago, United States | Challenger | Hard | Reilly Opelka | 6–4, 6–2 | |
Win | 17–5 | Almaty, Kazakhstan | Challenger | Hard | Nikola Milojević | 6–7(4–7), 7–6(7–5), 6–2 | |
Loss | 17–6 | Istanbul, Turkey | Challenger | Hard | Ugo Humbert | 2–6, 2–6 | |
Loss | 17–7 | Liuzhou Open, China | Challenger | Clay | Alejandro Davidovich Fokina | 3–6, 7–5, 6–7(5–7) | |
Loss | 17–8 | Columbus, United States | Challenger | Hard (i) | J. J. Wolf | 4–6, 2–6 |
Grand Slam tournaments | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Australian Open | A | A | 1R | Q1 | 2R | 2R | 3R | 1R | 1R | 2R | 3R | 1R | 1R | 4R | 2R | 1R | A | Q1 | A | 0 / 13 | 11–13 | 46% |
French Open | A | A | A | A | Q1 | 2R | 2R | 1R | 2R | 2R | 2R | 1R | 1R | 2R | 1R | Q1 | A | 1R | A | 0 / 11 | 6–11 | 37% |
Wimbledon | A | A | A | A | A | 1R | 3R | 2R | 4R | 1R | 3R | 1R | 3R | 1R | 1R | 1R | NH | A | A | 0 / 11 | 10–11 | 48% |
US Open | A | A | A | A | A | 3R | 2R | 2R | 1R | 4R | 1R | 2R | 1R | 1R | 1R | Q1 | A | Q1 | A | 0 / 10 | 8–10 | 44% |
Olympic Games | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Summer Olympics | A | Not Held | A | Not Held | 3R | Not Held | 1R | Not Held | 1R | NH | 0 / 3 | 2–3 | 40% | |||||||||
ATP Masters Series | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Indian Wells Masters | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | 1R | 4R | 2R | 1R | 2R | 1R | Q1 | A | 1R | NH | Q1 | A | 0 / 7 | 5–7 | 42% |
Miami Masters | A | A | A | A | A | A | 1R | 2R | 1R | 1R | 3R | 1R | 2R | 1R | 2R | Q2|style=color:#767676NH | A | A | 0 / 9 | 5–9 | 36% | |
Monte Carlo Masters | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | 1R | 1R | 1R | Q1 | Q2 | Q1 | A | Q1 | A | NH | A | A | 0 / 3 | 0–3 | 0% |
Madrid Masters | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | 1R | 2R | A | A | 2R | 1R | Q1 | A | NH | A | A | 0 / 4 | 2–4 | 33% |
Rome Masters | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | 1R | 2R | A | Q1 | A | Q2 | A | A | A | A | A | 0 / 2 | 1–2 | 33% |
Canada Masters | A | A | A | A | A | A | 1R | A | A | 3R | 1R | A | A | A | A | A | NH | A | A | 0 / 3 | 2–3 | 40% |
Cincinnati Masters | A | A | A | A | A | A | 2R | A | 2R | 1R | 1R | Q2 | A | Q1 | A | A | A | A | A | 0 / 4 | 2–4 | 33% |
Shanghai Masters | Not Masters Series | A | 1R | A | 2R | A | 1R | A | A | A | A | A | NH | 0 / 3 | 1–3 | 25% | ||||||
Paris Masters | A | A | A | A | A | A | 1R | Q1 | 1R | 1R | 1R | A | A | Q1 | A | A | A | A | A | 0 / 4 | 0–4 | 0% |
Career statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Tournaments | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 17 | 29 | 21 | 30 | 29 | 24 | 24 | 20 | 19 | 18 | 11 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 251 | ||
Win % | N/A | 0% | 0% | |||||||||||||||||||
Year-end ranking | 858 | 196 | 200 | 230 | 105 | 102 | 40 | 72 | 43 | 45 | 49 | 61 | 121 | 63 | 92 | 177 | 184 | 244 | 480 ! colspan=3 |
Grand Slam tournaments | |||||||||||||||
Australian Open | A | A | 1R | 2R | 1R | 1R | 2R | 1R | A | 1R | A | A | A | A | 2–7 |
French Open | A | 2R | 3R | 3R | 2R | 1R | 2R | 1R | 2R | A | A | A | A | 8–8 | |
Wimbledon | A | 1R | 1R | 3R | 1R | 1R | A | A | A | A | A | NH | A | 2–5 | |
US Open | 1R | 1R | 2R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 2R | A | A | 1R | A | A | A | 2–8 | |
2 |
1. | David Ferrer | 5 | Indian Wells, United States | Hard | 3R | 6–4, 6–3 | 51 |
2. | Novak Djokovic | 2 | Australian Open, Melbourne, Australia | Hard | 2R | 7–6(10–8), 5–7, 2–6, 7–6(7–5), 6–4 | 117 |
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