Ai Sugiyama(杉山愛,Sugiyama Ai?, born July 5, 1975, Yokohama, Japan) is a Japanese professional tennis player. She turned professional in 1992. In her career so far, she has won 6 singles titles and 34 doubles titles, including three Grand Slam women's doubles titles (1 with FrenchwomanJulie Halard-Decugis and 2 partnering BelgianKim Clijsters). Ai is coached by her mother and plays a game based on her fitness and speed, utilizing an aggressive serve and volley whenever feasible.
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.
2000
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
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.
2005
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 quarterfinals, losing to Hantuchova / Bhupathi of India, eventual champions. Entering the Doha, Qatar tournament with an 0-5 singles record, she managed to beat 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.
2006
In Rome 2006. in doubles, she and Hantuchova won the title, their third as a team and biggest title, beating Li/Sun in the QF 6-4 6-1; Black/Stubbs (2) in the SF 6-4 6-0; Peschke/Schiavone (8) 3-6 6-3 6-1 in the final. At the French Open, Ai, seeded 22nd, beat Daniilidou 6-7 6-0 6-3 in the first round, but lost to French qualifier Rezai 4-6 6-4 6-3, after having a 6-4 4-2 lead. Deciding not to enter the Mixed Doubles competition, like her partner, to focus on the Women's Doubles event, Ai and Dani beat Dhenin/Johansson 6-4 6-3, then proceeded to blast Arvidsson/Muller off the court 6-1 6-1; they proceeded to have a third-round scare, trailing 6-1 4-1 to Bartoli/Peer, but started to play more on Bartoli, as Peer was on fire that day, and ended up winning it 1-6 7-6(3) 6-2; in the quarterfinals, they beat second-seeded Black/Stubbs 6-1 7-6(5); in the semifinals, they beat fourth-seeded Yan/Zheng 6-3 3-6 6-3. They lost 6-3 6-2 in the final to first-seeded Raymond/Stosur, after some sort of controversy on their break point at 3-5* in the first set. It was an excellent tournament for the team. Wimbledon 2006 saw Sugiyama, the eighteenth seed, produce a shock by defeating former world number 1 and 12th seed, Martina Hingis, 7-5 3-6 6-4 to advance to the fourth round, a match which echoed the start of her career in 1993. It was a huge win for her, trumping the fact that she lost in the first rounds of Doubles & Mixed. The beginning of the summer brought several bad singles losses, as well as shocking doubles upsets. Sugiyama picked it up in Los Angeles, reaching the final, bowing down to Ruano Pascual/Suarez. In Montréal, she beat Wozniak and Medina Garrigues before going down fighting to Svetlana Kuznetsova. In doubles, parterning Nathalie Dechy, they reached the quarterfinals. The US Open arrived, and, seeded twenty-eighth, she reached the third round (d. Ondraskova in 1R, Garbin in 2R) where she fell to the second seed Justine Henin 4-6 6-1 6-0. She was down 4-1 in the first set, and won five straight games to seize that set. But alas she could not complete the upset. In Beijing, Ai carried on her good form. She beat qualifier Alicia Molik, who was also her doubles partner in the event, in the first round, 6-2 7-6. She then upset fourth-seeded Nicole Vaidisova 6-4 1-6 6-3 before losing to up-and-coming Chinese star Shuai Peng in another three-set match 6-7 6-3 6-2. Further success continued, as she reached the final of a Tier IV event in Seoul, losing to Eleni Daniilidou of Greece in three sets, 3-6 6-2 6-7.
