The 2012 HP Open was a women's

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

tournament played on outdoor

hard court A hardcourt (or hard court) is a surface or floor on which a sport is played, most usually in reference to tennis courts. It is typically made of rigid materials such as asphalt or concrete, and covered with acrylic resins to seal the surface and ...

s sponsored by

Hewlett-Packard The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company headquartered in Palo Alto, California. HP developed and provided a wide variety of hardware components ...

. It was the fourth edition of the

HP Open The Japan Women's Open Tennis is a professional women's tennis tournament played on Hard court, outdoor hard courts. The event is affiliated with the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), and is an WTA International Tournaments, International-level to ...

, and part of the

WTA International tournaments The WTA International Tournaments was a category for professional tennis tournaments of the Women's Tennis Association from the 2009 WTA Tour until 2020, which replaced the previous Tier III and Tier IV categories. The winner of a WTA Internatio ...

of the

2012 WTA Tour The 2012 WTA Tour is the elite professional tennis circuit organized by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for the 2012 tennis season. The 2012 WTA Tour calendar comprises the Grand Slam tournaments (supervised by the International Tennis Fede ...

. It was held at the

Utsubo Tennis Center The Utsubo Tennis Center is a tennis complex situated in the Utsubo Park, Nishi-ku, Osaka, Japan. The complex was the host of the HP Open (WTA International tournaments) from 2009 through 2014. The stadium court has a capacity of 5,000 people, se ...

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

, Japan, from October 8 through October 14, 2012.

Heather Watson Heather Miriam Watson (born 19 May 1992) is a British professional tennis player. A former British No. 1, Watson has won nine titles over her career, including the mixed-doubles title at the 2016 Wimbledon Championships partnering Henri K ...

won the singles title.

Champions

Singles

defeated

Chang Kai-chen Chang Kai-chen (; ; born January 13, 1991) is a Taiwanese former professional tennis player. Career Her father is Chang Chin-lai and mother is Jun Yu-mei; she has two older brothers, Yao-lun and Yao-chung (both play tennis). Born and raised ...

7–5, 5–7, 7–6^(7–4)

Doubles

Raquel Kops-Jones Raquel Atawo (née Kops-Jones; born December 8, 1982) is an American former professional tennis player, who is currently the head woman's tennis coach for the Washington State Cougars. She is primarily a doubles specialist, winning 18 WTA doubl ...

Abigail Spears Abigail Michal Spears (born July 12, 1981) is a former professional tennis player from the United States. She was suspended for doping offences from 7 November 2019 until 7 September 2021. Biography 2000–2011 Spears turned professional in ...

defeated

Kimiko Date-Krumm is a Japanese former professional tennis player. She reached the semifinals of the 1994 Australian Open, the 1995 French Open and the 1996 Wimbledon Championships, and won the Japan Open a record four times. She reached a career-high ranking ...

6–1, 6–4

Singles main-draw entrants

Seeds

* Rankings are as of October 1, 2012

Other entrants

The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw: *

Kurumi Nara is a Japanese former professional tennis player. She has won one singles title on the WTA Tour, as well as six singles and three doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit. On 18 August 2014, she reached a career-high singles ranking of world No ...

Francesca Schiavone Francesca Schiavone (; born 23 June 1980) is an Italian former professional tennis player. She turned professional in 1998 and won the 2010 French Open singles title, becoming the first Italian woman to win a Grand Slam event in singles. She wa ...

Tamarine Tanasugarn Tamarine Tanasugarn ( th, แทมมารีน ธนสุกาญจน์, , ; born 24 May 1977) is a Thai former tennis player. Born in Los Angeles, she turned professional in 1994, and has been in the top 20 in both singles and doubl ...

The following players received entry from the qualifying draw: *

Nudnida Luangnam Nudnida "Chun" Luangnam ( th, ณัฐนิดา หลวงแนม; born 27 February 1987) is a former tennis player from Thailand. She has career-high WTA rankings of 195 in singles, set on 13 May 2013, and 342 in doubles, achieved on 13 ...

Olga Puchkova Olga Alekseyevna Puchkova (also Poutchkova; russian: links=no, Ольга Алексеевна Пучкова; be, Вольга Аляксееўна Пучкова, links=no; born 27 September 1987) is a Russian former professional tennis playe ...

