Alexandar Lazarov (, born 6 November 1997) is a Bulgarian inactive professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking is world No. 272 achieved on 14 November 2022 and his best doubles ranking is No. 359 achieved on 3 February 2020.
Professional career 2016: Professional debut, first ITF title In 2016 Lazarov made his debut at ATP level at the ATP Sofia Open. He received a wild card for the qualification of the event in his homeland, losing in two sets to the world No. 214 Marius Copil. A month later Alexandar made his debut for the Bulgaria Davis Cup team against Turkey, losing the first match to Marsel İlhan, but claiming his maiden win over Altuğ Çelikbilek in the second. In September he won his first ITF singles title at the Serbia F8 event in Sokobanja, defeating Filip Veger in the final.
2017–2020: ATP debut, ATP Cup match win Lazarov lost in the first qualifying round at the ATP Sofia Open in 2017 and 2018, but at the 2019 event the Bulgarian defeated Lukáš Lacko and Luca Vanni to guarantee himself a spot in the main draw for the first time. In his ATP tour main draw debut Alexandar faced former world No. 7 Fernando Verdasco, but failed to score another upset, losing to the Spaniard 2–6 1–6. After the tournament Lazarov made his Top 500 debut in the ATP rankings.
Alexandar won his second ITF singles title in 2018 at the Georgia F3 event in Telavi and a year later he added another trophy to his collection, defeating Jordan Correia in the final of the M15 event in Casablanca.
In January 2020, Lazarov participated in the Bulgarian team in the inaugural 2020 ATP Cup where the top 24 countries qualified based on the singles ATP ranking of their No. 1 country player. The Bulgarian team was No. 19 based on Dimitrov's ranking and part of Group C. Lazarov and Grigor Dimitrov pulled a victory in doubles where as the underdogs they stunned the top British experienced pair of Jamie Murray/Joe Salisbury in a close three sets match.
2021: ATP Challenger debut At the beginning of the 2021 season Lazarov made the qualifying draw at the Antalya Open, but lost in three sets to Lucas Miedler. In July Alexander played his first ATP Challenger main draw match at the Iași Open after two wins in the qualification draw, but his run was stopped by Marius Copil. The Bulgarian's good form continued in the following week at the M25 event in Telavi, where he didn't lose a set on his way to his fourth ITF singles title.
In September, he received a wildcard for the main draw at the ATP Sofia Open, but could not score his maiden ATP win, losing 0–6 3–6 to Filip Krajinović. Lazarov finished his season with two consecutive ATP Challenger quarterfinals in Manama and in Antalya where he lost to the eventual champion Evgenii Tiurnev and reached a new career-high ranking of No. 405 on 13 December 2021.
2022: First ATP Challenger semifinal and ATP singles win, Top 300 In May Lazarov reached the quarterfinals of the Shymkent Challenger in Kazakhstan as a qualifier and as a result, he made his top 400 debut on 16 May 2022. Aleksandar continued his rise in the rankings during the summer after he won his fifth ITF title on home soil in Sofia as well as a final showing at the M25 event in Tbilisi the following week.
His best result to date came at the Rafa Nadal Open, where he made his way into the main draw and after five consecutive wins he reached his first semifinal on the ATP Challenger Tour as a qualifier. During his run in Manacor, Lazarov scored upset wins over world No. 132 Aleksandar Vukic and former No. 39 Mikhail Kukushkin before his run was stopped by the eventual champion Luca Nardi in three sets.
Ranked No. 334 at the 2022 Sofia Open, his home tournament, he won his first ATP tour level match and first against a top-100 player, overcoming world No. 74 Jiří Lehečka in straight sets. In the second round Lazarov player another spectacular match against World No. 30 Lorenzo Musetti and was just two points away from clinching his first ATP quarterfinal, but couldn't complete the upset, losing in three sets 7–6(5), 6–7(8), 2–6 to the Italian. At the same tournament in the doubles competition, he scored another ATP main draw win with Alexander Donski before losing in the quarterfinals to top seeds Fabio Fognini and Simone Bolelli. After the success at his home ATP tournament, Lazarov went on to win back to back M15 events in Sozopol, where he defeated Vladyslav Orlov and Maks Kaśnikowski to claim his sixth and seventh ITF title respectfully and securing his debut in the Top 300.
On 23 November 2022, he was confirmed as a participant at the 2023 United Cup as part of the Bulgarian team.
2023: Historic Davis Cup qualification, ATP 500 debut, injury Lazarov opened his 2023 season with a debut appearance at the United Cup, where he won his mixed doubles match partnering Isabella Shinikova against former doubles No. 1 Elise Mertens and David Goffin, sealing Bulgaria's first win in the tournament with 3–2 over Belgium.
