Ai Sugiyama and Shinobu Asagoe continued their success in the first week at Wimbledon, demonstrating the growing strength of female Japanese players on the professional circuit.
Sugiyama avenged her defeat by Nathalie Dechy of France at Eastbourne last week, winning 6-4, 6-4 on Friday to claim a place in the fourth round of Wimbledon. The result equaled her best showing at the All England Club, which was achieved in 1996.
Fellow Japanese Shinobu Asagoe also won her third-round match on Friday, defeating Francesca Schiavone of Italy 7-5, 6-2. It's her first time through to the fourth round.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Akiko Morigami plays No. 8 seed Jennifer Capriati on Saturday in her third-round match.
The No. 13 seeded Sugiyama had to battle for her victory.
After exchanging breaks of serve in the opening two games, each struggled to gain an edge in the 50-minute first set.
Sugiyama had the best opportunity at 2-2 when she led 40-0 on Dechy's serve and then earned a fourth break point before the Frenchwoman held. Sugiyama broke to lead 5-4 when Dechy hit a crosscourt backhand wide, but even then she had to fight off two break points as she served out for the set. Part-owner of a company called Belly Button, which includes a tennis academy, a sports shop, a cafe and a flower shop, Sugiyama then fought hard to earn a 1-0 lead in the second set.
She took the game on her fifth break point. And although she immediately surrendered her own serve in the next game, she broke once more to lead 2-1. The next two games also went against serve before Sugiyama held to lead 4-2. Dechy, who won her first career title on Australia's Gold Coast in January and enjoys wine and chocolate in her free time, continued to keep Sugiyama under pressure with some solid groundstrokes.
But she was unable to recover the final break of serve, and Sugiyama went on to serve out to love and claim her fifth victory over Dechy in six meetings.
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