Milen Velev (Bulgarian: Милен Велев) (born 4 September 1971) is a former professional tennis player from Bulgaria.[1]

Milen Velev
Милен Велев
Country (sports)Bulgaria Bulgaria
ResidenceVienna, Austria
Born (1971-09-04) 4 September 1971 (age 53)
Sofia, Bulgaria
Turned pro1991
Retired2002
PlaysRight-handed
Prize moneyUS$ 94,296
Singles
Career record5–11 (at ATP Tour level, Grand Slam level, and in Davis Cup)
Career titles0
1 Challengers, 3 Futures
Highest rankingNo. 121 (27 September 1993)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open1R (1994)
French OpenQ2 (1996)
Doubles
Career record0–3 (at ATP Tour level, Grand Slam level, and in Davis Cup)
Career titles0
0 Challengers, 5 Futures
Highest rankingNo. 253 (17 August 1998)
Last updated on: 31 January 2021.

Career

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Velev appeared in 20 Davis Cup ties for Bulgaria, from 1988 to 2002. He was victorious in 20 of his 34 rubbers, finishing with a 14/7 record in singles and 6/7 in doubles. Only Todor Enev has won more Davis Cup matches for the national team. He had his best win in 1993, when he defeated top 30 player Marcos Ondruska, a South African.[2]

He was a quarter-finalist at the 1992 Saab International, an ATP Tour tournament held in Athens.[3] En route he upset fifth seed Guillermo Pérez Roldán.[3]

The Bulgarian played in the main draw of one Grand Slam event during his career, the 1994 Australian Open.[3] He met veteran Mats Wilander in his opening round match, which he lost in four sets.[3]

Year-end rankings

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Year 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003
Singles 1054 686 477 308 286 125 647 295 521 386 295 604 649 409 947 -
Doubles 997 1056 575 655 1016 - 1170 1197 574 467 353 576 934 456 956 1531

Challenger and Futures Finals

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Singles: 7 (4–3)

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Legend (singles)
ATP Challenger Tour (1–1)
ITF Futures (3–2)
Titles by surface
Hard (1–0)
Clay (3–3)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)
Result W–L    Date    Tournament Tier Surface Opponent Score
Win 1–9 Jul 1993 Oberstaufen, Germany Challenger Clay   Sláva Doseděl 6–3, 7–6
Loss 1–1 Jul 1993 Poznań, Poland Challenger Clay   Andrea Gaudenzi 3–6, 6–3, 3–6
Win 2–1 Jun 1998 Yugoslavia F3B, Zaječar Futures Clay   Dejan Petrovic 6–4, 7–6
Loss 2–2 Jun 1998 Macedonia F1, Skopje Futures Clay   Cyril Buscaglione 6–4, 4–6, 3–6
Win 3–2 Jul 1999 Greece F5, Thessaloniki Futures Clay   Solon Peppas 6–3, 6–1
Loss 3–3 Jun 2000 Macedonia F1, Skopje Futures Clay   Xavier Pujo 2–6, 7–5, 3–6
Win 4–3 Jul 2001 Macedonia F3, Skopje Futures Hard   Todor Enev 7–5, 6–4

Doubles: 8 (5–3)

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Legend (doubles)
ATP Challenger Tour (0–1)
ITF Futures (5–2)
Titles by surface
Hard (2–0)
Clay (2–2)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (1–1)
Result W–L    Date    Tournament Tier Surface Partner Opponents Score
Loss 0–1 Feb 1998 Austria F3, Mondseeland Futures Carpet (i)   Ivaylo Traykov   Petr Pála
  Borut Urh
4–6, 6–7
Win 1–1 Jun 1998 Macedonia F1, Skopje Futures Clay   Matey Pampoulov   Cyril Buscaglione
  Olaf Knutel
3–6, 6–4, 6–4
Win 2–1 Jun 1998 Macedonia F2, Kočani Futures Clay   Matey Pampoulov   Erik Csarnakovics
  Stefano Galvani
7–5, 6–3
Loss 2–2 Aug 1998 Sopot, Poland Challenger Clay   Alexander Shvets   James Greenhalgh
  Nenad Zimonjić
1–6, 3–6
Win 3–2 Jul 1999 Greece F4, Alexandroupolis Futures Carpet   Ivaylo Traykov   Fernando González
  Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi
7–6(7–2), 7–6(7–4)
Win 4–2 Jul 2000 Macedonia F3, Skopje Futures Hard   Relja Dulić Fišer   Sebastian Fitz
  Sergei Pozdnev
2–6, 6–2, 7–6(7–3)
Loss 4–3 Jun 2001 Macedonia F2, Skopje Futures Clay   Todor Enev   Mikhail Elgin
  Evgueni Smirnov
6–4, 4–6, 1–6
Win 5–3 Jul 2001 Macedonia F3, Skopje Futures Hard   Todor Enev   Radoslav Lukaev
  Predrag Rusevski
6–2, 7–5

Davis Cup

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Milen Velev debuted for the Bulgaria Davis Cup team in 1988. Since then he has 16 nominations with 20 ties played, his singles W/L record is 14–7 and doubles W/L record is 6–7 (20–14 overall).

