is a former tennis player from Japan. She turned professional in April 1996, and in February 2004, she achieved a career-high singles ranking of 39, and on the same day, she reached her best doubles ranking of 98.
Biography She did not win a singles title on WTA Tour in her career, however did reach one final in Tashkent in 2003 where she lost in two sets to Virginia Ruano Pascual. In the same year, she reached the semifinals of the WTA Tour event in Bali, Indonesia, before losing to Chanda Rubin.
Tennis career Early years Having had moderate success on the ITF Junior Circuit – reaching a career high ranking of 55 – Obata made her WTA Tour-level professional debut in 1996, at the age of 18, at the Tier IV event at Surabaya, where she lost to Hila Rosen in qualifying, in straight sets. However, she subsequently qualified for Tier IV events in Beijing and Pattaya, and played a number of Asian WTA Tour events in the subsequent two years. However, her first big breakthrough tournament came in 2000, when she reached the quarterfinals of the Tier IV tournament in Shanghai as a qualifier, with wins over Lilia Osterloh and Yuka Yoshida, before falling to Meghann Shaughnessy. She ended 2000 ranked inside the top 200, at No. 161.
2001 Her first full season of regular tour-level tennis started at the Tier V tournament in Hobart, where she qualified for the main draw, before losing to Anna Smashnova in two close sets. She then attempted to qualify for the Australian Open, beating Alena Vašková and Angelika Rösch, before falling in the final qualifying round to Laurence Andretto in three sets.
Obata then had a breakthrough tournament in the highest-tier Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, winning through qualifying by beating top seed Kristie Boogert, wildcard Kumiko Iijima and Janette Husárová. She then beat fellow qualifier Katarina Srebotnik in the first round, before finally falling to third seed Anna Kournikova in a close three-setter.
She struggled in the next three tournaments, losing in the first round in Acapulco, Indian Wells and Key Biscayne, before dropping back down to ITF-level at the $25k event in Stone Mountain. As seventh seed, she won one round against wildcard Erin Burdette before losing to Marion Maruska. In Japan's Fed Cup tie against Argentina, Obata played two singles matches – losing in straight sets to María Emilia Salerni, before beating Clarisa Fernández by retirement.
Saori returned to winning ways in May, participating in two Japanese $50k events. In Gifu, she beat Christina Wheeler, compatriot Akiko Morigami and Annabel Ellwood before losing to second seed Alicia Molik in three sets in the semifinals. She then reached the final of Fukuoka, beating Bryanne Stewart, Haruka Inoue, Adriana Barna, and Lenka Dlhopolcova, before losing again to Molik in the final, in straight sets.
She lost in straight sets in the second round of qualifying at the French Open to Canadian Marie-Ève Pelletier.
The grass-court season saw her struggle to win consistently, reaching the second round of the $25k event in Surbiton with a win over Brit Lucie Ahl before a third successive loss to Molik, while at the Birmingham Classic she beat Dragana Zarić in qualifying before losing to Eleni Daniilidou. She entered the main draw as a lucky loser, but lost in straight sets to 15th seed Anne-Gaëlle Sidot. At Wimbledon, she again reached the final round of qualifying by beating two British wildcards, Alice Barnes and Helen Crook, before again losing in straight sets to Daniilidou.
In the North American hardcourt swing, Obata again struggled to string wins together. She lost early in qualifying for San Diego to Jennifer Hopkins, before an impressive win over Anastasia Myskina in the opening qualifying round of the Tier II event at Manhattan Beach Open Tennis Tournament, before falling to Alexandra Stevenson. She then moved on to the $50k Bronx Open, again defeating Boogert in the opening round before losing to Martina Müller. As the qualifying 16th seed at the US Open, she beat Mashona Washington in the opening round before exiting to Samantha Reeves.
After a first round exit at the Tier IV event in Waikoloa to Lisa Raymond, Obata received a wildcard into the Toyota Princess Cup in Tokyo, beating qualifier Shiho Hisamatsu in the opening round. She then lost to fourth seed Sandrine Testud, in three sets. She got another wildcard into the Japan Open, beating Alexandra Fusai and Marlene Weingärtner, before losing heavily to second seed Tamarine Tanasugarn in the quarter-finals. In the Tier IV event in Shanghai, she lost to Monica Seles in the second round having dispatched a young Li Na in the opener.
A further second-round loss in Pattaya saw Obata decide to finish the season at challenger level with two $25k tournaments in Port Pirie and Nuriootpa, South Australia. As the top seed, she won the tournament in Port Pirie, beating Yuliya Beygelzimer, Amanda Grahame, Christina Wheeler, Jaslyn Hewitt and Pavlina Nola. She also won, as second seed, her final tournament of the year in Nuriootpa, beating qualifier Anouk Sterk, Samantha Stosur, Wheeler again, Bryanne Stewart, and Cho Yoon-jeong in the final.
These two tournament wins meant Obata finished the year ranked just outside the top 100 at 116, but had cracked the top 100 for the first time during the year at 94.
2002 Obata started the year with a warm-up tournament in Australia in Canberra, where she qualified for the main draw, defeating Miho Saeki, Maureen Drake and Lucie Ahl, before falling in the opening round to Anna Smashnova, 1–6, 3–6. She then made her debut in the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament at the Australian Open as a direct entrant. She lost in straight sets to Maria Elena Camerin.
