Shinobu Asagoe

Shinobu Asagoe
浅越しのぶ

Country (sports)	Japan
Residence	Hyōgo
Born	(1976-06-28) 28 June 1976 (age 47) Hyōgo
Height	1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Turned pro	1997
Retired	2006
Plays	Right-handed
Prize money	$1,662,261
Singles
Career record	275–208 (56.9%)
Career titles	9 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 21 (18 April 2005)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	2R (2005, 2006)
French Open	4R (2004)
Wimbledon	4R (2003)
US Open	QF (2004)
Doubles
Career record	226–148 (60.4%)
Career titles	8 WTA, 10 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 13 (8 May 2006)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open	SF (2006)
French Open	QF (2002, 2005)
Wimbledon	3R (2003, 2005)
US Open	3R (2005, 2006)
Team competitions
Fed Cup	17–10

Shinobu Asagoe (浅越しのぶ, Asagoe Shinobu, born 28 June 1976) is a Japanese former tennis player. She turned professional in 1997, and retired in 2006.

Career

2000 was the first year in which she finished in the WTA top 100 (No. 72). At the US Open that year, she defeated Patty Schnyder, a top-50 player. She also reached her first WTA Tour quarterfinal that year at the Princess Cup at Tokyo, defeating Ai Sugiyama and losing to Monica Seles. She also represented Japan at the Sydney Olympics. In 2003, she reached her first WTA singles final. In 2004, she reached her second career singles final in Hobart, as well as her first Grand Slam quarterfinal at the US Open. In April 2005, Asagoe reached her career-high singles ranking of world No. 21. In May of the following year, she reached her career-high doubles ranking (13th).

Asagoe appeared in one WTA Tour final, in Auckland 2003, where she lost to Katarina Srebotnik in three sets. Asagoe held a 4–0 lead in the second set when Srebotnik took an injury timeout. From there, Strebotnik played "all in" tennis and won the match, in what was an agonising result for Asagoe.

Her most memorable match was a second-round marathon at Wimbledon 2003, when her stressed-out opponent, Daniela Hantuchová, melted down well on the way to what looked like a routine two-set win. Eventually, after nearly three hours, Asagoe won the contest 12–10 in the third set.

She played doubles with Katarina Srebotnik. At the 2006 Australian Open, they reached the semifinals by beating Cara Black/Rennae Stubbs 6–3, 4–6, 6–0. They lost to eventual champions Yan/Zheng in the semifinals.

At the US Open that same year, she lost her first-round match in straight sets to Jelena Kostanić. She had announced, the US Open would be her last tournament. In doubles, with Akiko Morigami, they won their first-round match 6–1, 6–3, and they were to play against the 14th seeds, Marion Bartoli/Shahar Peer. Bartoli/Peer were up 6–4, 5–2, before Shinobu and Akiko won four straight games to make it 6–5. They held many set points at 6–5, but could not convert, thus forcing a tiebreaker; they were down 2–6, but won six straight points, thus taking the tiebreaker, saving four straight match points. They took the final set 6–4.

Asagoe retired at the 2006 US Open, after losing her third-round doubles match (with Morigami) to the world's top-ranked team Lisa Raymond/Samantha Stosur.

Significant finals

Olympic games

Doubles: 1 bronze final

Result	Year	Location	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
4th place	2004	Athens, Greece	Hard	Ai Sugiyama	Paola Suárez Patricia Tarabini	3–6, 3–6

WTA career finals

Singles: 3 (3 runner-ups)

Result	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	1.	Jun 2003	Birmingham, Great Britain	Grass	Magdalena Maleeva	1–6, 4–6
Loss	2.	Jan 2004	Hobart, Australia	Hard	Amy Frazier	3–6, 3–6
Loss	3.	Jan 2005	Auckland, New Zealand	Hard	Katarina Srebotnik	7–5, 5–7, 4–6

Doubles: 12 (8 titles, 4 runner-ups)

