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
Height160 cm (5 ft 3 in)
Retired2019
PlaysLeft-handed (double-handed backhand)
Prize money$97,578
Singles
Career record246–211
Career titles1 ITF
Highest rankingNo. 308 (11 September 2017)
Grand Slam Singles results
French Open JuniorQ2 (2007)
Wimbledon JuniorQ2 (2007)
Doubles
Career record130–119
Career titles6 ITF
Highest rankingNo. 214 (29 August 2016)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Wimbledon Junior1R (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.
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