Illya Marchenko

After turning pro in 2005, Marchenko mostly played on the ITF Futures circuit.

In 2006, he reached his first Futures final (Nigeria F5) and won his first futures title a week later (Nigeria F6). He then attempted to qualify for his first ATP World Tour event in Marseille, but lost in the first round of qualification to Jérémy Chardy.

In 2007, Marchenko reached his third Futures final (Belarus F2) before losing to Russian Michail Elgin. Again, attempting to qualify for the main draw of an ATP World Tour event, Marchenko lost in the second round of the Kremlin Cup qualifiers in Moscow, and the final round of the St. Petersburg Open qualifier a week later.

In 2008, Marchenko reached his fourth Futures final (Russia F2) before bowing out to Pavel Chekhovin the final. In May, Marchenko reached the semi-final of the Türk Telecom İzmir Cup Challenger in Turkey before losing to eventual champion Gilles Müller. This was his best Challenger performance to date.

In August 2008, however, Marchenko topped out his previous Challenger performances by reaching the final of the Bukhara Challenger in Uzbekistan before losing to hometown favorite Denis Istomin in 3 sets. Marchenko then closed out his year with solid performances in two Ukrainian Challengers, reaching the Quarterfinals and Semifinals in each, respectively. Marchenko played his first Davis Cup tie in 2008, winning his only rubber.

In March, Marchenko played his first live rubber in Davis Cup after being selected as second singles man for the Ukrainian team in the tie versus Great Britain. Marchenko defeated Josh Goodall, Britain's first singles man in the absence of Andy Murray in straight sets. Ukraine went on to win the tie after claiming victory in the doubles rubber (contested by Sergiy Stakhovsky and Sergei Bubka for Ukraine and Ross Hutchins and Colin Fleming for Great Britain). Marchenko played the fifth dead rubber against Chris Eaton and lost.

Marchenko played his first ATP World Tour match in Marseille after winning 3 rounds of qualification. However, he lost to Mischa Zverev in 3 sets, despite winning the first set. In May, Marchenko reached the semifinal of the Fergana Challenger in Uzbekistan, before reaching the final of the Penza Cup Challenger in Russia (losing to Mikhail Kukushkin in the final).

In August, Marchenko won the Istanbul Challenger in Turkey, beating 4 players ranked inside the Top 200 best of the world, including Karol Beck (ranked #100 at the time). Marchenko beat Florian Mayer to win the title, the first Challenger title of his entire career (singles or doubles).

Marchenko attempted to qualify for the first time into the main draw of a Grand Slam at the 2009 US Open, but lost to Marco Chiudinelli in the final round of qualification.

In October, Marchenko won 6 matches in a row before losing to countryman Sergiy Stakhovsky in the semi-final of the Mons Challenger in Belgium. He followed his good form at the Kremlin Cup event in Moscow, Russia. After winning 3 rounds of Qualification matches, Marchenko reached his second ever ATP World Tour main draw. He then beat Denis Istomin in his first match, Andrey Golubev in his second match, and Evgeny Korolev in his Quarterfinal Match to reach his first ATP World Tour Semifinal. This run in Moscow was Marchenko's best ever ATP results. However, he lost to Serbia's Janko Tipsarević. He then played at the St. Petersburg Open, where he won his first round match against 56th ranked Fabio Fognini. He lost to second seeded Victor Hănescu in the Round of 16.

In November, Marchenko reached his fourth ATP Challenger Tour final. At the 2009 edition of the Presidents Cup in Astana, Kazakhstan, after defeating Björn Phau in the semifinals of the indoor hardcourt tournament, Marchenko bowed out to Andrey Golubev

Marchenko started 2010 by qualifying for the 2010 Australian Open. In the first round he beat former world number 1 Carlos Moyá, before falling to world number 6 Nikolay Davydenko in the second round. Illya then travelled to Zagreb in February 2010 and made it to the quarter finals after defeating Simone Bolelli and Ivan Dodig before losing to Jürgen Melzer. The same month he also travelled to Marseille and qualified. After beating Ruben Bemelmans and Olivier Rochus he faced top ten seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the Quarter Finals. He subsequently lost the match.[3] In March 2010 he qualified for the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 in Miami. He beat Paul-Henri Mathieu in the first round but was beaten by Tommy Robredo in the second round. Much of the year was pretty much the same for Illya, just missing out in qualifying or bowing out in the first or second rounds of tournaments. He earned 90 ATP ranking points in St Petersburg after reaching the Semi Final, losing to Mikhail Kukushkin in October.

Marchenko started the year 2011 ranked at 81. He qualified for the 2011 Australian Open. He beat Rubén Ramírez Hidalgo in the first round, but was beaten in straight sets by World Number 5 Andy Murray in the second round.[4]

Marchenko played a first round hard court match against Matteo Viola and lost 3–6, 6–2, 0–6. He had a total of 12 double faults. In the 2nd and 3rd sets, he had 13 second serves and double faulted on 9 of them. In the deciding set alone, he double faulted 6 out of 9 times when faced with a second serve.

Early 2016 marked a real boost in Marchenko's career. At the Qatar Open he managed to defeat three top 50 players, including a first round win against the defending champion David Ferrer, much against all expectations. This also marked the first victory against a top 10 player of his career. He lost in round 1 of the 2016 Australian Open to Australian wild-card recipient, Omar Jasika, ranked 310. Marchenko beat Ivan Dodig in the 1st round of the 2016 US Open in 4 sets. Marchenko then beat Damir Dzumhur in straight sets. Marchenko was leading opponent and no.14 seed Nick Kyrgios 4–6, 6–1, 6–4 when Kyrgios retired with a hip injury. Marchenko then lost in 4 sets to no.3 seed Stan Wawrinka.

After struggling for the entirety of the 2020 season, Marchenko was able to once again find success at the 2021 Biella Challenger Indoor in Italy. He defeated the 5 seed and former World Number 24 Martin Klizan in straight sets the 1st round. In the quarterfinals he won a tight three-setter against 4 seed Lorenzo Giustino. In the semifinals he defeated the 2 seed Federico Gaio 7-5, 6-1. In the final, Marchenko upset the top seed and former World Number 1 Andy Murray 6-2, 6-4 to win his first ATP Challenger-level title since 2019.

Marchenko made his Davis Cup debut in 2008 at the age of 21. During his time with the Ukrainian Davis Cup team, he posted a win–loss record of 17–13 in singles, 1–0 in doubles, and 18–13 overall.