Andrew Whittington (tennis)
Andrew Whittington is an Australian professional tennis player.
He made the world's top 200 in August 2016 following a semi-final run at the 2016 Kentucky Bank Tennis Championships.
His best performance came by reaching the quarter finals of the 2014 Australian Open with Alex Bolt. In May 2014, Whittington and Bolt won the China International Challenger, which was both players' first Challenger doubles title. He made his singles grand slam debut at the 2017 Australian Open after being given a wild card.
Career
2010–2012: Career beginnings
Whittington made his first singles appearance in April 2010 at the Australian F3 where he lost in round 1 to Brendan Moore. Throughout 2010/11, Whittington played mostly on the ITF circuits across Australia and the USA where he reached two quarter finals in singles. In 2011, Whittington began partnering Luke Saville in doubles. The pair won back-to-back ITF doubles titles in November. The pair were given a wild card into the 2012 Australian Open Men's doubles. They lost in round 1. In March 2012, Whittington began partnering Alex Bolt; the pair won three ITF doubles titles before June.Whittington made his first appearance in the singles main draw of an ATP Challenger Tour at Caloundra in February 2012, losing narrowly in round 1. The remainder of 2012 was spent on the ITF Circuit across Australia and Europe and he reached two semi-finals.
2013–2014: Doubles success
In January 2013, Whittington was given a wild card into the Burnie Challenger where he reached the quarter finals, before playing ITF tour across USA and Europe. In April, Whittington reached his first final in Greece. He lost to Dimitar Kuzmanov in straight sets. He returned to Australia in September 2013 and lost in the final of the Australia F6 to Adam Feeney, before winning his first single title the following week at the F7 against Alex Bolt. Following the win, he told Tennis Australia “I’ve never felt like that before, I still feel like I’m out there playing.” In November 2013, he won his second ITF title in Cambodia against Gavin van Peperzeel.In doubles, Whittington played with a number of partners throughout 2013 but re-joined Alex Bolt in September and commenced a successful doubles run. The pair won three consecutive ITF doubles titles in Australia and in October, the pair reached their first Challenger final at the Melbourne Challenger, losing to Thanasi Kokkinakis and Benjamin Mitchell.
In January 2014, Whittington lost in the first round of qualifying for the 2014 Brisbane International and 2014 Australian Open.
Whittington and Bolt were given wild cards into the Men's doubles. The pair defeated the number 3 seeds David Marrero and Fernando Verdasco in round two, ultimately losing at the quarter-final stage to number 8 seed Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjić. The match was played on Rod Laver Arena; the pair's first appearance on centre court. The pair then made a series of semi-finals across Australia circuit before winning their first Challenger title in Anning in May. This increased Whittington's double ranking to within the world's top 100.
In June, Whittington and Bolt qualified for the 2014 Wimbledon Championships – Men's Doubles, this was the pair's first appearance at Wimbledon. They lost in round 1 to Feliciano López and Jürgen Melzer. In August, Whittington lost in the final of the Chinese Taipei F1 before returning to Australia playing in ITF and Challenger circuit. By November 2014, Whittington had reached his twentieth doubles final. Whittington ended 2014 with a singles ranking of 525 and doubles ranking of 109.
2015–2016: Focus on singles and ATP World Tour debut
In January 2015, Whittington and Bolt made the final of the Onkaparinga Challenger, before reaching the third round of the Men's doubles. Throughout the rest of 2015, Whittington began focussing on singles matches on the ATP Challenger tour, with limited success.Whittington commenced 2016 at the Happy Valley Challenger, qualifying for and reaching the semi final. This was his best singles performance to date at this level. Whittington then played the Canberra and Launceston challenger events before winning his third and fourth ITF singles title in Mornington in March. He played in Nanjing, Anning and Bangkok challenger events before winning his fifth ITF title in Guam in May. In June, Whittington won three ITF titles in three weeks in Hong Kong. In July, Whittington was seeded for the first time in a Challenger Event at Gimcheon and reached his first final against Max Purcell. This was followed up by a semi final result at Lexington Challenger and quarter final result at Granby. Whittington increased his singles ranking inside the top 200 for the first time. In September, Whittington contended the US Open for the first time, losing in round 1 of qualifying to João Souza. Whittington then qualified for the main draw of an ATP World Tour for the first time in Shenzhen. In his ATP debut, he saved four match points against Luca Vanni, eventually winning 2–6, 7–6, 6–2 in two hours and 20 minutes. He lost in round 2 to Richard Gasquet. Whittington ended the year playing challenger events in Vietnam and China. Whittington ended 2016 with a career high singles ranking of 170 and a doubles ranking of 312.
