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Ai Sugiyama
Ai Sugiyama (Japanese: Sugiyama Ai, born July 5, 1975, Tokyo,
Japan) is a Japanese professional tennis player. She turned professional
in 1992. In her career so far, she has won 37 titles: 6 in singles and 31
in doubles, including three Grand Slam women's doubles titles (1 with Frenchwoman
Julie Halard-Decugis and 2 partnering Belgian Kim Clijsters). Coached by
her mother, Ai plays a more aggressive game than her predecessor Kimiko Date,
using her fitness and speed, as well as aggressive serve and volley whenever
feasible.
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 : 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 definately 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).
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