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In this Eastern Slavic naming convention, the patronymic is Aleksandrovich and the family name is Kukushkin.
Mikhail Aleksandrovich Kukushkin (Russian: Михаил Александрович Кукушкин; born 26 December 1987) is a Soviet-born Kazakhstani professional tennis player. Before 2008, he played for his country of birth, Russia.
Born in Volgograd, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union, he turned pro in 2006.
In 2009, he came through qualifying to reach the main draw of a Masters Series 1000 tournament for the first time at the Miami Masters. He beat Tommy Haas in the first round, but lost to Dmitry Tursunov in the second round.
In September 2010, during the Davis Cup play-offs, he notably beat Swiss player Stanislas Wawrinka. His good form continued, later winning his only ATP World Tour title, as he beat world number 10 player Mikhail Youzhny in the final of the St. Petersburg Open 6–3, 7–6.
In January 2012, Kukushkin became the first player with a Kazakh passport to reach the fourth round of the 2012 Australian Open, after defeating Guillermo García-López, Viktor Troicki and Gaël Monfils. Later that season, he reached a then career-high singles ranking of World No. 49, just after the quarterfinals at Nice and the second round at the 2012 French Open. At the 2012 Olympics, he lost in the first round of the men's singles to Gilles Simon.[2]
By the end of 2012 he suffered from a bad hip injury and had to go for surgery twice. By August 2013 his ranking had tumbled to number 430. After making his recovery he reached the third round of the 2013 US Open, his best performance in the American Grand Slam, starting from the qualifying draw. In September he found good form again, winning two Challenger Tournaments in Turkey: Izmir and Istanbul. He then reached his second ATP World Tour final in Moscow, at the Kremlin Cup, beating in the semifinals World No. 22 and defending champion Andreas Seppi.
In the 2014 Wimbledon Championships, he reached the 3rd round where he lost in four sets to world number 1 player Rafael Nadal 7–6(7–4), 1–6, 1–6, 1–6. As a result of his run he reached a new career high of world number 48 in July 2014. At the 2014 Kremlin Cup he defeated Fabio Fognini[3] and Mikhail Youzhny[4] to reach semifinals, where he lost to Marin Čilić. At the 2014 Swiss Indoors, he won over world number 4 player Stanislas Wawrinka in first round. At the 2014 Shanghai Rolex Masters he defeated Kevin Anderson to reach third round, where he fell to world number 1 player Novak Djokovic in three sets.
In the 2015 US Open, Kukushkin defeated 17th seed Grigor Dimitrov 6–3, 7–6(7–2), 2–6, 4–6, 6–4 to reach the third round.
Kukushkin's match record against those who have been ranked in the top 10, with those who have been No. 1 in bold (ATP World Tour, Grand Slam and Davis Cup main draw matches).