Petr Nesterov (Bulgarian: Пьотр Нестеров, born 7 March 2003) is a professional Bulgarian tennis player.[1] He has a career-high ATP singles ranking of World No. 527 achieved on 22 April 2024, whilst his best doubles ranking is No. 383 achieved on 17 July 2023. Nesterov reached the final of the 2021 US Open Junior doubles with Ukrainian Viacheslav Bielinskyi.[2][3][4]

Petr Nesterov
Country (sports) Bulgaria
ResidenceVarna, Bulgaria
Born (2003-03-07) 7 March 2003 (age 21)
Moscow, Russia
Turned pro2019
PlaysRight-handed (two-handed backhand)
Prize moneyUS$ 36,706
Singles
Career record1–1 (at ATP Tour level, Grand Slam level, and in Davis Cup)
Career titles0
Highest rankingNo. 527 (22 April 2024)
Current rankingNo. 528 (6 May 2024)
Grand Slam singles results
French Open Junior1R (2021)
Wimbledon Junior1R (2021)
US Open JuniorQF (2021)
Doubles
Career record2–3 (at ATP Tour level, Grand Slam level, and in Davis Cup)
Career titles0
Highest rankingNo. 383 (17 July 2023)
Current rankingNo. 491 (6 May 2024)
Grand Slam doubles results
French Open JuniorQF (2021)
Wimbledon Junior2R (2021)
US Open JuniorF (2021)
Last updated on: 12 May 2024.

Junior career edit

As a junior, Nesterov won three singles and four doubles titles and achieved a career-high ranking of World No. 15. [5] His biggest junior success came in 2021 at the US Open, where he reached the quarterfinals in singles and his first Grand Slam final in doubles with Viacheslav Bielinskyi, but lost 3–6, 7–5, [1–10] to Max Westphal and Coleman Wong in the championship match. Earlier in the year the Bulgarian-Ukrainian duo came close to another doubles final at the French Open, but lost out in the semifinals to eventual champions Arthur Fils and Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard.[2]

Professional career edit

2019–2023: Early years, turning pro, ATP debut and first wins edit

Nesterov made his professional debut at the age of 16, when he received a wildcard for the ITF tournament in Burgas in 2019. Although he lost his first singles match, Petr reached his debut ITF final in doubles with compatriot Simeon Terziev, but the Bulgarian duo couldn't go all the way, losing 3–6, 3–6 to Luca Gelhard and Kai Wehnelt.

A year and a half later, after the end of his junior career, Nesterov started playing regularly on the ITF men's tour. In 2022 he made his debut for Bulgaria Davis Cup team in the World Group II Play-Off tie with Paraguay, but was forced to retire in the third set against Daniel Vallejo.

After reaching two semifinals as a qualifier at the M25 and M15 events in Pirot and Novi Sad, Nesterov made his debut in the top 1000 of the ATP rankings as well as reaching his second doubles final with Simon Anthony Ivanov at the tournament in Novi Sad.

In September, Nesterov made his ATP singles qualifying debut at the 2022 Sofia Open after receiving a wildcard for the qualifying draw of his home tournament. The Bulgarian did not waste this opportunity and scored his biggest win to date, overcoming World No. 270 Salvatore Caruso in straight sets 7–6(4), 6–4. Ultimately he could not seal his spot into the main draw after a loss to Dragoș Nicolae Mădăraș in the second round.

Nesterov made his main draw ATP doubles debut with Yanaki Milev at the 2022 Sofia Open, where they reached the quarterfinals defeating Jack Vance and Jamie Vance before losing to eventual champions Rafael Matos and David Vega Hernández.

He also received a wildcard for the 2023 Sofia Open with Yanaki Milev and also reached the quarterfinals defeating Spanish duo Íñigo Cervantes and defending champion David Vega Hernández.

Year-end ATP ranking edit

Year 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
Singles - - 1692 819 558
Doubles 1514 1584 2418 550 423

Challenger and ITF World Tennis Tour finals edit

Singles: 4 (3–1) edit

Legend (singles)
ATP Challenger Tour (0-0)
ITF World Tennis Tour (3–1)
Titles by surface
Hard (2–1)
Clay (1–0)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)
Result W–L    Date    Tournament Tier Surface Opponent Score
Win 1–0 Oct 2023 M15 Al Zahra, Kuwait World Tennis Tour Hard   Gonçalo Oliveira 4–6, 6–4, 6–3
Win 2–0 Nov 2023 M15 Al Zahra, Kuwait World Tennis Tour Hard   Tomáš Láník 6–4, 7–6(7–5)
Loss 2–1 Mar 2024 M15 Aktobe, Kazakhstan World Tennis Tour Hard (i)   Evgeny Karlovskiy 7–6(7–1), 1–6, 2–6
Win 3–1 May 2024 M15 Bucharest, Romania World Tennis Tour Clay   Niels Lootsma 6–3, 4–6, 7–6(8–6)

