Dimitri Poliakov (born 19 January 1968) is a former professional

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball c ...

player from

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian invas ...

Career

Poliakov, a clay court specialist and the Soviet singles champion in 1990, had his breakthrough year in 1991, when he won the Yugoslavia Open, an

ATP Tour The ATP Tour is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for men organized by the Association of Tennis Professionals. The second-tier tour is the ATP Challenger Tour and the third-tier is the ITF Men's World Tennis Tour. The equivalent women's organisa ...

event. This saw him break into the top 100 for the first time. He was also runner-up in the Austrian Open, with partner Pablo Arraya. These would be the only two

finals that he reached during his career. In 1993 he made it into the semi-finals of the

Kremlin Cup The Kremlin Cup (russian: Кубок Кремля) is a professional tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts, which was suspended in 2022. It was part of the ATP Tour 250 series of the ATP Tour and was a Premier Tournament on the WTA ...

, as qualifier. He defeated number three seed Amos Mansdorf in the opening round and then best

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

Byron Black Byron Hamish Black (born 6 October 1969) is a former touring professional tennis and Davis Cup player for Zimbabwe. Personal life He is the son of Donald Black and Velia Black and brother to Wayne Black and Cara, who were also professional t ...

6–0, 6–3 and Martin Damm of the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. Th ...

. His tournament ended when he was defeated by Marc Rosset in three sets. He had one of the best wins of his career in 1992 when he defeated world number 12 Carlos Costa in Vienna in straight sets. From 1993 to 1998, Poliakov was a regular fixture in the

Ukraine Davis Cup team The Ukrainian men's national tennis team represents Ukraine in Davis Cup tennis competition and are governed by the Ukrainian Tennis Federation. History Ukraine competed in its first Davis Cup in 1993. Ukraine currently compete in Group I of the ...

. He had a 10–2 record in singles. His doubles record was 9–5 and seven of those wins came with Andrei Medvedev, which is a national record. He had also played in two

Davis Cup The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format. It is described by the orga ...

campaigns for the Soviet Union team in 1990 and 1991. He reached the second round of a Grand Slam singles draw on three occasions, twice as a qualifier. In the men's doubles he appeared in three Grand Slam tournaments but never progressed part the first round.ITF Tennis Profile
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ATP career finals

Singles: 1 (1–0)

Doubles: 1 (0–1)

Challenger titles

Singles: (4)

Doubles: (5)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Poliakov, Dimitri 1968 births Living people Ukrainian male tennis players Soviet male tennis players National University of Kharkiv alumni Tennis players from Kyiv