| Naoko Sawamatsu |
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| CATEGORIES ABOUT NAOKO SAWAMATSU | |
| 1973 births | |
| living people | |
| japanese tennis players | |
| tennis players at the 1992 summer olympics | |
| olympic tennis players of japan | |
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At the time of Australian Open 1995 , her family survived Great Hanshin Earthquake ( January 17 , 1995 ). She made her best record of Grand Slam events there. She beat her fellow rival Kimiko Date in the third round, then lost Arantxa Sánchez Vicario at the quarterfinal. She won 6 professional titles including 2 ITF titles in her career. Her biggest title came in 1993 Strasbourg where she deafeated clay court specialist Judith Wiesner (AUT) in the final. Naoko had much success at Strasbourg as in 1991 she got to semi-final 1992 she went one better getting to the final where she lost to Judith Wiesner and in 1993 won title reversing the result of the previous year. Naoko retired from professional tennis after her loss in the 2nd round of the Japan Open in 1998. Her last match was tough and emotional, she lost to Monica Seles 6-3 3-6 6-3. Naoko was a known as a fighter on the circuit who had a never say die attitude, she had wins over the following players Martina Hingis , Lindsay Davenport , Kimiko Date , Mary Joe Fernandez , Amanda Coetzer , Conchita Martinez and other formidable players. Once dubbed the softest hitting top 20 tennis player of all time her shots were described a wounded canary flying. Despite this observation Naoko still continued to display solid results on the tour. She was in the top 30 for most of her career. Her best results at grand slams are as follows: Australian Open: 1995 Quarter Final French Open: 1991 4th Round (involved in a marathon match with Nathalie Tauziat losing 12-10) Wimbledon: 1992,1995 4th Round US Open: 1992,1995 3rd Round Naoko ammassed a total of $1,107,264 in her career with a win/loss record of 205-143. Since retirement Naoko has been involved in the development of the sport in her native country. Her end of year rankings are as follows:
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