Naoko Sawamatsu
# Naoko Sawamatsu

Naoko Sawamatsu (沢松奈生子, Sawamatsu Naoko, born on 23 March 1973) 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 Great Hanshin earthquake, and Sawamatsu went on to achieve her best Grand Slam result at Melbourne Park, reaching the quarterfinals by defeating compatriot Ai Sugiyama, Laurence Courtois, Kimiko Date in the third round, Mary Joe Fernandez in the fourth round before losing to Arantxa Sánchez Vicario.

Her most significant title came in 1993 at Strasbourg, when she defeated clay-courter Judith Wiesner in the final. Sawamatsu had much success at Strasbourg reaching the semifinals in 1991, final in 1992 losing to Judith Wiesner.

She retired from professional tennis after losing in the second round of the 1998 Japan Open to Monica Seles in a three-set match. Sawamatsu had wins over the following players during her career: Martina Hingis, Lindsay Davenport, Kimiko Date, Mary Joe Fernandez, Amanda Coetzer, and Conchita Martínez. She was the first player to be beaten by Venus Williams in the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament, at the French Open in 1997.

Sawamatsu's has a career win–loss record in singles of 205–143.

Since retirement, she has been involved in the development of sport in her native country. Sawamatsu is the daughter of tennis player Junko Sawamatsu and the niece of 1975 Wimbledon ladies doubles champion Kazuko Sawamatsu.

## WTA career finals

### Singles: 7 (4 titles, 3 runner-ups)

| Legend |
| - |
| Tier I | 0 |
| Tier II | 0 |
| Tier III | 2 |
| Tier IV & V | 2 |
| Result | W/L | Date | Tournament | Surface | Opponent | Score |
| Win | 1–0 | Apr 1990 | Singapore | Hard | Sarah Loosemore | $7–6^{(7–5)},$ 3–6, 6–4 |
| Loss | 1–1 | Apr 1991 | Pattaya, Thailand | Hard | Yayuk Basuki | 2–6, 2–6 |
| Loss | 1–2 | May 1992 | Strasbourg, France | Clay | Judith Wiesner | 1–6, 3–6 |
| Loss | 1–3 | Jan 1993 | Melbourne, Australia | Hard | Amanda Coetzer | 2–6, 3–6 |
| Win | 2–3 | May 1993 | Strasbourg, France | Clay | Judith Wiesner | 4–6, 6–1, 6–3 |
| Win | 3–3 | Apr 1994 | Singapore | Hard | Florencia Labat | 7–5, 7–5 |
| Win | 4–3 | Apr 1997 | Jakarta, Indonesia | Hard | Yuka Yoshida | 6–3, 6–2 |

## ITF Circuit finals

* $50,000 tournaments
* $25,000 tournaments
* $10,000 tournaments

### Singles: 2 (2–0)

| Result | No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Opponent | Score |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Win | 1. | 15 October 1989 | ITF Nagasaki, Japan | Hard | Akiko Gooden | 6–4, 6–0 |
| Win | 2. | 25 March 1990 | ITF Moulins, France | Carpet (i) | Claudia Chabalgoity | 6–3, 6-1 |

### Doubles: 1 (0–1)

| Result | No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Loss | 1. | 7 November 1993 | ITF Saga, Japan | Grass | Mana Endo | Ei Iida Maya Kidowaki | 2–6, 6–3, 2-6 |

## Performance timeline

Key :

| W | F | SF | QF | #R | RR | Q# | DNQ | A | NH |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Tournament | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | W–L |
| Australian Open | A | 3R | A | 3R | 2R | QF | 4R | 1R | 1R | 12–7 |
| French Open | 2R | 4R | 1R | 2R | 2R | 3R | 2R | 1R | 2R | 10–9 |
| Wimbledon | 1R | 2R | 4R | 3R | 4R | 3R | 3R | 2R | 3R | 16–9 |
| US Open | 2R | 2R | 3R | 1R | 1R | 3R | 2R | 2R | 2R | 9–9 |
| Win–loss | 2–3 | 7–4 | 5–3 | 5–4 | 5–4 | 10–4 | 7–4 | 2–4 | 4–4 | 47–34 |
| WTA Tier I tournaments | WTA Tier I tournaments | WTA Tier I tournaments | WTA Tier I tournaments | WTA Tier I tournaments | WTA Tier I tournaments | WTA Tier I tournaments | WTA Tier I tournaments | WTA Tier I tournaments | WTA Tier I tournaments | SR |
| Rome | - | - | - | 3R | QF | 2R | - | 1R | 2R | 0 / 5 |
| Berlin | - | 2R | 2R | - | - | 2R | 3R | - | 1R | 0 / 5 |
| Charleston | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 2R | 0 / 1 |
| Philadelphia | Not Tier I | Not Tier I | Not Tier I | - | - | - | Not Tier I | Not Tier I | Not Tier I | 0 / 0 |
| Boca Raton | - | - | 3R | Not Tier I | Not Tier I | Not Tier I | Not held | Not held | Not held | 0 / 1 |
| Tokyo | Not Tier I | Not Tier I | Not Tier I | - | - | QF | QF | 2R | 2R | 0 / 4 |
| Moscow | Not Tier I or Was Not Held | Not Tier I or Was Not Held | Not Tier I or Was Not Held | Not Tier I or Was Not Held | Not Tier I or Was Not Held | Not Tier I or Was Not Held | Not Tier I or Was Not Held | - | - | 0 / 0 |
| Miami | - | 3R | 3R | 2R | 4R | 4R | 2R | 2R | 3R | 0 / 8 |
| Montreal/Toronto | QF | 3R | 3R | 3R | 3R | - | - | 3R | 1R | 0 / 7 |
| Zurich | Not Tier I | Not Tier I | - | - | - | 1R | 1R | 1R | - | 0 / 3 |
| Indian Wells | - | - | - | - | - | SF | 2R | 2R | 2R | 0 / 4 |
| Chicago | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | NH | 0 / 0 |
| Career statistics |
| Tournaments won | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Year-end ranking | 31 | 33 | 24 | 28 | 26 | 17 | 38 | 34 | 55 | |
