| Ai Sugiyama |
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CAREER In 1993 , she made her Grand Slam debut at Wimbledon . In 1994 , she reached her first WTA Tour singles final. She went on to win the Japan Open doubles at Tokyo, her first tour title. Later that year, she broke into the WTA Top 100. In 1995 , she won her first Grand Slam match and reached the 4th round of Roland Garros . In 1996 , she reached the 4th round at Wimbledon. She represented Japan at the Atlanta Olympics where she defeated Martina Hingis to reach the 3rd round. In 1997 , she won her first WTA Tour title (Japan Open) defeating Amy Frazier in the final. Later that year, she broke into the WTA Top 20. In 1998 , she defeated then world number four Amanda Coetzer at Berlin and world number seven Steffi Graf at San Diego . In 1999 , she won the US Open mixed doubles with Mahesh Bhupathi ( India ), her first Grand Slam title. On October 23 , 2000 , she became the first Japanese woman to rank number one in the world in doubles. That year, she won seven doubles titles. Without doubt, Ai's best tournament was in Scottsdale 2003. She won 8 doubles titles that year: 7 with Kim Clijsters (Sydney, Antwerp, Scottsdale, Roland Garros, Wimbledon, San Diego, Zurich) and 1 with Liezel Huber (Linz). Until then, many tennis fans would have seen her career as history, having sank in singles rankings to 49 in 2001 and barely coming back to the top 25-30 in the next two years. Having scraped off her only victory against Lindsay Davenport in the second round and Serena Williams withdrawing from the event, she saved a matchpoint in semifinals against Alexandra Stevenson before defeating Kim Clijsters in the finals. Ai played both semis and finals of singles and doubles in the same day and emerged with two trophies in her hands at the end of the day. 2003 proved to be her best year ever, having pushed Serena Williams to the limit at Roland Garros and reaching round of 16 in Wimbledon and US Open as well (her 4R defeat to Francesca Schiavone at Flushing Meadows was rather controversial). She also finished the year ranked tenth, having defeated world number one Justine Henin-Hardenne . While her tennis career may end soon, she is still not sure about her future plans. In collaboration, her autobiography co-authored with her mother Fusako, she states an interest in both coaching and playing doubles. Although inspired by her mother's personality and achievements, she tries to carve her own life independently. Her father is in the medical field while her younger sister Mai is an amateur golf player. Through her family, she was baptized in a Catholic church in 1999, but does not make her faith as explicit as Michael Chang does. Her mother recounts that Ai grew up without trouble nor much parental guidance and as a result, as enjoyed raising children. The beginning of 2005 was rough, with four consecutive first-round losses for Ai. She lost in the first rounds of the first three Grand Slams; only at San Diego did she really do well, making it to the final, which she lost 0-6 3-6 to Mary Pierce, having defeated Hantuchova, Karantacheva and Kuznetsova en route. (Hantuchova/Sugiyama also reached the final in doubles, losing to Ruano-Pascual/Martinez) She broke her Grand Slam "curse", reaching the third round, losing to Kim Clijsters, the eventual champion. In the same year, Ai was better in doubles than she was in singles. Partnering with Elena Dementieva, she reached the final of her first tournament, Sydney, losing to Stewart/Stosur. They reached the Round of 16 at the Australian Open. She attempted a few tournaments with Anastasia Myskina and Elena Likhovtseva, but these partners did not show many results. In Berlin, she finally found her ideal partner, Daniela Hantuchova, reaching the Semifinal (l. to Black/Huber). At the French Open, however, weeks later, they only reached the second round (l. to Birnerova/Vanc). They won their next tournament, however, Birmingham (def. Daniilidou/Russel 6-2 6-3 in the final). At Wimbledon, Hantuchova/Sugiyama reached the Quarterfinal, losing to eventual champions Black/Huber. At the Canadian Open in Toronto, they reached the Semifinal (l. to eventual champions Groenefeld/Navratilova). At the US Open, they reached the third round, losing to Yan/Zheng. Ai went through three different (unsuccessful) partners in the next tournaments, before returning to Daniela in Zurich, where they reached the final (def. #1 seeds Raymond/Stosur en route), losing to Black/Stubbs, 6-7(6) 7-6(4) 6-3, a match in which they definitely had their chances to win. They finished off the year ranked #5, and, thus, did not qualify for the Year-End Championships. In the same year, Ai only played Mixed Doubles at two events: the French Open & the US Open. At Roland Garros, playing with Max Mirnyi, she lost in the first round. At the US Open, she partnered with Kevin Ullyett of Zimbabwe. The duo reached the quaterfinals, losing to Hantuchova/Bhupathi, eventual champions. 