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Saori Obata

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Saori Obata
小畑沙織
Country (sports) Japan
ResidenceTokyo
Born (1978-04-23) 23 April 1978 (age 46)
Sapporo
Height1.65 m (5 ft 5 in)
Turned proApril 1996
RetiredJune 2006
PlaysLeft-handed (two-handed backhand)
Prize money$652,031
Singles
Career record281–222
Career titles0 WTA, 6 ITF
Highest rankingNo. 39 (9 February 2004)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open3R (2004)
French Open1R (2002, 2003, 2004)
Wimbledon2R (2002, 2004)
US Open3R (2003)
Doubles
Career record118–102
Career titles1 WTA, 2 ITF
Highest rankingNo. 98 (9 February 2004)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open2R (2004)
Wimbledon1R (2003, 2005)
US Open1R (2003)

Saori Obata (Japanese: 小畑沙織, Obata Saori, born 23 April 1978) is a retired female tennis player from Japan.[1] She turned professional in April 1996, and in February 2004, she achieved her career-high singles ranking of 39, and on the same day she reached her career-high doubles ranking of 98.

Biography

She did not win a singles title on WTA Tour in her career, however did reach one singles final in Tashkent in 2003 where she lost in two sets to Virginia Ruano-Pascual. In the same year, she reached the semifinals of the WTA event in Bali, Indonesia, before losing to Chanda Rubin. She achieved a notable scalp in the opening round of the Eastbourne grass-event in 2003, when she defeated Jelena Dokić in straight sets when Dokić was ranked 11th in the world. She also defeated Ai Sugiyama in the second round of the Australian Open in 2004 when ranked No. 55, this was her only win over a top-ten player as Sugiyama was ranked No. 9 at the time.

She won a doubles title at WTA-level (Memphis 2003, with Akiko Morigami), and five ITF-level singles titles. Her final Grand Slam appearance was at the 2006 Australian Open where she lost in the opening round, having qualified, to Daniela Hantuchová in three sets. She retired from professional tennis in June 2006 because of injury.

ITF titles

Singles

No. Date Location Surface Opponent Score
1. 7 April 1996 Jakarta, Indonesia Hard South Korea Choi Young-ja 6–2, 6–2
2. 18 November 2001 Port Pirie, Australia Hard New Zealand Pavlina Nola 6–1, 6–2
3. 25 November 2001 Nuriootpa, Australia Hard South Korea Cho Yoon-jeong 6–4, 6–1
4. 11 May 2003 Fukuoka, Japan Clay Italy Maria Elena Camerin 2–6, 6–3, 6–3
5. 3 April 2005 Augusta, United States Hard Belarus Victoria Azarenka 6–2, 6–2
6. 8 May 2005 Gifu, Japan Hard Japan Shiho Hisamatsu 6–1, 2–6, 6–4

References