Kristian Pless

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Kristian Pless
Country (sports) Denmark
ResidenceDubai, United Arab Emirates
Born (1981-02-09) 9 February 1981 (age 43)
Odense, Denmark
Height1.87 m (6 ft 2 in)
Turned pro1999
Retired2009
PlaysRight-handed (two-handed backhand)
Prize money$1,127,884
Singles
Career record55–86 (at ATP Tour level, Grand Slam level, and in Davis Cup)
Career titles0
Highest rankingNo. 65 (28 January 2002)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open3R (2002)
French Open2R (2001, 2007)
Wimbledon2R (2001)
US Open2R (2001, 2002, 2004, 2006)
Other tournaments
Olympic Games2R (2000)
Doubles
Career record6–24 (at ATP Tour level, Grand Slam level, and in Davis Cup)
Career titles0
Highest rankingNo. 172 (23 July 2007)
Grand Slam doubles results
French Open1R (2007)
Wimbledon1R (2007)
Last updated on: 28 October 2021.

Kristian Peter Pless (born 9 February 1981) is a former professional male tennis player from Denmark.

Tennis career[edit]

Juniors[edit]

Pless had an excellent junior career, winning the 1999 Australian Open Boys' Singles (defeated Mikhail Youzhny), and reaching the Boys' final at both Wimbledon (lost to Jürgen Melzer), and the US Open (lost to Jarkko Nieminen) the same year. He finished 1999 as the No. 1 ranked junior player in the world.[1]

Pro tour[edit]

He turned professional in 1999, and on 28 January 2002, Kristian Pless reached his career-high ATP singles ranking of World No. 65. He has won tournaments at the Futures and Challenger levels, and has reached three semifinals on the ATP Tour. He suffered a serious shoulder injury in 2003, which after multiple surgery kept him out of competition for almost a year.

After returning from injury in 2004, he had dropped in the rankings to World No. 846 on 24 May. Subsequently, he has gradually climbed the rankings, and after successful performances at the Challenger level in autumn 2006, he entered the Top 100 again. In January 2007, he continued his good performances as he defeated World No. 8 David Nalbandian in three sets in the first round of Chennai Open. This was Pless' first win against a Top-10 ranked player.

In 2007 he also managed to take a set from tennis legend Roger Federer at their meeting in Dubai, but eventually Federer won the tie 7–6(2), 3–6, 6–3. It was first set Federer had lost that year after he had won the Australian Open without losing a single set.

In 2008 he reached two Challenger finals (in Izmir, Turkey and Rimouski, Canada), but ended the year outside of Top 100. 2009 was his last year on tour.[2]

Junior Grand Slam finals[edit]

Singles: 3 (1 title, 2 runner-ups)[edit]

Result Year Tournament Surface Opponent Score
Win 1999 Australian Open Hard Russia Mikhail Youzhny 6–4, 6–3
Loss 1999 Wimbledon Grass Austria Jürgen Melzer 6–7, 3–6
Loss 1999 US Open Hard Finland Jarkko Nieminen 7–6, 3–6, 4–6

Doubles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)[edit]

Result Year Tournament Surface Partnet Opponents Score
Win 1999 Australian Open Hard Austria Jürgen Melzer Czech Republic Ladislav Chramosta
Czech Republic Michal Navrátil
6–7, 6–3, 6–0
Loss 1999 French Open Clay Belgium Olivier Rochus Georgia (country) Irakli Labadze
Croatia Lovro Zovko
1–6, 6–7

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals[edit]

Singles: 20 (7–13)[edit]

Legend
ATP Challenger (4–11)
ITF Futures (3–2)
Finals by surface
Hard (1–9)
Clay (4–2)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (2–2)
Result W–L    Date    Tournament Tier Surface Opponent Score
Loss 0–1 Apr 1999 New Zealand F3, Christchurch Futures Hard South Africa Louis Vosloo 4–6, 3–6
Win 1–1 May 2000 Austria F3, Schwaz Futures Clay Republic of Ireland Scott Barron 6–3, 7–5
Win 2–1 Jun 2000 Ireland F1, Dublin Futures Carpet Australia Grant Doyle 6–3, 6–7(5–7), 6–1
Win 3–1 Aug 2000 Hungary F6, Budapest Futures Clay Austria Alexander Peya 7–5, 6–3
Loss 3–2 Feb 2001 Hull, United Kingdom Challenger Carpet Germany Michael Kohlmann 7–5, 6–7(3–7), 6–7(5–7)
Win 4–2 May 2001 Edinburgh, United Kingdom Challenger Clay Spain Gorka Fraile 6–3, 6–3
Loss 4–3 Jun 2001 Furth, Germany Challenger Clay Spain Germán Puentes 4–6, 3–6
Win 5–3 Dec 2001 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Challenger Hard Brazil Ricardo Mello 6–1, 6–1
Loss 5–4 Jun 2004 Poland F3, Warsaw Futures Clay Czech Republic Dušan Karol 3–6, 4–6
Loss 5–5 Aug 2005 Belo Horizonte, Brazil Challenger Hard United States John Paul Fruttero 6–7(4–7), 6–7(6–8)
Loss 5–6 Oct 2005 Southampton, United Kingdom Challenger Hard France Jérôme Haehnel 2–6, 3–6
Loss 5–7 Jul 2006 Dublin, Ireland Challenger Carpet Germany Mischa Zverev 5–7, 6–7(6–8)
Loss 5–8 Oct 2006 Nottingham, United Kingdom Challenger Hard Germany Alexander Waske 4–6, 3–6
Win 6–8 Nov 2006 Rimouski, Canada Challenger Carpet Chinese Taipei Lu Yen-hsun 6–4, 7–6(7–5)
Loss 6–9 Nov 2006 Nashville, United States Challenger Hard Netherlands Robin Haase 6–7(9–11), 3–6
Win 7–9 Apr 2007 Saint-Brieuc, France Challenger Clay Uzbekistan Farrukh Dustov 6–3, 6–1
Loss 7–10 Sep 2007 Grenoble, France Challenger Hard Ecuador Nicolás Lapentti 3–6, 5–7
Loss 7–11 Mar 2008 Cherbourg, France Challenger Hard France Thierry Ascione 5–7, 6–7(5–7)
Loss 7–12 Jun 2008 Izmir, Turkey Challenger Hard Luxembourg Gilles Müller 5–7, 3–6
Loss 7–13 Nov 2008 Rimouski, Canada Challenger Hard United States Ryan Sweeting 4–6, 6–7(3–7)