Singles (14–7)

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Edition Round Date Surface Opponent W/L Result
1990 Europe Zone Group II QF 4 May 1990 Clay   George Kalovelonis W 6–3, 6–4, 6–0
6 May 1990   Konstantinos Effraimoglou W 6–2, 7–5
SF 15 June 1990 Clay   Tomasz Iwański L 3–6, 2–6, 3–6
17 June 1990   Wojciech Kowalski L 6–7(3–7), 5–7
1993 Europe/Africa Zone Group II R1 30 April 1993 Clay   Darek Nowicki W 7–5, 6–4, 7–6(8–6)
2 May 1993   Bartłomiej Dąbrowski W 6–2, 5–7, 6–4, 6–1
QF 16 July 1993 Clay   Marcos Ondruska W 6–4, 6–4, 1–6, 6–1
18 July 1993   Wayne Ferreira L 3–6, 6–3, 6–4, 4–6, 2–6
1998 Europe/Africa Zone Group II R1 1 May 1998 Clay (I)   Karim Alami L 6–7(3–7), 6–4, 6–7(2–7), 2–6
3 May 1998   Mehdi Tahiri W 6–2, 6–3
RPO 17 July 1998 Clay   Pascal Schaul W 6–3, 6–1, 7–5
1999 Europe/Africa Zone Group II R1 30 April 1999 Clay   Goudjo Gbedey W 6–2, 6–2, 6–2
QF 16 July 1999 Clay   Attila Sávolt W 1–6, 7–6(7–2), 6–2, 6–0
2000 Europe/Africa Zone Group II R1 30 April 2000 Clay   Vasilis Mazarakis L 6–7(5–7), 2–6, 0–6
QF 21 July 2000 Clay   Harel Levy L 1–6, 3–6, 2–6
2001 Europe/Africa Zone Group III RR 23 May 2001 Clay   Johan Theron W 4–1, 4–0, 4–0
24 May 2001   Komlavi Loglo W 5–3, 4–0, 4–2
25 May 2001   Predrag Rusevski W 4–2, 4–5(4–7), 1–4, 5–4(7–3), 8–6
SF 26 May 2001   Haris Bašalić W 4–0, 5–3, 4–1
2002 Europe/Africa Zone Group II R1 3 May 2002 Clay   Orest Tereshchuk L 3–6, 6–2, 4–6, 1–6
5 May 2002   Andrei Dernovskiy W 7–5, 5–7, 6–4, 6–3

Doubles (6–7)

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Edition Round Date Partner Surface Opponents W/L Result
1988 Europe Zone Group I RPO 11 June 1988   Julian Stamatov Clay   George Cosac
  Florin Segărceanu
L 4–6, 1–6, 4–6
1988 Europe Zone Group II QF 13 May 1989   Krassimir Lazarov Clay   Christophe Boggetti
  Jacques Vincileoni
L 6–7(2–7), 6–1, 6–3, 1–6, 6–8
1990 Europe Zone Group II R1 31 March 1990   Ivan Keskinov Clay   Yiannos Hadjigeorgiou
  Neoclis Neocleous
W 6–1, 6–1, 6–4
QF 5 May 1990   Stefan Tzvetkov Clay   George Kalovelonis
  Ioannis Rigas
W 6–7(5–7), 1–6, 6–2, 6–1, 6–3
SF 16 June 1990   Stefan Tzvetkov Clay   Tomasz Iwański
  Wojciech Kowalski
L 6–3, 4–6, 1–6, 2–6
1993 Europe/Africa Zone Group II R1 1 May 1993   Krassimir Lazarov Clay   Tomasz Iwański
  Darek Nowicki
L 6–4, 5–7, 5–7, 2–6
1998 Europe/Africa Zone Group II R1 2 May 1998   Orlin Stanoytchev Clay (I)   Karim Alami
  Mounir El Aarej
L 4–6, 5–7, 2–6
RPO 18 July 1998   Orlin Stanoytchev Clay   Adrian Graimprey
  Pascal Schaul
W 6–3, 6–2, 6–4
1999 Europe/Africa Zone Group II R1 1 May 1999   Ivaylo Traykov Clay   Jean-Kome Loglo
  Kossi Loglo
W 6–2, 6–4, 6–4
QF 17 July 1999   Ivaylo Traykov Clay   Zoltán Böröczky
  Attila Sávolt
L 3–6, 6–2, 3–6, 6–3, 5–7
2001 Europe/Africa Zone Group III F 27 May 2001   Todor Enev Clay   Mohamed Mamoun
  Marwan Zewar
W 4–2, 4–2, 4–1
2002 Europe/Africa Zone Group II R1 4 May 2002   Todor Enev Clay   Andrei Dernovskiy
  Orest Tereshchuk
W 7–6(7–5), 6–7(5–7), 7–6(7–4), 6–3
QF 13 July 2002   Todor Enev Hard   Claude N'Goran
  Valentin Sanon
L 4–6, 7–5, 2–6, 6–1, 4–6
  • RPO = Relegation Play–off
  • RR = Round Robin

References

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