Alexander was also part of the Bulgaria Davis Cup team in their World Group I Play-offs tie against New Zealand, where he won his singles match against Ajeet Rai, helping his home country on their way to a 3–1 win that saw them qualify for the World Group I for the first time in history.
In February, Lazarov received a wildcard for the qualifying draw at the 2023 Dubai Tennis Championships, making his maiden appearance at the ATP 500 level. The Bulgarian grabbed this opportunity and made his way into the main draw after scoring his second Top 100 win against World No. 92 Zhang Zhizhen in the first round in straight sets and then overcoming World No. 108 Francesco Passaro also in straight sets for a spot in the main draw. As a result, he moved more than 25 positions back into the top 275 in the rankings.
In May, at the 2023 Upper Austria Open Lazarov tore the Achilles tendon in his left leg during his first round match against Sandro Kopp. The Bulgarian went through surgery on the next day.
He received a wildcard for the main draw at the 2023 Sofia Open in singles and doubles. He lost to eventual semifinalist Pavel Kotov.
Challenger and Futures/World Tennis Tour finals
Singles: 9 (7–2) Legend (singles)ATP Challenger Tour (0–0)ITF Futures/World Tennis Tour (7–2)Titles by surfaceHard (2–1)Clay (5–1)Grass (0–0)Carpet (0–0)
ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfaceOpponentScoreWin1–0Serbia F8, SokobanjaFuturesClay Filip Veger 6–7(2–7), 7–6(7–4), 3–0 ret.Win2–0Georgia F3, TelaviFuturesClay Maksim Tikhomirov6–3, 6–2Win3–0M15 Casablanca, MoroccoWorld Tennis TourClay Jordan Correia6–4, 7–5Loss3–1M15 Skopje, North MacedoniaWorld Tennis TourClay Miljan Zekić4–6, 6–7(5–7)Win4–1M25 Telavi, GeorgiaWorld Tennis TourClay Aleksandre Metreveli6–1, 1–0 ret.Win5–1M15 Sofia, BulgariaWorld Tennis TourClay Vlad Andrei Dancu6–1, 6–2Loss5–2M25 Tbilisi, GeorgiaWorld Tennis TourHard Savva Polukhin2–6, 4–6Win6–2M15 Sozopol, BulgariaWorld Tennis TourHard Vladyslav Orlov6–1, 6–1Win7–2M15 Sozopol, BulgariaWorld Tennis TourHard Maks Kaśnikowski6–2, 6–4
Doubles: 6 (2–4) Legend (doubles)ATP Challenger Tour (0–0)ITF Futures/World Tennis Tour (2–4)Titles by surfaceHard (0–1)Clay (2–3)Grass (0–0)Carpet (0–0)
ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfacePartnerOpponentsScoreWin1–0Czech Republic F1, PragueFuturesClay Dominik Kellovský Daniel Paty Jan Valenta6–1, 6–3Loss1–1Tunisia F25, HammametFuturesClay Manuel Peña López Juan Ignacio Galarza Diego Hidalgo5–7, 4–6Loss1–2M15 Sozopol, BulgariaWorld Tennis TourHard Alexander Donski Alec Adamson Vasil Kirkov6–4, 2–6, [6–10]Loss1–3M15 Kamen, GermanyWorld Tennis TourClay Alexander Mannapov Shalva Dzhanashiya Yan Sabanin4–6, 5–7Win2–3M15 Curtea de Argeș, RomaniaWorld Tennis TourClay Călin Manda Petru-Alexandru Luncanu Ștefan Paloși6–4, 6–4Loss2–4M25 Rovinj, CroatiaWorld Tennis TourClay Giovanni Fonio David Pichler Dalibor Svrčina6–4, 2–6, [7–10]
National participation
Davis Cup (11 wins, 8 losses) Alexandar Lazarov debuted for the Bulgaria Davis Cup team in 2016. Since then he has 11 nominations with 12 ties played, his singles W/L record is 6–3 and doubles W/L record is 5–5 (11–8 overall).
Group membershipWorld Group (0–0)WG Play-off (0–0)Group I (2–1)Group II (7–7)Group III (2–0)Group IV (0–0)Matches by surfaceHard (8–8)Clay (3–0)Grass (0–0)Carpet (0–0)Matches by typeSingles (6–3)Doubles (5–5) indicates the result of the Davis Cup match followed by the score, date, place of event, the zonal classification and its phase, and the court surface.
