Yuuki Tanaka

Yuuki Tanaka (Japanese: 田中 優季, Hepburn: Tanaka Yūki, born 7 March 1990) is a retired Japanese professional tennis player.[1]

Yuuki Tanaka

Native name	田中 優季
Country (sports)	Japan
Born	(1990-03-07) 7 March 1990 Chita, Japan
Height	160 cm (5 ft 3 in)
Retired	2019
Plays	Left-handed (double-handed backhand)
Prize money	$97,578
Singles
Career record	246–211
Career titles	1 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 308 (11 September 2017)
Grand Slam Singles results
French Open Junior	Q2 (2007)
Wimbledon Junior	Q2 (2007)
Doubles
Career record	130–119
Career titles	6 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 214 (29 August 2016)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Wimbledon Junior	1R (2007)
Last updated on: 13 August 2019.

On 11 September 2017, Tanaka reached her best singles ranking of world No. 308. On 29 August 2016, she peaked at No. 214 in the doubles rankings. Tanaka has won one singles title and six doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit.

She made her main-draw debut on the WTA Tour at the 2016 Jiangxi International Women's Tennis Open, in the doubles event partnering Tian Ran. Her biggest ITF tournament was the $75k 2015 Dunlop World Challenge doubles final, which she lost partnering with Luksika Kumkhum.[2]

Early life and amateur career

Tanaka was born in Chita, Aichi Prefecture and attended Yawata Elementary School and Yawata Junior High School in Chita and Sugiyama Jogakuen High School in Nagoya. She participated in her first ITF tournament at the age of 16 in July 2006, advancing through three rounds of qualifying at the $25k event in Nagoya before losing in the round of 32.[3]

After high school, she attended Waseda University in Tokyo and graduated with a degree in sports science.[1][4]

Tanaka commenced playing tennis at nine years of age. In September 2010, she came runner-up in the women's singles event of the All-Japan Inter-Collegiate Tennis Tournament, losing to fellow Waseda student Hiroko Kuwata in the final.[4] She also finished runner-up in the doubles event, partnering Waseda classmate Shiho Otake and losing to fellow Waseda students Emiko Ito and Mai Iwazaki in the final.[4] In October 2010, she led the Waseda women's team to their fifth consecutive All-Japan Collegiate Tennis Championships title and was named MVP of the tournament.[4] In December 2010, she partnered with Otake to win the national inter-collegiate indoor tournament in Osaka.[4]

In March 2011, Tanaka advanced to the final of an ITF tournament for the first time, partnering with Chinami Ogi and losing to Mari Inoue and Ayumi Oka in the final of the Miyazaki outdoor carpet tournament. She also advanced to the quarterfinals in the singles draw of the same tournament.[5]

At the 2011 Inter-Collegiate Championship, Tanaka and Otake faced Ito and Iwazake again, defeating them in the final of the women's doubles. Tanaka finished fourth in the singles competition.[6]

Professional career

Tanaka turned professional in February 2012, just prior to her graduation from Waseda. Her coach has been Atsushi Okutaka since April 2012.[1] In June 2012, she won her first ITF title, partnering with her former Waseda teammate Kuwata to win the $10k Mie outdoor tournament, defeating Akari Inoue and Kaori Onishi in the final.[7]

In March 2013, Tanaka won her first ITF singles title, defeating Kuwata in the final of the $10k Kofu hardcourt tournament.[8] In the same month, Tanaka and Kuwata were named as part of Japan's five-member women's tennis team for the 2013 Summer Universiade in Kazan, Russia.[9]

In July 2013, Japan won the gold medal in the women's team event at the Summer Universiade.[10] In the main draw of the women's singles, Tanaka's teammates Sachie Ishizu and Kuwata won gold and bronze respectively.[10] Tanaka was the top seed in the consolation draw of the women's singles and won the final against the fourth member of the Japanese team, Megumi Nishimoto.[11] Tanaka and Ishizu were seeded fifth in the women's doubles event and lost in the quarterfinals.[12]

In November 2015, Tanaka advanced to the second round of the 2015 Ando Securities Open, losing to eventual runner-up, top seed Nao Hibino.[13] Later the same month, Tanaka and her partner Luksika Kumkhum advanced to the final of the doubles draw of the Dunlop World Challenge, losing in a match tie-break to Akiko Omae and Peangtarn Plipuech.[14]

In the first half of 2016, Tanaka partnered Mana Ayukawa in the final of two ITF tournaments in Mildura and Karuizawa, but the pair lost in two sets on both occasions.[15] In August, Tanaka's doubles rating had improved to her career-best No. 216[16] and she made her WTA Tour main-draw debut at the Jiangxi International, partnering China's Tian Ran in the doubles event. The pair lost to top seeds Wang Yafan and Yang Zhaoxuan in the first round.[17]

ITF finals

Singles (1–6)

Legend $100,000 tournaments $75,000 tournaments $50,000 tournaments $25,000 tournaments $15,000 tournaments $10,000 tournaments

Finals by surface Hard (1–4) Clay (0–1) Grass (0–0) Carpet (0–1)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Runner-up	1	13 August 2012	İstanbul, Turkey	Hard	Mari Tanaka	0–6, 2–6
Runner-up	2	15 September 2012	Kyoto, Japan	Carpet (i)	Nao Hibino	4–6, 6–2, 2–6
Winner	1	23 March 2013	Kōfu, Japan	Hard	Hiroko Kuwata	6–3, 6–1
Runner-up	3	24 February 2014	Nonthaburi, Thailand	Hard	Xun Fangying	6–7 ^(2–7), 2–6
Runner-up	4	1 February 2015	Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt	Hard	Anastasija Sevastova	5–7, 3–6
Runner-up	5	7 February 2015	Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt	Hard	Melanie Klaffner	5–7, 6–3, 2–6
Runner-up	6	30 April 2017	Antalya, Turkey	Clay	Ysaline Bonaventure	4–6, 2–6

