Radu Albot (born 11 November 1989) is a Moldovan professional tennis player. He is the first player from Moldova to win ATP World Tour singles (2019 Delray Beach Open) and doubles (2015 Istanbul Open) titles.
Albot has won one ATP singles and one doubles title, 7 singles and 10 doubles Challenger titles in his career, as well as 14 singles and 7 doubles Futures titles. He has been a regular member of the Moldovan Davis Cup team since 2007 and holds his country's records for the most singles wins (28) and total wins (41).
His ATP singles ranking of No. 99 on August 3, 2015, made him the first Moldovan to break into the top 100. Albot achieved a career high ranking of No. 39 on August 5, 2019. He finished in the top 100 in the year-end rankings for five years (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020). His year-end career high was in 2019 when he finished at No. 46.
Personal life
Albot became a father on 19 April 2020, after his girlfriend Doina, gave birth to daughter Adeline.
Tennis career
2013–16: Historic maiden ATP title
Radu Albot has achieved many firsts for a Moldovan professional tennis player. In September 2013 he won the ATP Challenger event in Fergana, Uzbekistan, becoming the first player from his country to win an ATP Challenger tournament. At the 2014 US Open, he won three straight matches in the men's qualifying tournament to gain a berth in the main draw, becoming the first Moldovan to play in the main draw of a Grand Slam Tournament.
In May 2015, Albot teamed up with Dušan Lajović to win the doubles title at the inaugural 2015 Istanbul Open, becoming the first Moldovan to win an ATP Tour level event. In October 2015, Albot together with his doubles partner František Čermák managed to reach the 2015 Kremlin Cup final, being defeated by Andrey Rublev and Dmitry Tursunov in the decisive set. In June 2016, he qualified for the 2016 Wimbledon Championships and won his first Grand Slam match in 4 attempts, defeating Gastão Elias in the first round.
2017–19: Historic ATP singles title and first Grand Slam doubles semifinal
In June 2017, Radu Albot reached the quarter-finals of the 2017 Antalya Open beating João Sousa and Paolo Lorenzi, before losing to Andreas Seppi in straight sets. In the same year, he played for the first time in the main draw of all four Grand Slam tournaments. He received direct entry into the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon tournaments. Albot qualified for the 2015 US Open tournament and won two main draw matches before being defeated by Sam Querrey in the third round, his best singles finish at a Grand Slam to date. He equalled this achievement at the 2018 Wimbledon Championships, defeating Pablo Carreño Busta in the first round before eventually losing in the third round to John Isner.
In February 2018, Radu Albot reached the quarterfinals of the 2018 New York Open, winning matches against Bjorn Fratangelo and John Isner, but being eliminated by Kei Nishikori in the decisive third set. In September 2018, he reached his first ATP Tour level singles semifinals at the 2018 Moselle Open where he lost against the eventual tournament champion, Gilles Simon.
At the 2018 US Open, he and partner Malek Jaziri reached the doubles semifinals.
Albot reached the semifinals of the 2019 Open Sud de France tournament, beating Philipp Kohlschreiber, Ernests Gulbis and Marcos Baghdatis, before losing to the eventual tournament champion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
In late February 2019, he won the 2019 Delray Beach Open, making history as the first Moldovan to win an ATP singles title, knocking out Ivo Karlović, Nick Kyrgios, Steve Johnson and Mackenzie McDonald. In the final he defeated Dan Evans of Great Britain in a closely fought three-set match In May 2019, Albot reached the 2019 Geneva Open semifinal losing in the penultimate round against Nicolás Jarry. In August, 2019 he reached his third semifinal of the year at the 2019 Los Cabos Open, losing to Taylor Fritz. His three victories in the tournament put him at a total of 25 for the year, his most ATP tour wins in a season.
2020–21: Inaugural ATP Cup, Australian Open third round, struggles, out of top 100 In January 2020, Albot participated in the Inaugural 2020 ATP Cup in the Group stage as a member of the Moldovan team.
Albot reached the third round at the 2021 Australian Open for the first time at this Major where he defeated World No. 13 Roberto Bautista Agut en route before losing to 24th seed Casper Ruud. In February, seeded sixth he made his first semifinal in 19 months and of the year at the 2021 Singapore Tennis Open where he lost to Alexander Bublik. After eight first rounds losses he dropped out of the top 100 on 2 August 2021.