Saori Obata
| Country (sports) |
 Japan |
|---|---|
| Residence | Tokyo, Japan |
| Born |
23 April 1978 Sapporo, Japan |
| Height | 1.65 m (5 ft 5 in) |
| Turned pro | April, 1996 |
| Retired | June, 2006 |
| Plays | Left-handed (two-handed backhand) |
| Prize money | $652,031 |
| Singles | |
| Career record | 281–222 |
| Career titles | 0 WTA, 5 ITF |
| Highest ranking | No. 39 (February 9, 2004) |
| Grand Slam Singles results | |
| Australian Open | 3r (2004) |
| French Open | 1r (2002,2003,2004) |
| Wimbledon | 2r (2002, 2004) |
| US Open | 3r (2003) |
| Doubles | |
| Career record | 118–102 |
| Career titles | 1 WTA, 2 ITF |
| Highest ranking | No. 98 (February 9, 2004) |
Saori Obata (小畑沙織 Obata Saori, born 23 April 1978) is a retired tennis player from Japan.[1] She turned professional in April 1996, and on February 9, 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 WTA singles title in her career, however did reach 1 singles final in Tashkent, Uzbekistan in 2003 where she lost 6–2, 7–6(2) to the Spanish player Virginia Ruano-Pascual. In the same year she reached the semi-final 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 6–3 6–1 when Dokić was ranked 11 in the world. She also defeated Ai Sugiyama in the second round of the Australian Open in 2004 when ranked number 55, this was her only win over a top 10 player as Sugiyama was ranked number 9 at the time.
She has won a doubles title at WTA level (Memphis 2003, with Akiko Morigami), and has 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.
Singles titles (5)
| Legend (Singles) |
| Grand Slam (0) |
| Tour Championships (0) |
| Tier I Event (0) |
| Tier II Event (0) |
| Tier III, IV Event (0) |
| ITF Circuit (5) |
| No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Opponent in the final | Score |
| 1. | 18 November 2001 | Port Pirie, Australia | Hard |  Pavlina Nola |
6–1, 6–2 |
| 2. | 25 November 2001 | Nuriootpa, Australia | Hard |  Cho Yoon-jeong |
6–4, 6–1 |
| 3. | 11 May 2003 | Fukuoka, Japan | Clay |  Maria Elena Camerin |
2–6, 6–3, 6–3 |
| 4. | 3 April 2005 | Augusta, United States | Hard |  Victoria Azarenka |
6–2, 6–2 |
| 5. | 8 May 2005 | Gifu, Japan | Hard | Shiho Hisamatsu |
6–1, 2–6, 6–4 |
References
External links
- Saori Obata at the Women's Tennis Association
- Saori Obata at the International Tennis Federation
- Saori Obata at the Fed Cup