is a retired Japanese professional tennis

Tennis

Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...

 player who played on the WTA Tour from 1991 until 1998. She was born on February 6, 1971 in Hiroshima

Hiroshima

is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture, and the largest city in the Chūgoku region of western Honshu, the largest island of Japan. It became best known as the first city in history to be destroyed by a nuclear weapon when the United States Army Air Forces dropped an atomic bomb on it at 8:15 A.M...

, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 and resides in Fukuyama, Hiroshima

Fukuyama, Hiroshima

is a city located on the Ashida River in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan.As of January 31, 2010, the city has an estimated population of 465,238 and a population density of 898.02 persons per km². The total area is 461.23 km². After Hiroshima City, it is the largest city in Hiroshima Prefecture...

.

She started playing tennis at age 7 with her father and coach Hiroshi. She graduated from the University of Tsukuba

University of Tsukuba

is located in the city of Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture in the Kantō region of Japan. The University has 28 college clusters and schools with a total of around 15,000 students...

 while on the tour in March 1993.

Career highlights

• Her career high ranking was 26th worldwide in singles (1994), and 98th in doubles (1995)

• She played 22 Grand Slam
  Grand Slam (tennis)
  The four Major tennis tournaments, also called the Slams, are the most important tennis events of the year in terms of world tour ranking points, tradition, prize-money awarded, strength and size of player field, and public attention. They are the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and...
  
   tournaments in singles with her best result being the Round of 16 at the 1994 US Open. That tournament marked the first time two Japanese women reached the fourth round of a Grandslam (Kimiko Date
  Kimiko Date
  is a Japanese professional tennis player. In her career, she has won over 200 tournament matches. She has won the Japan Open four times. In 1994, she was ranked in the top-ten women players in the world. In 1992, the WTA awarded her the "Most Improved Player of the Year". After playing in her...
  
   was the other player).

• Her career record is 144-108. She won a singles title in Hobart
  Hobart
  Hobart is the state capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Founded in 1804 as a penal colony,Hobart is Australia's second oldest capital city after Sydney. In 2009, the city had a greater area population of approximately 212,019. A resident of Hobart is known as...
  
   in 1994, defeating Lindsay Davenport
  Lindsay Davenport
  Lindsay Ann Davenport is a former World No. 1 American professional tennis player. She has won three Grand Slam singles tournaments and an Olympic gold medal in singles. In 2005, TENNIS Magazine ranked her as the 29th-best player of the preceding forty years...
  
   during that tournament.

• Her biggest upset
  Upset
  An upset occurs in a competition, frequently in electoral politics or sports, when the party popularly expected to win , is defeated by an underdog whom the majority expects to lose, defying the conventional wisdom...
  
   over a seeded player came at the 1996 Australian Open
  Australian Open
  The Australian Open is the only Grand Slam tennis tournament held in the southern hemisphere. The tournament was held for the first time in 1905 and was last contested on grass in 1987. Since 1972 the Australian Open has been held in Melbourne, Victoria. In 1988, the tournament became a hard court...
  
   she defeated the number five seed Kimiko Date
  Kimiko Date
  is a Japanese professional tennis player. In her career, she has won over 200 tournament matches. She has won the Japan Open four times. In 1994, she was ranked in the top-ten women players in the world. In 1992, the WTA awarded her the "Most Improved Player of the Year". After playing in her...
  
   in the second round.

Singles 2 (1-1)

Legend
Grand Slam	0
WTA Championships	0
Tier I	0
Tier II	0
Tier III	0
Tier IV & V	1
Olympic Games	0

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Winner	1.	15 January 1994	Hobart Moorilla Hobart International The Hobart International is a women's professional tennis tournament held at the Hobart International Tennis Centre in Hobart, Australia. Held since 1994, it forms a part of the Women's Tennis Association Tour and is classed as an International tournament... , Australia	Hard	Rachel McQuillan Rachel McQuillan Rachel McQuillan is a retired professional tennis player from Australia. She won 5 WTA Tour doubles titles, as well as 14 singles and 21 doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit. She reached the mixed doubles semifinals at the 1995 and 1998 French Opens and at the 1996 US Open, each time...	6-1, 6-7, 6-4
Runner-up	2.	14 January 1996	Hobart Moorilla Hobart International The Hobart International is a women's professional tennis tournament held at the Hobart International Tennis Centre in Hobart, Australia. Held since 1994, it forms a part of the Women's Tennis Association Tour and is classed as an International tournament... , Australia	Hard	Julie Halard-Decugis Julie Halard-Decugis Julie Halard-Decugis is a former professional female tennis player.Halard-Decugis lived in La Baule, France during the initial stages of her career and later moved to Pully, Switzerland...	1-6, 2-6

External links