Illya Marchenko is living a dream at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open. The Ukrainian was the last direct acceptance for the Doha event at No. 94 in the ATP World Rankings. And he is making the most from it.
Having had to fight for a spot in the main draw by playing qualifying matches all his career, Marchenko benefited after breaking into the top-100 last year. His career best ranking is No. 67, which he achieved in July 2010, but had to work up the ladder by winning a bunch of ITF Futures and ATP Challenger events.
At the ATP Tour level, though, the 28-year-old has lost more matches than he has won and has never gone past second round at a Grand Slam. He had previously not won a set against a top-10 player, let alone a match.
But 2016 seems to have brought him some good fortunes. Having begun his new season by knocking out defending champion and fourth seed David Ferrer in the first round, Marchenko continued his dream run yesterday, as he sent seventh seeded Frenchman Jeremy Chardy packing to seal his place in the semi-finals.
His 6-3, 7-6 (3) win over 31st-ranked Chardy, meant Marchenko will face World No. 5 and second seed Rafael Nadal in today’s semi-final at the Khalifa Complex. A dream outing for Marchenko, who will only play the third semi-final of his career and first since St. Petersburg, Russia, in 2010.
Against Chardy, even a sore back, for which he took a medical time-out twice, could not prevent Marchenko from marching ahead. He took a 5-0 lead in the first set, and while he lost his focus for a bit, he managed to take the set. In the second, Marchenko hung on with his booming serves, which proved vital in the tie-breaker.
“Well, the start was really good. I was controlling the game. I was up 5-0. And then I lost a bit of focus,” Marchenko said after the win.
“Got a bit nervous at the end but still held my serve at 5-3. And second set was more difficult, because I got pain in my back and I was struggling a bit with that. Because of my back, I started to make more mistakes and was not confident in the rallies, while running, and especially in the serve. But the tiebreak was perfect,” he added.
On the biggest match of his career, against 14-time Grand Slam Champion Nadal, Marchenko said he had nothing to lose. “I think it’s a win-win situation. Of course to play Rafa, it’s a great opportunity for me. If you play against him, you can improve your level and it’s better to see what you have to work on in the game. When you play those guys, your level goes up. I’m really happy to play Rafa,” he added.
For the last one year, he has been training under well-known Slovak coach Tibor Toth in Bratislava, Slovakia. With the situation in Ukraine not stable, Marchenko made the move from Donetsk in Ukraine and the time under Toth at the Love 4 Tennis Academy seems to be working for him.
“Because of the coach, I went to Slovakia. I have been working with him for one year now. I am from Donetsk, where the situation is not really good. I haven’t been there for almost two years. It was easy to get residence in Slovakia and I have a lot of friends there,” Marchenko said.
The 28-year-old said different routines such as training in the mountains, has helped him start the new season on a high. “Compared to last year, yeah, we have done some changes. I went to the mountains with my fitness coach. Last year, it was a different one. Now I am with my full team, my tennis coach and my physio. It was like a kind of investment for me,” he explained.
“I’m really happy it’s paying back that quick. And that’s it.”