2017: First Grand Slam appearance
On 2 January 2017, Tennis Australia awarded Whittington a wild card into the 2017 Australian Open. This was Whittington's first singles appearance in a grand slam. He defeated Adam Pavlásek in 4 sets in round 1, before losing to Ivo Karlovic in round 2. Whittington partnered Marc Polmans in the 2017 Australian Open – Men's Doubles, where they reached the semi-finals. Whittington played on the challenger tour before heading to USA in March, where he lost in qualifying for both Indian Wells and Miami Masters. At the French Open Whittington lost in round 1 of qualifying. In June, Whittington entered the qualifying for Wimbledon. In the first round of qualifying, he recovered from a 1–4 deficit in the final set, saving break points in the sixth game against Stephane Robert of France, to prevail 3–6, 7–5, 6–4. In R2 of Qualifying he won from a set down again, winning 6–7, 6–4, 6–4 against Tim Smyczek before qualifying for Wimbledon for the first time 4–6, 2–6, 7–6, 7–6, 6–0. Whittington saved two match points in the third set tie-break at 4–6 after coming from 2–5 down in that same tie-break against Denis Kudla. Whittington gallantly went down to Thiago Monteiro in R1, saving match points against his serve at 4–5 in the fourth set before losing that set and the match in a tie-break.Personal life
Whittington supports the Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League.He also supports Orlando Magic in National Basketball Association
Tour finals
Singles: 14 (8–6)
| Outcome | No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Opponent | Score |
| Runner-up | 1. | Heraklion, Greece F5 | Hard |  Dimitar Kuzmanov | 1–6, 2–6 | |
| Runner-up | 2. | Toowoomba, Australia F6 | Hard |  Adam Feeney | 6–7, 6–4 | |
| Winner | 3. | Cairns, Australia F7 | Hard | Alex Bolt | 6–4, 6–4 | |
| Winner | 4. | Phnom Penh, Cambodia F1 | Hard | Gavin van Peperzeel | 7–5, 6–0 | |
| Runner-up | 5. | Chinese Taipei, F1 | Hard |  Liang Chi Huang | 3–6, 4–6 | |
| Runner-up | 6. | Wollongong, F9, Australia | Hard |  Brydan Klein | 3–6, 3–6 | |
| Winner | 7. | Mornington, F2 Australia | Hard | Gavin van Peperzeel | 6–2, 6–3 | |
| Winner | 8. | Mornington, F4 Australia | Hard | Christopher O'Connell | 7–5, 6–3 | |
| Winner | 9. | Tumon, F1 Guam | Hard |  Shuichi Sekiguchi | 7–6, 7–6 | |
| Winner | 10. | Hong Kong, F1 | Hard |  He Yecong | 7–5, 6–3 | |
| Winner | 11. | Hong Kong, F2 | Hard | Daniel Nolan | 6–3, 6–3 | |
| Winner | 12. | Hong Kong, F3 | Hard | Jumpei Yamasaki | 6–3, 6–2 | |
| Runner-up | 13. | Gimcheon, South Korea | Hard | Max Purcell | 6–3, 6–7, 1–5 | |
| Runner-up | 14. | Hua Hin, Thailand | Hard | John Millman | 2–6, 2–6 |
Doubles: 30 (22–8)
| Outcome | No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
| Winner | 1. | F12 Australia | Hard | Luke Saville | John Peers Dane Propaggia | 4–6, 6–4, 10–5 | |
| Winner | 2. | F13 Australia | Hard | Luke Saville | Matthew Barton Michael Look | 6–7, 6–4, 12–10 | |