Doubles (6–10)

Legend $100,000 tournaments $75,000 tournaments $50,000 tournaments $25,000 tournaments $15,000 tournaments $10,000 tournaments

Finals by surface Hard (2–5) Clay (2–1) Grass (2–2) Carpet (0–2)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Runner-up	1	20 March 2011	Miyazaki, Japan	Carpet	Chinami Ogi	Mari Inoue Ayumi Oka	7–5, 2–6, [8–10]
Winner	1	24 June 2012	Mie, Japan	Grass	Hiroko Kuwata	Akari Inoue Kaori Onishi	6–3, 3–6, [10–5]
Runner-up	2	23 December 2014	İstanbul, Turkey	Hard (i)	Ekaterina Yashina	Elise Mertens İpek Soylu	0–6, 6–7^(3–7)
Runner-up	3	24 February 2014	Nonthaburi, Thailand	Hard	Miyu Kato	Nungnadda Wannasuk Varunya Wongteanchai	2–6, 2–6
Runner-up	4	13 April 2014	Melbourne, Australia	Clay	Miyu Kato	Jessica Moore Aleksandrina Naydenova	5–7, 7–6^(7–5), [7–10]
Runner-up	5	9 June 2014	Kashiwa, Japan	Hard	Makoto Ninomiya	Yuki Chiang Aki Yamasoto	7–5, 1–6, [5–10]
Winner	2	7 July 2014	Aschaffenburg, Germany	Clay	Rika Fujiwara	Lesley Kerkhove Xenia Knoll	6–1, 6–4
Runner-up	6	12 January 2015	Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt	Hard	Camilla Rosatello	Pia König Eva Wacanno	6–4, 6–7^(2–7), [5–10]
Winner	3	19 January 2015	Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt	Hard	Shiho Akita	Kajsa Rinaldo Persson Caroline Rohde-Moe	6–2, 7–6^(7–3)
Winner	4	7 February 2015	Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt	Hard	Anna Morgina	Veronika Kapshay Melanie Klaffner	4–6, 6–4, [10–6]
Winner	5	15 March 2015	Mildura, Australia	Grass	Hiroko Kuwata	Tian Ran Wang Yan	6–2, 6–0
Runner-up	7	25 September 2015	Bangkok, Thailand	Hard	Mana Ayukawa	Hiroko Kuwata Ayaka Okuno	6–2, 1–6, [6–10]
Runner-up	8	28 November 2015	Toyota, Japan	Carpet (i)	Luksika Kumkhum	Akiko Omae Peangtarn Plipuech	6–3, 0–6, [9–11]
Runner-up	9	4 March 2016	Mildura, Australia	Grass	Mana Ayukawa	Olivia Tjandramulia Jessica Wacnik	0–6, 3–6
Runner-up	10	28 May 2016	Karuizawa, Japan	Grass	Mana Ayukawa	Rika Fujiwara Kotomi Takahata	1–6, 4–6
Winner	6	23 April 2017	Antalya, Turkey	Clay	Emma Laine	Marie Benoît Ysaline Bonaventure	3–6, 6–1, [10–4]

References

1. "田中　優季" [Yuuki Tanaka] (in Japanese). Japan Tennis Association. Retrieved 7 February 2016.
2. "$75,000+H Toyota". International Tennis Federation. Retrieved 9 February 2016.
3. "ITF Tennis – Pro Circuit – $25,000 Nagoya – 03 July – 09 July 2006". Retrieved 18 February 2016.
4. "早稲田ウィークリー" [Waseda Weekly]. 13 January 2011. Retrieved 18 February 2016.
5. "ITF Tennis – Pro Circuit – $10,000 Miyazaki – 14 March – 20 March 2011". Retrieved 18 February 2016.
6. "早稲田ウィークリー" [Waseda Weekly]. 27 October 2011. Retrieved 18 February 2016.
7. "ITF Tennis – Pro Circuit – $10,000 Mie – 18 June – 24 June 2012". Retrieved 18 February 2016.
8. "ITF Tennis – Pro Circuit – $10,000 Kofu – 18 March – 24 March 2013". Retrieved 18 February 2016.
9. "ユニバーシアードの日本代表選手が決定" [Japan Universiade Teams Announced] (in Japanese). 8 March 2013. Retrieved 18 February 2016.
10. "[カザンユニバーシアード] 女子団体で金、日本はメダル4個獲得" [(Kazan Universiade) Women's team wins gold, Japan claims four individual medals] (in Japanese). 17 July 2013. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
11. "[カザンユニバーシアード] 石津幸恵が決勝進出、桑田寛子は銅メダル" [(Kazan Universiade) Megumi Ishizu adavances to final, Hiroko Kuwata claims bronze model] (in Japanese). 15 July 2013. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
12. "[カザンユニバーシアード] テニス競技5日目 日本選手結果" [(Kazan Universiade) Tennis competition day 5, Japanese athletes' results] (in Japanese). 12 July 2013. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
13. "ITF Tennis – Pro Circuit – $100,000 Tokyo – 16 November – 22 November 2015". Retrieved 18 February 2016.
14. "ITF Tennis – Pro Circuit – $75,000+H Toyota – 23 November – 29 November 2015". Retrieved 18 February 2016.
15. "Yuuki Tanaka Results". Retrieved 2 August 2016.
16. "Yuuki Tanaka Rankings Overview". Retrieved 2 August 2016.
17. "Jiangxi Open Main Doubles Draw" (PDF). Retrieved 2 August 2016.

External links

• Yuuki Tanaka at the Women's Tennis Association
• Yuuki Tanaka at the International Tennis Federation