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is an Australian
tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...
player. He represents Australia in competitions, though he played for Japan from 2015 to 2017.


Early life

Santillan was born in Tokyo to a Japanese mother and a South African father. 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 Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...
to join the national academy program at the Queensland Tennis Centre.


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 Tennis Australia Limited is the governing body for tennis in Australia. It is owned by Australian states and territories. The association organizes national and international tennis tournaments including the Australian Open, Australian Open Se ...
. He returned to playing under the Australian flag in 2017.


Junior Grand Slam finals


Doubles


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.


Challenger and Futures/World Tennis Tour finals


Singles: 14 (8–6)


Doubles: 17 (9–8)


References


External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Santillan, Akira 1997 births Living people Australian male tennis players Japanese male tennis players Tennis players from Tokyo Tennis players from Brisbane Tennis players from the Gold Coast, Queensland Japanese emigrants to Australia Australian people of South African descent Sportspeople of South African descent Japanese people of South African descent 21st-century Australian sportsmen