is a Japanese professional

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 cov ...

player. Her career-high WTA singles ranking is 105, which she reached in February 2011. Her career-high doubles ranking is 101, achieved May 2015.

Early life and amateur career

Namigata was born in Koshigaya, Saitama Prefecture and started playing tennis when she was six years old. She completed elementary school at a school in Koshigaya and won a regional tournament when in the third grade. She attended Fujimura Girls' Junior High School and

Horikoshi High School is a private high school in Nakano, Tokyo is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. The English translation of its Japanese self-designation is Nakano City.Waseda University , mottoeng = Independence of scholarship , established = 21 October 1882 , type = Private , endowment = , president = Aiji Tanaka , city = Shinjuku , state = Tokyo , country = Japan , students = 47,959 , undergrad = 39,382 , postgrad ...

and in 2001 won the intercollegiate doubles title, was runner-up in the singles title, and was a member of the Waseda team that took out the team event. In 2004, she won the intercollegiate singles title and also won her first ITF doubles titles in October.

Professional career

Namigata turned professional in August 2005, after graduating from Waseda in April of the same year. Her goal was to finish her first year as a professional ranked in the top 200; she finished 2006 ranked 162 in singles. The first of her six singles titles came in July 2007. In July 2014, Namigata won her first WTA event, the doubles tournament of the inaugural Jiangxi International Open, partnering with

Chuang Chia-jung Chuang Chia-jung (; ; born 10 January 1985) is a retired Taiwanese tennis player. In her career, she won 22 doubles titles on the WTA Tour and three doubles titles on tournaments of the WTA Challenger Tour, as well as ten singles titles an ...

. 2014 was the most successful year of her career thus far, winning three ITF doubles titles and her first singles title since 2010. She finished the year ranked 196 in singles and 145 in doubles, returning to the top 200 in each category for the first time since 2011.

Grand Slam appearances

In singles, Namigata has qualified for two Grand Slam tournaments so far. At the

2011 Australian Open The 2011 Australian Open was a tennis tournament featuring six different competitions, and part of the 2011 ATP World Tour, the 2011 WTA Tour, ITF Junior Tour and the NEC Tour, as tournaments for professional, junior and wheelchair players were ...

, she lost to Canadian

Rebecca Marino Rebecca Catherine Marino (born December 16, 1990) is a Canadian professional tennis player. On 11 July 2011, she reached her highest WTA singles ranking of 38. Marino was awarded ''Female Player of the Year'' by Tennis Canada two times, in 2010 ...

in the first round. Later in the same year, she lost in the first round of the

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 ve ...

to Aleksandra Wozniak. In doubles, she qualified for the

2008 Wimbledon The 2008 Wimbledon Championships was a tennis tournament played on grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London in the United Kingdom. It was the 122nd edition of the Wimbledon Championships and were held fro ...

tournament with fellow Japanese player

Ayumi Morita is a Japanese tennis player. She reached her career-high ranking of number 40 in the world in October 2011. At junior level, she reached a combined career-high ranking of world No. 3. Morita is known for strong and consistent two-handed grounds ...

, losing in the first round to

Ekaterina Makarova Ekaterina Valeryevna Makarova ( rus, Екатери́на Вале́рьевна Мака́рова; ; born 7 June 1988) is a Russian former professional tennis player who was ranked world No. 1 in doubles, and world No. 8 in singles. She ...

and Selima Sfar. In January 2017, Namigata and Chan Chin-wei received wildcard entry into the

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 Ope ...

, losing in the first round to Tatjana Maria and Pauline Parmentier.

Fed Cup

Namigata represented

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 n ...

in the Asia/Oceania group of the 2011 Fed Cup.

WTA career finals

Doubles: 1 (runner–up)

WTA Challenger finals

Doubles: 1 (title)

ITF Circuit finals

Singles: 23 (7 titles, 16 runner–ups)

Doubles: 51 (25 titles, 26 runner–ups)

Notes

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Namigata, Junri 1982 births Living people Horikoshi High School alumni Waseda University alumni Japanese female tennis players People from Koshigaya, Saitama Sportspeople from Saitama Prefecture Universiade medalists in tennis Universiade bronze medalists for Japan Medalists at the 2005 Summer Universiade 21st-century Japanese women