Izak van der Merwe (born 26 January 1984) is a retired South African tennis player.
Van der Merwe had a career-high ATP singles ranking of 113 achieved on 1 August 2011.
Van der Merwe represented South Africa at the Davis Cup.
He says he tried to base his play on the former Wimbledon champion, Pete Sampras.
Tennis career highlights
2005–2007: Career beginnings
Van der Merwe turned pro in 2005 and ended the year with a singles ranking of 721. During this time Van der Merwe mainly played in the ITF Futures tour. In October 2005, Van der Merwe won his first ITF Futures singles title in Zimbabwe F1.
In 2006 Van der Merwe reached 5 ITF Futures tour singles finals, winning 1. In 2007 Van der Merwe won 3 ITF Futures tour titles.
2008: 1st Grand Slam entry
In June 2008, van der Merwe qualified into the 2008 Wimbledon main draw, beating World No. 177 Miguel Ángel López Jaén, World No. 126 Kristian Pless, and World No. 246 Frédéric Niemeyer. He would then go on to lose to Guillermo García-López 7–5, 6–2, 6–2.
In August 2008 Van der Merwe also reached his first Challenger tour final at the Campos Do Jordao-1 in Brazil, where he lost to Brian Dabul.
2010: 1st ATP Challenger title
In August 2010 Van der Merwe won his maiden ATP Challenger title at the Campos Do Jordao-1 in Brazil, when he defeated world number 88 Ricardo Mello.
2011: Second and Third ATP Challenger titles
In February Van der Merwe reached his first main draw semifinal on the ATP World Tour, when he reached the semifinal of the SA Tennis Open (ATP 250 event) in Johannesburg, South Africa. He went on to lose to world number 110 Somdev Devvarman.
In April Van der Merwe won his second ATP Challenger title at the Soweto Open in Johannesburg, South Africa, when he defeated countryman and world number 184 Rik De Voest. In November Van der Merwe won his third ATP Challenger title at Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, when he defeated world number 283 Jesse Levine.
2012
In July he reached the quarterfinal of the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships (ATP 250 event) in Newport, RI, U.S.A. .
ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals
Singles: 17 (8 titles-9 runner-ups) Legend (singles)ATP Challenger Tour (3–5)ITF Futures (5–4)Titles by surfaceHard (8–16)Clay (0–1)Grass (0–0)Carpet (0–0)
ResultNo.DateTournamentSurfaceOpponentScoreWin1.23 October 2005Zimbabwe F1, BulawayoHard Andrew Anderson4–6, 6–4, 6–3Loss2.21 May 2006USA F11, TampaClay Robert Yim6–3, 4–6, 4–6Loss3.2 July 2006Thailand F3, BangkokHard Takahiro Terachi7–6, 1–6, 4–6Loss4.8 October 2006USA F25, Laguna NiguelHard Brian Wilson7–6, 2–6, 4–6Win5.22 October 2006USA F26, MansfieldHard Michael McClune7–6, 6–4Loss6.29 October 2006USA F27, Baton RougeHard Dudi Sela7–5, 4–6, 3–6Win7.15 April 2007USA F7, MobileHard Ryler DeHeart6–1, 6–4Win8.22 July 2007USA F18, JoplinHard Andrey Kumantsov6–3, 6–4Win9.28 October 2007USA F27, Baton RougeHard Carsten Ball6–2, 7–6Loss10.10 August 2008Campos do Jordão, BrazilHard Brian Dabul5–7, 7–6, 3–6Loss11.24 May 2009Cremona, ItalyHard Benjamin Becker5–7, 1–6Loss12.18 April 2010Johannesburg, South AfricaHard Dustin Brown6–7, 3–6Win13.8 August 2010 Campos do Jordão, BrazilHard Ricardo Mello7–6(8–6), 6–3Loss14.15 August 2010 Brasília, BrazilHard Tatsuma Ito4–6, 4–6Win15.17 April 2011Johannesburg, South AfricaHard Rik de Voest6–7(2–7), 7–5, 6–3Loss16.7 August 2011Campos do Jordão, BrazilHard Rogerio Dutra Silva4–6, 7–6, 3–6Win17.6 November 2011Charlottesville, United StatesHard Jesse Levine4–6, 6–3, 6–4
Singles performance timeline
Current till 2013 US Open. Tournament2007200820092010201120122013W–LGrand Slam tournamentsAustralian OpenAAAQ2Q3Q1Q10–0French OpenAAAAQ2Q1A0–0WimbledonAR1Q1Q1Q1Q3A0–0US OpenAQ1Q2Q1Q1Q1A0–0Win–loss0–00–10–00–00–00–00–00–1Career statisticsTitles–FinalsYear-end ranking2693042721741132141109
References
External links
van der Merwe World Ranking History