Yuuki Tanaka


Yuuki Tanaka is a retired Japanese professional tennis player.
On 11 September 2017, Tanaka reached her best singles ranking of world No. 308. On 29 August 2016, she peaked at No. 214 in the doubles rankings. Tanaka has won one singles title and six doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit.
She made her main-draw debut on the WTA Tour at the 2016 Jiangxi International Women's Tennis Open, in the doubles event partnering Tian Ran. Her biggest ITF tournament was the $75k 2015 Dunlop World Challenge doubles final, which she lost partnering with Luksika Kumkhum.

Early life and amateur career

Tanaka was born in Chita, Aichi Prefecture and attended Yawata Elementary School and Yawata Junior High School in Chita and Sugiyama Jogakuen High School in Nagoya. She participated in her first ITF tournament at the age of 16 in July 2006, advancing through three rounds of qualifying at the $25k event in Nagoya before losing in the round of 32.
After high school, she attended Waseda University in Tokyo and graduated with a degree in sports science.
Tanaka commenced playing tennis at nine years of age. In September 2010, she came runner-up in the women's singles event of the All-Japan Inter-Collegiate Tennis Tournament, losing to fellow Waseda student Hiroko Kuwata in the final. She also finished runner-up in the doubles event, partnering Waseda classmate Shiho Otake and losing to fellow Waseda students Emiko Ito and Mai Iwazaki in the final. In October 2010, she led the Waseda women's team to their fifth consecutive All-Japan Collegiate Tennis Championships title and was named MVP of the tournament. In December 2010, she partnered with Otake to win the national inter-collegiate indoor tournament in Osaka.
In March 2011, Tanaka advanced to the final of an ITF tournament for the first time, partnering with Chinami Ogi and losing to Mari Inoue and Ayumi Oka in the final of the Miyazaki outdoor carpet tournament. She also advanced to the quarterfinals in the singles draw of the same tournament.
At the 2011 Inter-Collegiate Championship, Tanaka and Otake faced Ito and Iwazake again, defeating them in the final of the women's doubles. Tanaka finished fourth in the singles competition.

Professional career

Tanaka turned professional in February 2012, just prior to her graduation from Waseda. Her coach has been Atsushi Okutaka since April 2012. In June 2012, she won her first ITF title, partnering with her former Waseda teammate Kuwata to win the $10k Mie outdoor tournament, defeating Akari Inoue and Kaori Onishi in the final.
In March 2013, Tanaka won her first ITF singles title, defeating Kuwata in the final of the $10k Kofu hardcourt tournament. In the same month, Tanaka and Kuwata were named as part of Japan's five-member women's tennis team for the 2013 Summer Universiade in Kazan, Russia.
In July 2013, Japan won the gold medal in the women's team event at the Summer Universiade. In the main draw of the women's singles, Tanaka's teammates Sachie Ishizu and Kuwata won gold and bronze respectively. Tanaka was the top seed in the consolation draw of the women's singles and won the final against the fourth member of the Japanese team, Megumi Nishimoto. Tanaka and Ishizu were seeded fifth in the women's doubles event and lost in the quarterfinals.
In November 2015, Tanaka advanced to the second round of the 2015 Ando Securities Open, losing to eventual runner-up, top seed Nao Hibino. Later the same month, Tanaka and her partner Luksika Kumkhum advanced to the final of the doubles draw of the Dunlop World Challenge, losing in a match tie-break to Akiko Omae and Peangtarn Plipuech.
In the first half of 2016, Tanaka partnered Mana Ayukawa in the final of two ITF tournaments in Mildura and Karuizawa, but the pair lost in two sets on both occasions. In August, Tanaka's doubles rating had improved to her career-best No. 216 and she made her WTA Tour main-draw debut at the Jiangxi International, partnering China's Tian Ran in the doubles event. The pair lost to top seeds Wang Yafan and Yang Zhaoxuan in the first round.

ITF finals

Singles (1–6)

OutcomeNo.DateTournamentSurfaceOpponentScore
Runner-up113 August 2012İstanbul, TurkeyHard Mari Tanaka0–6, 2–6
Runner-up215 September 2012Kyoto, JapanCarpet Nao Hibino4–6, 6–2, 2–6
Winner123 March 2013Kōfu, JapanHard Hiroko Kuwata6–3, 6–1
Runner-up324 February 2014Nonthaburi, ThailandHard Xun Fangying6–7 , 2–6
Runner-up41 February 2015Sharm El Sheikh, EgyptHard Anastasija Sevastova5–7, 3–6
Runner-up57 February 2015Sharm El Sheikh, EgyptHard Melanie Klaffner5–7, 6–3, 2–6
Runner-up630 April 2017Antalya, TurkeyClay Ysaline Bonaventure4–6, 2–6

Doubles (6–10)

OutcomeNo.DateTournamentSurfacePartnerOpponentsScore
Runner-up120 March 2011Miyazaki, JapanCarpet Chinami Ogi Mari Inoue
Ayumi Oka
7–5, 2–6,
Winner124 June 2012Mie, JapanGrass Hiroko Kuwata Akari Inoue
Kaori Onishi
6–3, 3–6,
Runner-up223 December 2014İstanbul, TurkeyHard Ekaterina Yashina Elise Mertens
İpek Soylu
0–6, 6–7
Runner-up324 February 2014Nonthaburi, ThailandHard Miyu Kato Nungnadda Wannasuk
Varunya Wongteanchai
2–6, 2–6
Runner-up413 April 2014Melbourne, AustraliaClay Miyu Kato Jessica Moore
Aleksandrina Naydenova
5–7, 7–6,
Runner-up59 June 2014Kashiwa, JapanHard Makoto Ninomiya Yuki Chiang
Aki Yamasoto
7–5, 1–6,
Winner27 July 2014Aschaffenburg, GermanyClay Rika Fujiwara Lesley Kerkhove
Xenia Knoll
6–1, 6–4
Runner-up612 January 2015Sharm El Sheikh, EgyptHard Camilla Rosatello Pia König
Eva Wacanno
6–4, 6–7,
Winner319 January 2015Sharm El Sheikh, EgyptHard Shiho Akita Kajsa Rinaldo Persson
Caroline Rohde-Moe
6–2, 7–6
Winner47 February 2015Sharm El Sheikh, EgyptHard Anna Morgina Veronika Kapshay
Melanie Klaffner
4–6, 6–4,
Winner515 March 2015Mildura, AustraliaGrass Hiroko Kuwata Tian Ran
Wang Yan
6–2, 6–0
Runner-up725 September 2015Bangkok, ThailandHard Mana Ayukawa Hiroko Kuwata
Ayaka Okuno
6–2, 1–6,
Runner-up828 November 2015Toyota, JapanCarpet Luksika Kumkhum Akiko Omae
Peangtarn Plipuech
6–3, 0–6,
Runner-up94 March 2016Mildura, AustraliaGrass Mana Ayukawa Olivia Tjandramulia
Jessica Wacnik
0–6, 3–6
Runner-up1028 May 2016Karuizawa, JapanGrass Mana Ayukawa Rika Fujiwara
Kotomi Takahata
1–6, 4–6
Winner623 April 2017Antalya, TurkeyClay Emma Laine Marie Benoît
Ysaline Bonaventure
3–6, 6–1,