She then qualified for the Tier I Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, beating Jill Craybas, Jennifer Hopkins and Alicia Molik to reach the main draw. She then fell in straight sets to the seventh seed Elena Dementieva. Obata then entered the Tier III event in Memphis, but lost 6–7(6), 4–6 in the first round to Japanese number one, Ai Sugiyama. She then lost to Evelyn Fauth in the opening round of a $50k event in Minneapolis. Obata then played singles and doubles matches in the Fed Cup Asia–Oceania Group B, winning three of her four matches to help seal promotion to the World Group.
After an early loss in Miami, Obata dropped down to challenger level to gain some confidence and wins. She reached the quarter finals of the $25k event in Lawrenceville as top seed, by defeating Laura Granville and Dessislava Topalova, before a defeat to qualifier Teryn Ashley. She then lost to Ashley again in a $50k event at Naples in the first round.
Obata then went back to Japan to play two more Challenger events in Gifu and Fukuoka. She defeated Hannah Collin and Ayami Takase to reach the quarterfinals of the former – losing to Jeon Mi-ra – and reached the second round in the latter with another win over Takase, before close three-set loss to Nana Miyagi. At Roland Garros, where she made her main draw debut, Obata lost 6–0, 2–6, 0–6 to Alina Jidkova.
The grass-court season started badly for Obata, with first-round losses in the Surbiton challenger to Tara Snyder, and in the first round in Birmingham to Dája Bedáňová. Despite a win over Stéphanie Foretz Gacon in the first round of Eastbourne qualifying, she fell to a surprising defeat to Wynne Prakusya in the next round. However, she achieved her first main draw Grand Slam win at Wimbledon with a comprehensive 6–1, 6–3 over former semifinalist Alexandra Stevenson. She lost 2–6, 2–6 to Eleni Daniilidou in the second round.
After her Slam breakthrough, Obata followed up by reaching the final of the $50k event in Louisville, before losing to top seed Alina Jidkova. However, she then lost in the first round of the next $50k event in Lexington to Lindsay Lee-Waters. She qualified for the Tier I event in Montreal, defeating Marie-Gaïané Mikaelian and Jidkova, before losing to Anna Kournikova in straight sets. Her final US Open warm-up event was in New Haven, where she lost in straight sets in the first round of qualifying to Émilie Loit. In the US Open main draw, she was drawn against 12th seed Elena Dementieva, but lost 2–6, 4–6.
Obata then moved on to the Asian swing for her final tournaments of 2002, but lost to Sugiyama in the first round of the Tier IV event in Shanghai, and in three sets to Patricia Wartusch in the opening round of the Toyota Princess Cup. She got back to winning ways in the Tier III event in Bali, with straight sets wins over Jill Craybas and Emmanuelle Gagliardi, before a three-set loss to Arantxa Sánchez Vicario in the quarterfinals. She finished her year with two straight sets, first-round losses at the Japan Open to Jelena Kostanić Tošić and in Pattaya to Adriana Serra Zanetti.
She ended the year ranked just outside the top 100 at 108.
2003 Obata started the year with by qualifying for the Tier V WTA event in Canberra, defeating Claudine Schaul, top seed Dally Randriantefy and Tatiana Poutchek to reach the main draw. She then defeated Virginia Ruano Pascual in the first round, before losing to unseeded Italian Adriana Serra Zanetti. She then failed to qualify for the Australian Open main draw, losing in the final round of qualifying to María Emilia Salerni, in straight sets.
After the Australian Open, she lost in the first round of the Pan Pacific Open to Magdalena Maleeva, before gaining revenge against Adriana Serra Zanetti for her Canberra defeat in the opening round of the Hyderabad Open, in straight sets. She then lost to fifth seed Iroda Tulyaganova. Obata then reached the quarterfinals of the Memphis Tier III tournament, defeating Canadian Vanessa Webb and fourth seed Alexandra Stevenson, before losing to Cho Yoon-jeong. It was at this tournament that she won her sole WTA Tour doubles title, together with Akiko Morigami. After withdrawing from Scottsdale before playing, she lost in qualifying at the Indian Wells Open to 11th seed Maureen Drake, after defeating Olga Barabanschikova in the opening round. She then lost in qualifying at tournaments in Key Biscayne, Sarasota and Charleston.
Obata played two singles matches in Japan's Fed Cup Asia-Oceania qualifying group matches against New Zealand and Hong Kong, winning both her singles matches.
Saori then had two very successful ITF events in Japan, reaching the final of the $50k grass-court event in Gifu as second seed, defeating Julie Pullin, Tomoko Yonemura, Maria Elena Camerin, and Rika Fujiwara, before losing to top seed and rival Shinobu Asagoe. She then, as top seed. won the $50k tournament in Fukuoka on carpet, defeating Seiko Okamoto, Nana Miyagi, Jarmila Gajdošová, Zi Yan and then Maria Elena Camerin in the final.
At the French Open, she lost in the first round to American Ashley Harkleroad 6–4, 6–2.
She made a further breakthrough in the grass-court season. Despite first-round losses at the Surbiton Trophy and Birmingham Classic tournaments, she won through qualifying at the Tier II Eastbourne tournament. She then achieved a notable scalp in the opening round, when she defeated Jelena Dokić in straight sets when Dokić was ranked 11th in the world. She then lost in a final-set tiebreak in the second round to Anna Smashnova. She then made her debut appearance on No. 1 Court at Wimbledon in the first round, where she held three match points against 21st seed Elena Bovina before losing 6–7(5), 6–2, 6–8.