Haruka Inoue (井上 青香, Inoue Haruka, born 7 June 1977) is a former professional tennis player from Japan.

Haruka Inoue
Full nameHaruka Inoue
Country (sports) Japan
Born (1977-06-07) 7 June 1977 (age 46)
Tokyo, Japan
Height1.68 m (5 ft 6 in)
PlaysRight-handed
Prize money$206,194
Singles
Career record188–151
Career titles2 ITF
Highest rankingNo. 108 (17 August 1998)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open1R (1998)
French Open1R (1998)
Wimbledon1R (1997, 1998)
US OpenQ2 (1998, 1999)
Doubles
Career record61–79
Career titles1 ITF
Highest rankingNo. 114 (23 July 2001)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open1R (2002)
WimbledonQ2 (1998, 2001)
Medal record
Women's tennis
Asian Games
Bronze medal – third place 1998 Bangkok Women's team

Biography edit

Early life edit

Born in Tokyo, Inoue, a right-handed baseline player, started tennis aged nine and was coached by her father Gou. Her younger sisters, Maiko and Akari, also played on the professional tennis circuit.

She had her best year as a junior in 1995 when she was a girls' singles quarter-finalist at the Australian Open and semi-finalist at the Wimbledon Championships.[1]

Professional career edit

In 1996 she graduated from high school and began competing on the professional tour.

Her earliest success on the WTA Tour came at the Wismilak International in Surabaya, where he made the quarter-finals in both 1996 and 1997.

She qualified for her first Grand Slam tournament at the 1997 Wimbledon Championships and was beaten by seventh seed Anke Huber in the first round.[2]

In the 1998 season, she reached her highest ranking of 108 in the world. Her highlights in 1998 include reaching the quarterfinals of the ENKA Open in Istanbul as well as main draw appearances in three of the four Grand Slam tournaments. At Wimbledon she was one of only three players to take a set off Nathalie Tauziat on the Frenchwoman's run to the final.[3]

She never represented Japan in Fed Cup but was a member of the bronze medal winning women's team at the 1998 Asian Games.

ITF finals edit

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

Singles (2–4) edit

Result No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent Score
Loss 1. 2 October 1995 Ibaraki, Japan Hard   Tomoe Hotta 3–6, 3–6
Loss 2. 25 February 1996 Redbridge, United Kingdom Hard (i)   Elena Pampoulova 4–6, 4–6
Loss 3. 26 October 1997 Houston, United States Hard   Park Sung-hee 1–6, 6–7(2)
Loss 4. 22 May 1998 Noda, Japan Hard   Shinobu Asagoe 2–6, 4–6
Win 1. 27 October 2002 Tokyo, Japan Hard   Aiko Nakamura 6–2, 6–2
Win 2. 19 September 2004 Kyoto, Japan Carpet   Maika Ozaki 6–4, 6–1

Doubles (1–4) edit

Result No. Date Tournament Surface Partner Opponents Score
Loss 1. 3 October 1994 Ibaraki, Japan Hard   Shinobu Asagoe   Kim Il-soon
  Yoriko Yamagishi
2–6, 1–6
Loss 2. 12 December 1999 Manila, Philippines Hard   Maiko Inoue   Li Ting
  Li Na
3–6, 2–6
Loss 3. 26 March 2000 Stone Mountain, United States Hard   Maiko Inoue   Trudi Musgrave
  Bryanne Stewart
4–6, 6–2, 6–7
Loss 4. 20 October 2002 Haibara, Japan Carpet   Maiko Inoue   Remi Tezuka
  Yuka Yoshida
0–6, 2–6
Win 1. 27 October 2002 Tokyo, Japan Hard   Maiko Inoue   Keiko Taguchi
  Nami Urabe
6–1, 6–2

References edit

  1. ^ "ITF Tennis - Juniors - Player Profile - Inoue, Haruka (JPN)". ITF. Retrieved 23 June 2017.
  2. ^ "Former champ Martinez impressive". Deseret News. 24 June 1997. Retrieved 23 June 2017.
  3. ^ "Wimbledon encore is burden for Hingis Still, defending champ wins opening match". The Baltimore Sun. 24 June 1998. Retrieved 23 June 2017.

External links edit