| Winner | 3. | F1 Australia | Hard | Luke Saville | Brydan Klein Dane Propaggia | 6–7, 6–2 | |
| Winner | 4. | F4, Italy | Clay | Alex Bolt |  Erik Crepaldi Claudio Grassi | 6–3, 7–6 | |
| Winner | 5. | F2, Slovenia | Clay | Alex Bolt |  Miki Jankovic Nik Razborsek | 6–4, 7–6 | |
| Winner | 6. | F6, Germany | Clay | Alex Bolt |  Jan-Lennard Struff Mattis Wetzel | 6–1, 6–0 | |
| Runner Up | 7. | F10, Great Britain | Grass | Andrew Harris | Lewis Burton Edward Corrie | 1–6, 1–6 | |
| Runner Up | 8. | F5, Australia | Hard | Jay Andrijic | Adam Feeney Nick Lindahl | 3–6, 5–7 | |
| Winner | 9. | F6 Australia | Hard | Luke Saville | Yuichi Ito Yusuke Watanuki | 6–3, 6–2 | |
| Winner | 10. | F10 Australia | Hard | Luke Saville | Matthew Barton Michael Look | 7–6, 7–6 | |
| Winner | 11. | F5, Greece | Hard | Joshua Milton |  Filip Peliwo Hugo Di Feo | 2–6, 6–3, 10–7 | |
| Winner | 12. | F6, Australia | Hard | Alex Bolt | Adam Feeney Gavin van Peperzeel | 6–1, 3–6, 10–7 | |
| Winner | 13. | F7, Australia | Hard | Alex Bolt | Kento Takeuchi Isaac Frost | 6–3, 6–2 | |
| Winner | 14. | F8, Australia | Hard | Alex Bolt | Adam Feeney Gavin van Peperzeel | 6–3, 6–3 | |
| Runner Up | 15. | Melbourne, Australia | Hard | Alex Bolt | Thanasi Kokkinakis Benjamin Mitchell | 3–6, 2–6 | |
| Winner | 16. | F1, Cambodia | Hard | Gavin van Peperzeel |  Wishaya Trongcharoenchaikul Danai Udomchoke | 6–3, 3–6, 10–7 | |
| Winner | 17. | Anning, China | Clay | Alex Bolt | Daniel Cox Gong Maoxin | 6–4, 6–3 | |
| Runner Up | 18. | F1, Estonia | Clay |  Micke Kontinen |  Lukas Mugevicius Alexander Vasilenko | 7–6, 3–6, 6–10 | |
| Winner | 19. | F2, Estonia | Clay |  Markus Kerner | Vladamir Ivanov Yan Sabanin | 6–3, 6–3 | |
| Runner Up | 20. | F9, Australia | Hard |  Mitchell Krueger | Marc Polmans Steven de Waard | 6–7, 6–7 | |
| Runner Up | 21. | Onkaparinga, Australia | Hard | Alex Bolt |  Aleksandr Nedovyesov Andrey Kuznetsov | 5–7, 4–6 | |
| Winner | 22. | F4, Australia | Hard | Jordan Thompson | Marc Polmans Steven de Waard | 6–2, 7–6 | |
| Runner Up | 23. | Anning, China | Clay |  Karunuday Singh | Bai Yan Wu Di | 3–6, 4–6 | |
| Winner | 24. | Canberra International, Australia | Hard | Alex Bolt | Brydan Klein Dane Proppagia | 7–6, 6–3 | |
| Winner | 25. | F1, Australia | Hard | Alex Bolt | Marc Polmans Jose Statham | 7–6, 6–3 | |
| Winner | 26. | F2, Australia | Hard | Alex Bolt | Marc Polmans Steven de Waard | 3–6, 7–6, 6–10 | |
| Winner | 27. | F3, Australia | Hard | Greg Jones | Gavin van Peperzeel Bradley Mousley | 6–3, 6–2 | |
| Winner | 28. | F1, Guam | Hard | Toshihide Matsui | Sho Katayama Yutaro Matsuzaki | 6–3, 3–6, 10–8 | |
| Winner | 29. | F6, Japan | Clay | Yasutaka Uchiyama | Katsuki Nagao Hirosama Oku | 7–6, 6–4 | |
| Runner Up | 30. | Launceston, Australia | Hard | Alex Bolt | Bradley Mousley Luke Saville | 1–6, 2–6 | |
| Runner Up | 31 | Canberra International, Australia | Hard | Luke Saville | Alex Bolt Bradley Mousley | 3–6, 2–6 |