2007
The beginning of 2007 was better than the last two years. She lost to Yakimova in the second round of the Australian Open (10-8 in the third), who she later had revenge on in Miami. Sugiyama and Daniela Hantuchová reached the quarterfinals of the Grand Slam event, losing to eventual champions Cara Black and Liezel Huber. In Tokyo, she reached the quarterfinals, losing to world number one Maria Sharapova 4-6, 6-1, 6-0. In Doha, she injured her toe, but was quick back to her feet, reaching the round of 16 in Indian Wells. In Miami, she reached the third round where she fell to Dinara Safina. She went 0-3 in Fed Cup play versus France, losing to both Tatiana Golovin and Nathalie Dechy, but rebounded to win 50k Gifu with Ayumi Morita. The Japanese duo lost only one set en route to the title. She played in the Berlin doubles tournament with Katarina Srebotnik, her new potential long-term partner. They double-bagelledLourdez Dominguez Lino and Flavia Pennetta, but then fell to the second seeded duo Black/Huber 0-6, 6-4, [10-7] the same day. Her next tournament was Rome, where she beat Maria Kirilenko in 2 hours 49 minutes 6-4, 5-7, 7-5. She lost to Shahar Pe'er 6-0, 6-2 in the next round. At Roland Garros, she reached the third round. She defeated Eva Birnerova 6-3, 6-4 in the first round and Meilen Tu 6-3, 1-6, 6-1 in the second round, but then fell to Anna Chakvetadze, the ninth seed, 6-4m 6-4. In doubles, seeded seventh with her partner Srebotnik, she defeated Lucie Hradecká and Renata Voráčová 6-7, 7-5, 6-2 in the first round, Stephanie Foretz and Camille Pin 6-1, 6-3 in the second round, and Shahar Pe'er and Dinara Safina 6-1, 6-2 in the third round. They then went on to defeat Maria Elena Camerin and Gisela Dulko 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 in the quarterfinals. Up against the top seeds and defending champions Lisa Raymond and Samantha Stosur in the semifinals, they pulled off an upset, winning 1-6, 6-4, 6-3 to reach the French Open finals. They lost in the final to Alicia Molik and Mara Santangelo 7-6, 6-4; in the first set, they had saved six set points before Ai double faulted on the seventh. From then on out, Molik and Santangelo took control and cruised to victory. At Wimbledon, seeded 26th, she beat wildcard Melanie South 6-3, 6-2 in the opening round before defeating Alize Cornet 4-6, 6-0, 6-3 in the second round. She lost 6-3, 6-3 against the second seeded Sharapova in the third round. In doubles, she and Srebotnik beat Andreea Ehritt-Vanc and Anastassia Rodionova 4-6, 6-3, 6-2; Émilie Loit and Nicole Pratt 6-0, 6-3, and got a walkover from Marion Bartoli and Meilen Tu in the third round. In the quarterfinals, they beat Elena Likhovtseva and Sun Tiantian 6-4, 7-6 (5). They came from behind to win against the top seeded Raymond and Stosur, winning 1-6, 6-3, 6-2, despite being down 6-1, 3-0. They, however, lost in the final to the second seeded Black and Huber 3-6, 6-3, 6-2. She became 3-6 in Grand Slam finals. During the U.S. Open Series, she reached the third round of San Diego, where she defeated Sybille Bammer 6-2, 7-6. She then lost to Chakvetadze 6-4, 6-4. She reached two doubles semifinals in San Diego and Stanford with Srebotnik, losing both times to Victoria Azarenka and Chakvetadze. However, they won Toronto, defeating Peng Shuai and Yan Zi 6-1, 7-5 in the quarterfinal, Molik and Santangelo 6-2, 6-3 in the semifinal and Black and Huber 6-4, 2-6, [10-5] in the final, thus getting revenge for their two Grand Slam losses and winning their first title as a team. At the 2007 U.S. Open, Sugiyama lost in the second round to Ekaterina Makarova. Ai and Srebotnik impressively defeated Sun Shengnan and Ji Chunmei 6-0, 6-1, and eventually defeated Michaëlla Krajicek and Agnieszka Radwańska 5-7, 6-0, 6-2. The team advanced to the quarterfinals after defeating Loit and Vania King 6-3, 6-2, but lost to eventual champions Nathalie Dechy and Dinara Safina 7-5, 6-3. Srebotnik and Sugiyama continued their form and thus qualified for the 2007 WTA Tour Championships, which were to be held in Madrid, Spain. The team, seeded second, defeated the Taiwanese duo of Chan Yung-jan and Chuang Chia-jung 6-2, 6-2, but lost to Black and Huber in the final 5-7, 6-3, [10-8].[1]
Personal life
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.
Japan
Julie Halard-Decugis
Cara Black
Elena Likhovtseva
Kim Clijsters
Virginia Ruano Pascual
Paola Suárez
Serena Williams
Rennae Stubbs
Liezel Huber
Daniela Hantuchová
Katarina Srebotnik
Mara Santangelo
Mahesh Bhupathi
Maria Vento-Kabchi
Sung-Hee Park
Shi-Ting Wang