Doubles: 7 (4–3)[edit]

Legend
ATP Challenger (4–1)
ITF Futures (0–2)
Finals by surface
Hard (2–2)
Clay (0–0)
Grass (1–0)
Carpet (1–1)
Result W–L    Date    Tournament Tier Surface Partner Opponents Score
Loss 0–1 Apr 1999 New Zealand F3, Christchurch Futures Hard New Zealand Mark Nielsen United States Wynn Criswell
South Africa Shaun Rudman
2–6, 6–2, 1–6
Win 1–1 Dec 1999 Lucknow, India Challenger Grass Thailand Paradorn Srichaphan United Kingdom Martin Lee
United Kingdom Jamie Delgado
5–7, 6–3, 7–5
Loss 1–2 Jun 2000 Ireland F1, Dublin Futures Carpet Finland Jarkko Nieminen Belgium Gilles Elseneer
France Jean-Michel Pequery
6–7(2–7), 6–4, 3–6
Win 2–2 Dec 2000 Prague, Czech Republic Challenger Hard Pakistan Aisam Qureshi Switzerland Ivo Heuberger
Finland Ville Liukko
6–4, 6–4
Win 3–2 Jul 2005 Campos do Jordão, Brazil Challenger Hard Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Aleksandar Vlaski Brazil Franco Ferreiro
Brazil Marcelo Melo
7–6(7–5), 6–4
Win 4–2 Nov 2006 Rimouski, Canada Challenger Carpet Denmark Frederik Nielsen Netherlands Jasper Smit
Netherlands Martijn van Haasteren
6–2, 6–4
Loss 4–3 Nov 2008 Rimouski, Canada Challenger Hard Sweden Michael Ryderstedt Canada Milos Raonic
Canada Vasek Pospisil
7–5, 4–6, [6–10]

Performance timeline[edit]

Key
W  F  SF QF #R RR Q# DNQ A NH
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.

Singles[edit]

Tournament 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 SR W–L Win%
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open A Q1 3R 1R A Q3 Q2 1R Q1 A 0 / 3 2–3 40%
French Open A 2R 1R A 1R Q3 1R 2R A A 0 / 5 2–5 29%
Wimbledon A 2R 1R A 1R Q2 1R 1R Q2 Q2 0 / 5 1–5 17%
US Open Q2 2R 2R A 2R Q2 2R 1R Q2 A 0 / 5 4–5 44%
Win–loss 0–0 3–3 3–4 0–1 1–3 0–0 1–3 1–4 0–0 0–0 0 / 18 9–18 33%
ATP Tour Masters 1000
Indian Wells A A Q2 Q2 A A A 1R A A 0 / 1 0–1 0%
Miami A Q1 1R A A A A A A A 0 / 1 0–1 0%
Monte Carlo A Q1 2R A A A A A A A 0 / 1 1–1 50%
Hamburg A A A A A A A Q1 A NMS 0 / 0 0–0  – 
Rome A A Q2 A A A A A A A 0 / 0 0–0  – 
Canada Masters A A 2R A A A Q1 A A A 0 / 1 1–1 50%
Cincinnati A A Q1 A A A Q1 A A A 0 / 0 0–-0  – 
Stuttgart A Q1 Not Held 0 / 0 0–-0  – 
Win–loss 0–0 0–0 2–3 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–1 0–0 0–0 0 / 4 2–4 33%

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Kristian Pless – Junior". www.itftennis.com. Retrieved 2020-10-24.
  2. ^ "Kristian Pless – ATP Tour Overview". ATP Tour. Retrieved 2020-10-24.

External links[edit]

Preceded by ITF Junior World Champion
1999
Succeeded by