Shuko Aoyama

is a Japanese tennis player.

Aoyama became a professional tennis player after graduating from Waseda University. She reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 182, on 9 February 2015, and a career-high doubles ranking of world No. 4, on 28 February 2022. She has predominantly played doubles and has won 17 doubles titles on the WTA Tour, having had her most successful Grand Slam appearances at Wimbledon, reaching the semifinals at the 2013 and 2021 tournaments. She has also won four singles and 30 doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit.

Personal life and background

Aoyama started playing tennis at age 9. Her favorite surface is grass. She studied at Waseda University in Japan.

Professional career

2007–12: First steps, first WTA title in doubles

Aoyama made her ITF Women's Circuit debut in the doubles event at Gifu in 2007. In March 2009, she won her first ITF title at the $10K Kōfu doubles event. In June 2010, she won her first singles ITF title at the $10K Tokyo event. In October 2010 at the Japan Open, she made her debut at a WTA Tour main-draw event. She failed to qualify in singles and had more success in doubles, reaching her first WTA final. In late November 2010, she won the $75K Toyota doubles event. In June 2011, she made her WTA singles debut at the Birmingham Classic as a qualifier. At the 2011 Wimbledon she made her Grand Slam debut in doubles. At the 2012 Washington Open in September, she won her first WTA title in doubles. In September 2012 she won the $100K Ningbo Challenger. During the 2012 season, she also won two $50K events, the Lexington Challenger and the Bronx Open.

2013–16: More success in doubles, Wimbledon semifinalist

As time passed, Aoyama became mainly a doubles player, playing in doubles events preferentially to singles. She made a strong start to the 2013 season reaching the semifinal in the first week of January at the Shenzhen Open. Soon after, she won her first Grand Slam match at the Australian Open, but then lost in the second round playing with Irina Falconi. In March she won the Malaysian Open with Chang Kai-chen. Later she also had strong start to the grass-season, reaching the semifinal at the Rosmalen Championships. She achieved more success at the Wimbledon, where she and Chanelle Scheepers reached the semifinal. This was her first significant Grand Slam result. In the semifinal-match they lost to Hsieh Su-wei and Peng Shuai. In September she won the Citi Open for the second year in a row. At the end of the year she reached the semifinal of the Korea Open and won the $75K Toyota Challenge.

During the next three seasons she did not have as good performances as in the 2013 season. In 2014, in singles, her only significant result came at the end of the year, when she reached the final of the $75K Toyota but lost to An-Sophie Mestach. In doubles she won the Citi Open for the third year in a row, and later in October she won the Japan Women's Open. During the year, she also had success on the ITF Women's Circuit. In May she won the $50K Fukuoka with Eri Hozumi, and later finished as runner-up at both the $50K Lexington and the $75K Toyota. In the first week of the 2015 season she reached the final at the Auckland Open playing with Renata Voráčová, they lost to Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci. A month later, she reached the final at the Thailand Open with Tamarine Tanasugarn. She then did not made any significant results until September. She then reached the semifinal of the Korea Open, and later she won two $100K events, in Nanjing and Tokyo. During 2016, she won one WTA doubles title at the Japan Women's Open, and finished runner-up at the Nuremberg Cup, Washington Open and Jiangxi Open. She also won three $50K events, in Quanzhou, Shenzen and Wuhan.

2021: WTA 1000 & four more titles, Olympic & top 5 debut, WTA Finals semifinalist

2022: World No. 4, Australian Open semifinal

Performance timelines

''Only main-draw results in WTA Tour, Grand Slam tournaments, Fed Cup/Billie Jean King Cup and Olympic Games are included in win–loss records.''

Doubles

''Current through the 2022 Toray Pan Pacific Open.''

Significant finals

WTA Elite Trophy

Doubles: 1 (runner–up)

WTA 1000 tournaments

Doubles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)

WTA career finals

Doubles: 28 (17 titles, 11 runner-ups)

ITF Circuit finals

Singles: 9 (4 titles, 5 runner–ups)

Doubles: 39 (30 titles, 9 runner-ups)

Notes

References

External links

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Japan Tennis Association profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aoyama, Shuko
1987 births
Living people
Japanese female tennis players
Sportspeople from Tokyo
Waseda University alumni
Tennis players at the 2014 Asian Games
Asian Games medalists in tennis
Asian Games bronze medalists for Japan
Medalists at the 2014 Asian Games
Universiade medalists in tennis
Universiade gold medalists for Japan
Universiade silver medalists for Japan
Universiade bronze medalists for Japan
Medalists at the 2009 Summer Universiade
Medalists at the 2011 Summer Universiade
Olympic tennis players of Japan
Tennis players at the 2020 Summer Olympics
20th-century Japanese women
21st-century Japanese women