Doubles: 10 (3–7) edit

Legend (doubles)
ATP Challenger Tour (0–0)
ITF World Tennis Tour (3–7)
Titles by surface
Hard (2–2)
Clay (1–5)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)
Result W–L    Date    Tournament Tier Surface Partner Opponents Score
Loss 0–1 Oct 2019 M15 Burgas, Bulgaria World Tennis Tour Clay   Simeon Terziev   Luca Gelhard
  Kai Wehnelt
3–6, 3–6
Loss 0–2 Jul 2022 M15 Novi Sad, Serbia World Tennis Tour Clay   Simon Anthony Ivanov   Viktor Jović
  Marat Sharipov
3–6, 4–6
Loss 0–3 Oct 2022 M15 Sozopol, Bulgaria World Tennis Tour Hard   Yanaki Milev   Maks Kaśnikowski
  Olaf Pieczkowski
3–6, 5–7
Win 1–3 Oct 2022 M15 Sozopol, Bulgaria World Tennis Tour Hard   Yanaki Milev   Adriano Dhzenev
  Anthony Genov
6–3, 6–2
Win 2–3 Mar 2023 M15 Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt World Tennis Tour Hard   Alec Beckley   Alex Knaff
  Jakob Schnaitter
3–6, 6–3, [10–8]
Loss 2–4 Jun 2023 M15 Constanța, Romania World Tennis Tour Clay   Olaf Pieczkowski   Ignacio Carou
  João Victor Couto Loureiro
3–6, 6–7(5–7)
Loss 2–5 Jun 2023 M25 Skopje, North Macedonia World Tennis Tour Clay   Yanaki Milev   Sascha Gueymard Wayenburg
  Antoine Hoang
1–6, 2–6
Loss 2–6 Dec 2023 M15 Zahra, Kuwait World Tennis Tour Hard   Aleksandre Bakshi   Dax Donders
  Sidané Pontjodikromo
6–3, 6–7(3–7), [8–10]
Loss 2–7 Dec 2023 M15 Antalya, Turkey World Tennis Tour Clay   Bogdan Bobrov   Jay Clarke
  James MacKinlay
1–6, 2–6
Win 3–7 May 2024 M15 Bucharest, Romania World Tennis Tour Clay   Ilya Snițari   Tomás Lipovšek Puches
  Juan Bautista Otegui
6–7(5–7), 6–4, [10–7]

National participation edit

Davis Cup (1 win, 2 losses) edit

Petr Nesterov debuted for the Bulgaria Davis Cup team in 2022. Since then he has 5 nominations with 3 ties played, his singles W/L record is 1–1 and doubles W/L record is 0–1 (1–2 overall).

Group membership
World Group (0–0)
WG Play-off (0–0)
Group I (1–1)
Group II (0–1)
Group III (0–0)
Group IV (0–0)
Matches by surface
Hard (1–2)
Clay (0–0)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)
Matches by type
Singles (1–1)
Doubles (0–1)
Rubber result No. Rubber Match type (partner if any) Opponent nation Opponent player(s) Score
 3–1; 4–5 March 2022; Sport Hall Sofia, Sofia, Bulgaria; World Group II Play-Off; Hard (i) surface
Defeat 1 IV Singles   Paraguay Daniel Vallejo 6–7(8–10), 7–6(7–2), [5–10]
 3–1; 4–5 February 2023; Wilding Park, Christchurch, New Zealand; World Group I Play-Off; Hard surface
Defeat 2 III Doubles (with Alexander Donski)   New Zealand Artem Sitak / Michael Venus 4–6, 6–3, 3–6
 1–3; 3–4 February 2024; Tennis Center Avenue, Burgas, Bulgaria; World Group I Play-Off; Hard (i) surface
Victory 3 IV Singles   Bosnia and Herzegovina Andrej Nedić 4–6, 6–2, [10–8]

Junior Grand Slam finals edit

Doubles: 1 (0–1) edit

Result Year Tournament Surface Partner Opponent Score
Runner-Up 2021 US Open Hard   Viacheslav Bielinskyi   Max Westphal
  Coleman Wong
3–6, 7–5, [1–10]

References edit

  1. ^ "Petr Nesterov | Overview | ATP Tour | Tennis".
  2. ^ a b "Junior Wrap: Robin Montgomery, Daniel Rincon win US Open singles titles". 11 September 2021.
  3. ^ "While Britain celebrated Emma Raducanu, a Hong Kong teenager made US Open tennis history too". 13 September 2021.
  4. ^ "Photos: Boys' Doubles Final at the 2021 US Open". September 11, 2021.
  5. ^ "ITF Tennis – Pro Circuit – Player Profile – NESTEROV, Petr (BUL)".

External links edit