Rubber resultNo.RubberMatch type (partner if any)Opponent nationOpponent player(s)Score2–3; 4–6 March 2016; Ankara Tenis Kulübü, Ankara, Turkey; Group II Europe/Africa First Round; Hard (i) surfaceDefeat1IISingles TurkeyMarsel İlhan4–6, 2–6, 3–6Victory2VSinglesAltuğ Çelikbilek4–6, 6–4, 6–42–3; 15–17 July 2016; Tennis Courts of Cité Nationale Sportive, Tunis, Tunisia; Group II Europe/Africa Relegation Play-Off; Hard surfaceDefeat3IISingles TunisiaMalek Jaziri4–6, 4–6, 1–6Defeat4IIIDoubles (with Vasko Mladenov)Malek Jaziri / Skander Mansouri4–6, 4–6, 3–6Victory5VSinglesAziz Dougaz4–6, 6–4, 7–6(7–1)3–0; 6 April 2017; Holiday Village Santa Marina, Sozopol, Bulgaria; Group III Europe Round Robin; Hard surfaceVictory6IIIDoubles (with Tihomir Grozdanov) ArmeniaMikayel Khachatryan / Sedrak Khachatryan6–2, 6–13–0; 7 April 2017; Holiday Village Santa Marina, Sozopol, Bulgaria; Group III Europe Round Robin; Hard surfaceVictory7IIIDoubles (with Tihomir Grozdanov) GreecePetros Tsitsipas / Stamatios Kapiris6–0, 6–41–4; 13–14 September 2019; Kelvin Grove Club, Cape Town, South Africa; Group II Europe/Africa First Round; Hard surfaceDefeat8ISingles South AfricaLloyd Harris4–6, 7–6(7–3), 3–6Defeat9IIIDoubles (with Alexander Donski)Raven Klaasen / Ruan Roelofse3–6, 2–64–1; 6–7 March 2020; Costa Rica Country Club, San José, Costa Rica; World Group II Play-Off; Hard surfaceVictory 10IISingles Costa RicaJesse Flores7–5, 4–6, 6–3Defeat11IIIDoubles (with Adrian Andreev)Jesse Flores / Pablo Núñez6–7(9–11), 6–4, 6–7(10–12)1–3; 5–6 March 2021; Sport Hall Sofia, Sofia, Bulgaria; World Group II; Hard (i)surfaceDefeat12IIIDoubles (with Gabriel Donev) MexicoHans Hach Verdugo / Miguel Ángel Reyes-Varela4–6, 4–63–1; 4–5 March 2022; Sport Hall Sofia, Sofia, Bulgaria; World Group II Play-Off; Hard (i) surfaceVictory13IISingles ParaguayDaniel Vallejo6–4, 6–1Victory14IIIDoubles (with Alexander Donski)Juan Borba / Hernando José Escurra Isnardi6–3, 7–53–0; 16–18 September 2022; Bulgarian National Tennis Center, Sofia, Bulgaria; World Group II; Clay surfaceVictory15IISingles South AfricaPhilip Henning6–0, 6–1Victory16IIIDoubles (with Alexander Donski)Lleyton Cronje / Raven Klaasen6–3, 7–6(8–6)3–1; 4–5 February 2023; Wilding Park, Christchurch, New Zealand; World Group I Play-Off; Hard surfaceVictory 17ISingles New ZealandAjeet Rai7–6(7–1), 6–21–3; 16–17 September 2023; Bulgarian National Tennis Center, Sofia, Bulgaria; World Group I; Clay surfaceVictory18IIIDoubles (with Alexander Donski) KazakhstanAlexander Bublik / Aleksandr Nedovyesov6–3, 6–31–3; 3–4 February 2024; Tennis Center Avenue, Burgas, Bulgaria; World Group I Play-Off; Hard (i) surfaceDefeat19IIIDoubles (with Alexander Donski) Bosnia and HerzegovinaMirza Bašić / Damir Džumhur6–7(10–12), 3–6
ATP Cup (1 win, 2 losses) Matches by typeSingles (0–0)Doubles (1–2)
ResultNo.RubberMatch type (partner if any)Opponent nationOpponent player(s)Score2–1; 3 January 2020; Ken Rosewall Arena, Sydney, Australia; Group stage; Hard surfaceVictory 1IIIDoubles (with Grigor Dimitrov) Great BritainJamie Murray / Joe Salisbury7–6(7–5), 6–7(2–7), [11–9]2–1; 5 January 2020; Ken Rosewall Arena, Sydney, Australia; Group stage; Hard surfaceDefeat2IIIDoubles (with Grigor Dimitrov) MoldovaRadu Albot / Alexander Cozbinov4–6, 6–7(4–7)1–2; 7 January 2020; Ken Rosewall Arena, Sydney, Australia; Group stage; Hard surfaceDefeat3IIIDoubles (with Grigor Dimitrov) BelgiumSander Gillé / Joran Vliegen6–3, 4–6, [7–10]