Naoko Kijimuta (

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

: 雉子牟田直子 ''Kijimuta Naoko'', born March 26, 1972) is a retired tennis player and winner of five professional doubles tournaments. She has been a representative of

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

in the

Federation Cup Federation Cup or Fed Cup is the former name of the premier world team competition in women's tennis. Federation Cup may also refer to: * Capital Football Federation Cup, an Australian territory-based association football tournament *Federation Cup ...

Career

In the 1990s with her sister Akiko, she ranked among the top tennis players in Japan, alongside such players as

Kimiko Date 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 ...

and

Naoko Sawamatsu is a former professional tennis player. In her career, she won four singles titles on the WTA Tour. Sawamatsu reached a career-high ranking of world No. 14, on 6 February 1995. At the time of the 1995 Australian Open, her family survived the G ...

. From 1995 to 1997, she figured in the world top 100 in singles, taking a highest ranking in March 1997 - No. 44 (the season ended 1996 as the world's 50th best player). Naoko's best results include the singles semifinals of the

WTA Tour The WTA Tour is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for women organized by the Women's Tennis Association. The second-tier tour is the WTA 125K series, and third-tier is the ITF Women's Circuit. The men's equivalent is the ATP Tour. WTA Tour tourna ...

tournament in

Jakarta Jakarta (; , bew, Jakarte), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta ( id, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta) is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Lying on the northwest coast of Java, the world's most populous island, Jakarta ...

(defeated by top-seeded Belgian

Sabine Appelmans Sabine Appelmans (born 22 April 1972) is a former professional tennis player from Belgium. She was Belgium's Fed Cup captain from 2007 until 2011. Career Appelmans started playing at the neighbour's court at the age of seven. Her first traine ...

) and ( Japan Open) in 1996, quarterfinals in

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

in 1997, third rounds at the 1996 US Open and 1997 Wimbledon. Greater successes she had in doubles, where she was ranked 18th in October 1997, and won five tournaments including

events and another five lower-ranking (

ITF Women's Circuit The ITF Women's World Tennis Tour, previously known as the ITF Women's Circuit, is a series of professional tennis tournaments run by the International Tennis Federation for female professional tennis players. History It serves as a developmental ...

). All titles on the

came with Japanese partners -

Rika Hiraki Rika Hiraki ( ja, 平木理化, born 6 December 1971) is a former professional Japanese tennis player. She won the mixed-doubles title at the 1997 French Open (with Mahesh Bhupathi Mahesh Shrinivas Bhupathi (born 7 June 1974) is an Indi ...

Miho Saeki (born 18 March 1976) is a retired Japanese tennis player, winner of professional tournaments in doubles and singles, and a representative of Japan for the Federation Cup. Career Saeki's career began officially in April 1994. As a junior finale, ...

and mostly with

Nana Miyagi Nana Smith (born Nana Miyagi; 10 April 1971) is an American-born tennis player who played for Japan. Career Miyagi, a former top-15 player in doubles, played at all the Grand Slam tournaments in both singles and doubles – the Australian Ope ...

. Miyagi won three tournaments and twice was in the quarterfinal of a Grand Slam tournament (

Australian Open The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Th ...

1997 and 1998). Kijimuta and Miyagi also appeared in several semifinals and sometimes in the last eight of Grand Slam events (

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

French Open The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ven ...

and US Open in 1997, as well as

in 1998 - this time victory over the Williams sisters by default). Naoko Kijimuta played doubles in the

1997 and 1998, partnering Nana Miyagi and

Kyoko Nagatsuka is a very common feminine Japanese given name. Not to be confused with Kiyoko. Possible writings The final syllable "ko" is typically written with the kanji character for child, 子. It is a common suffix to female names in Japan. The first s ...

, but lost all three games. Her tennis career ended in September 1998, at the Toyota Princess Cup tournament in Tokyo, where she passed the qualifying in the singles to be defeated in the first round of the main draw by German

Anke Huber Anke Huber (born 4 December 1974) is a German retired top-five professional tennis player. She was the runner-up in women's singles at the 1996 Australian Open – Women's singles, 1996 Australian Open and the 1995 WTA Tour Championships, 1995 W ...

in three sets. Also the first round of the tournament in doubles (along with Rika Hiraki) ended in defeat. Her career earnings was almost half a million dollars.

WTA career finals

Doubles: 6 (5 titles, 1 runner-up)

ITF Circuit finals

Singles (0–1)

Doubles (5–3)

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kijimuta, Naoko 1972 births Living people Japanese female tennis players Sportspeople from Kanagawa Prefecture