2006 started off on the wrong foot, losing to Lucie Safarova (eventual champion) at the Gold Coast 6-1 6-2. At Sydney, the following week, Ai lost in the first round to Schiavone , a player she has never beaten, 6-1 6-2. In doubles, playing with Hantuchova, she lost in the first round to Groenefeld/Huber (second seeds) 6-1 7-6 (4). At the Australian Open, she lost in the first round of singles 6-4 6-3 to Conchita Martinez Granados. In Doubles, with Hantuchova, reached the third round, losing to (10) Dulko/Kirilenko 6-1 6-1. In Mixed Doubles, parterning with Wayne Arthurs, reached second round, losing 6-4 7-5 to Perry/Stubbs. Entering the Doha tournament with an 0-5 singles record, she managed to be wildcard Selima Sfar 6-3 6-3. In the second round, she surprinsingly upset (4) Anastasia Myskina 7-6(2) 6-7(6) 6-4, needing several match points to close the match out (she had a few in the second set tiebreak). In her quarterfinal match against Julia Schruff, she had a comfortable 6-3 6-2 win; missing only four of her first serves in the first set, and winning the match with an ace. She lost in the semifinal, in an epic match against Nadia Petrova, 6-1 7-6 (2). At the beginning of the second set, she had yet to hold serve, and was trailing 0-4, and managed to win five consecutive games to 5-4. Even if she lost, she achieved a lot in Doha! She won the doubles title with Daniela Hantuchova, defeating Zi Yan and Jie Zheng in the semifinal 6-3 3-6 6-3, and Ting Li and Tiantian Sun 6-4 6-4 in the final. In Indian Wells, Ai had a good run in singles, reaching the fourth round where she bowed down to Justine Henin-Hardenne 6-2 6-1; along the way, she beat Lucie Safarova 6-3 7-5. In Doubles, parterning with Mirza, she reached the Quaterfinals, beaten by Daniilidou and Medina Garrigues 6-2 6-3. However, they upset Black/Stubbs (2) 6-7(8) 6-2 7-6(8). In Miami, Ai showed impressive form in singles, reaching the Quaterfinals by defeating Julia Schruff 6-1 6-1, Elena Likhovtseva (15) 3-6 7-5 6-0 and Sofia Arvidsson (32) 6-7(4) 6-3 6-2, but losing to Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-0 7-6(4), after wasting an opportunity to serve for the second set. In doubles, she and Hantuchova beat Myskina/Safina 6-4 6-2, Gullickson/Stewart 6-3 2-6 6-2, but lost to Mauresmo/Kuznetsova 7-6 7-5 in the QF. GRAND SLAM TITLES Women's doubles
Mixed doubles
Singles Titles (6) - 2004: Gold Coast; - 2003: Scottsdale, Linz; - 1998: Gold Coast, Tokyo (Japan Open); - 1997: Tokyo (Japan Open). Singles Finalist (6) - 2005: San Diego - 1999: Tokyo (Japan Open) - 1997: Gold Coast, Moscow; - 1995: Oakland; - 1994: Surabaya. Doubles Titles (32) - 2006: Doha (w. Hantuchova); - 2005: Birmingham (w. Hantuchova); - 2004: Montréal (Canadian Open, w. Asagoe), Bali (w. Myskina); - 2003: Roland Garros, Wimbledon, Sydney, Antwerp, Scottsdale, San Diego, Zurich (all w. Clijsters), Linz (w. Huber); - 2002: Memphis (w. Tatarkova); - 2001: Canberra, Indian Wells (both w. Arendt); - 2000: US Open, Sydney, Miami, New Haven, Tokyo (Princess Cup), Moscow (all w. Halard-Decugis), Eastbourne (w. Tauziat); - 1999: Sydney, Strasbourg (both w. Likhovtseva); - 1998: Gold Coast, Luxembourg, Leipzig, Philadelphia (all w. Likhovtseva); - 1997: Tokyo (Princess Cup, w. Seles); - 1996: Tokyo (Japan Open, w. Date); - 1995: Hobart (w. Nagatsuka); - 1994: Tokyo (Japan Open, w. Donoshiro). Doubles Finalist (23) - 2005: Sydney (w. Dementieva), San Diego, Zurich (w. Hantuchova); - 2004: Wimbledon (w. Huber), Olympics (lost bronze medal match with Asagoe); - 2003: Berlin, Indian Wells, Tours Championships (all w. Clijsters), Shanghai (w. Tanasugarn); - 2002: San Diego, Los Angeles (both w. Hantuchova), Montréal (Canadian Open), Shanghai, Linz (all w. Fujiwara); - 2001: Wimbledon, Tokyo (both w. Clijsters); - 2000: Wimbledon, Montréal (Canadian Open), Linz (all w. Halard-Decugis); - 1999: Paris, Leipzig (both w. Likhovtseva); - 1997: Starsbourg (w. Likhovtseva); - 1995: Tokyo (w. Nagatsuka); - 1994: Surabaya (w. Nagatsuka). Interesting fact: When the Canadian Open has been in Montréal, Sugiyama has reached the doubles final since 2000. EXTERNAL LINKS |
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