Luksika Kumkhum Luksika "Luk" Kumkhum ( th, ลักษิกา คำขำ; ; born 21 July 1993) is a Thai tennis player. She turned professional in 2011, and reached her career-high singles ranking of world No. 66 on 19 November 2018. On 16 July 2018, she ...

Zhou Yimiao Zhou Yimiao, also spelled as Zhou Yi-Miao, (; ; born February 7, 1991) is a professional Chinese tennis player. Zhou was born in Hubei Hubei (; ; alternately Hupeh) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, and is ...

Withdrawals

Tímea Babos Tímea Babos (; born 10 May 1993) is a Hungarian professional tennis player who is a former world No. 1 in doubles. She is a four-time Grand Slam champion in women's doubles, having won the 2018 and 2020 Australian Opens, as well as the Fre ...

Petra Cetkovská Petra Cetkovská (; born 8 February 1985) is a retired Czech tennis player. Having turned professional in 2000, she reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 25, on 18 June 2012. Over her career, Cetkovská defeated top-ten players Mari ...

Melinda Czink Melinda Czink (born 22 October 1982) is a former professional tennis player from Hungary. On 21 September 2009, she reached her career-high singles ranking of world No. 37. Czink reached two WTA Tour singles finals. In 2005, she lost to Ana Iva ...

Marina Erakovic Marina Erakovic ( ; hr, Marina Eraković ; born 6 March 1988) is a retired tennis player from New Zealand. She achieved career-high rankings of 39 in singles and 25 in doubles, and won one singles title, at U.S. National Indoor Tennis Champio ...

Olga Govortsova Olga Alekseyevna Govortsova ( be, Вольга Аляксееўна Гаварцова (Volha Alyakseyeuna Havartsova); ; born 23 August 1988) is a Belarusian professional tennis player. On 23 June 2008, she achieved a career-high singles ranki ...

Michaëlla Krajicek Michaëlla Krajicek ( cz, Michaela Krajíčková; born 9 January 1989) is a Dutch former tennis player. She won three singles and five doubles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as one WTA 125 tournaments, WTA 125 doubles title, and 14 singles and ...

Mandy Minella Mandy Minella (born 22 November 1985) is a former professional tennis player from Luxembourg. Having made her debut on the WTA Tour in 2001, she peaked at No. 66 in the WTA singles rankings in September 2012, and No. 47 in doubles in April 2013 ...

Shahar Pe'er Shahar Pe'er ( he, שחר פאר, ; born ) is an Israeli retired tennis player. Pe'er won five singles and three doubles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as four singles and three doubles titles on the ITF circuit in her career. She reached ...

Sloane Stephens Sloane Stephens (born March 20, 1993) is an American professional tennis player. She achieved a career-best ranking of world No. 3 after Wimbledon in 2018. Stephens was the 2017 US Open champion, and has won seven WTA Tour singles titles in t ...

CoCo Vandeweghe Colleen "CoCo" Vandeweghe ( ) (born Colleen Mullarkey; December 6, 1991) is an American professional tennis player. A former Junior US Open champion and top 10 singles player, she has also won two WTA titles, both at the Rosmalen Grass Court C ...

Galina Voskoboeva Galina Olegovna Voskoboeva (russian: Галина Олеговна Воскобоева; born 18 December 1984) is a professional Russian-born Kazakhstani tennis player. She reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 42 on 7 May 2012. He ...

Aleksandra Wozniak Aleksandra Wozniak ( pl, Woźniak; born September 7, 1987) is a Canadian former tennis player. She turned professional in November 2005, and achieved a career-best ranking of No. 21 in June 2009, making her the fifth highest-ranked Canadian singl ...

Retirements

(right wrist injury)

Doubles main-draw entrants

Seeds

*¹ Rankings are as of October 1, 2012

Other entrants

The following pair received wildcard into the doubles main draw: *

Erika Sema
Retrieved 3 July 2010. is a Japanese professional

Eleni Daniilidou Eleni Daniilidou ( el, Ελένη Δανιηλίδου; ; born 19 September 1982) is a Greek former tennis player from the island of Crete. She is considered one of the best Greek tennis players of the Open Era, winning five singles titles and t ...

(right hamstring strain)

External links

* {{2012 WTA Tour

HP Open 2012 in Japanese tennis