Result	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1.	Jun 2002	Birmingham, Great Britain	Grass	Els Callens	Kimberly Po Nathalie Tauziat	6–4, 6–3
Win	2.	Oct 2002	Tokyo, Japan	Hard	Nana Miyagi	Svetlana Kuznetsova Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	6–4, 4–6, 6–4
Loss	1.	Mar 2003	Miami, United States	Hard	Nana Miyagi	Liezel Huber Magdalena Maleeva	4–6, 6–3, 5–7
Loss	2.	Apr 2003	Sarasota, United States	Clay	Nana Miyagi	Liezel Huber Martina Navratilova	6–7(8–10), 3–6
Win	3.	Jan 2004	Hobart, Australia	Hard	Seiko Okamoto	Els Callens Barbara Schett	2–6, 6–4, 6–3
Win	4.	Aug 2004	Montreal, Canada	Hard	Ai Sugiyama	Liezel Huber Tamarine Tanasugarn	6–0, 6–3
Win	5.	Oct 2004	Tokyo, Japan	Hard	Katarina Srebotnik	Jennifer Hopkins Mashona Washington	6–1, 6–4
Win	6.	Jan 2005	Auckland, New Zealand	Hard	Katarina Srebotnik	Leanne Baker Francesca Lubiani	6–3, 6–3
Loss	3.	Oct 2005	Tokyo, Japan	Hard	María Vento-Kabchi	Gisela Dulko Maria Kirilenko	5–7, 6–4, 3–6
Win	7.	Oct 2005	Bangkok, Thailand	Hard	Gisela Dulko	Conchita Martínez Virginia Ruano Pascual	6–1, 7–5
Loss	4.	Mar 2006	Acapulco, Mexico	Clay	Émilie Loit	Anna-Lena Grönefeld Meghann Shaughnessy	1–6, 3–6
Win	8.	Apr 2006	Amelia Island, United States	Clay	Katarina Srebotnik	Liezel Huber Sania Mirza	6–2, 6–4

ITF Circuit finals

Singles: 15 (9–6)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Winner	1.	27 May 1996	ITF Taipei, Taiwan	Hard	Tomoe Hotta	6–3, 6–0
Winner	2.	13 October 1996	ITF Kugayama, Japan	Hard	Akiko Morigami	6–1, 3–6, 6–1
Winner	3.	21 October 1996	ITF Kyoto, Japan	Hard	Keiko Nagatomi	6–2, 6–4
Winner	4.	18 May 1997	ITF Caboolture, Australia	Hard	Renee Reid	6–4, 6–1
Runner-up	5.	25 May 1997	ITF Gympie, Australia	Hard	Renee Reid	6–3, 3–6, 4–6
Runner-up	6.	8 June 1997	ITF Ipswich, Australia	Hard	Renee Reid	1–6, 3–6
Runner-up	7.	12 October 1997	ITF Saga, Japan	Grass	Surina De Beer	1–6, 7–5, 3–6
Winner	8.	22 May 1998	ITF Noda, Japan	Hard	Haruka Inoue	6–2, 6–4
Winner	9.	15 March 1999	ITF Noda, Japan	Hard	Mirka Federer	7–5, 6–4
Winner	10.	4 April 1999	ITF Clermont, United States	Hard	Nana Smith	5–7, 6–4, 6–1
Runner-up	11.	1 May 2000	ITF Gifu, Japan	Grass	Tamarine Tanasugarn	5–7, 5–6
Runner-up	12.	7 April 2002	ITF Dubai, United Arab Emirates	Hard	Angelique Widjaja	6–7(4), 2–6
Runner-up	13.	5 May 2002	ITF Gifu, Japan	Hard	Julie Pullin	6–4, 4–6, 3–6
Winner	14.	20 October 2002	ITF Haibara, Japan	Carpet	Aiko Nakamura	6–4, 7–5
Winner	15.	5 May 2003	ITF Gifu, Japan	Hard	Saori Obata	6–4, 6–1

Doubles: 19 (10-9)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Runner-up	1.	3 October 1994	ITF Ibaraki, Japan	Hard	Haruka Inoue	Kim Il-soon Yoriko Yamagishi	2–6, 1–6
Winner	2.	16 October 1995	ITF Kugayama, Japan	Hard	Yuko Hosoki	Natalie Frawley Jenny Anne Fetch	6–4, 7–6(3)
Winner	3.	3 June 1996	ITF Taichung, Taiwan	Hard	Yuka Tanaka	Tomoe Hotta Sachie Umehara	6–0, 6–1
Runner-up	4.	4 May 1997	Gifu, Japan	Hard	Yasuko Nishimata	Saori Obata Kaoru Shibata	3–6, 5–7
Winner	5.	17 May 1997	Caboolture, Australia	Clay	Benjamas Sangaram	Nannie de Villiers Lisa McShea	6–4, 7–5
Winner	6.	24 May 1997	Gympie, Australia	Clay	Benjamas Sangaram	Nannie de Villiers Lisa McShea	5–7, 6–3, 6–3
Runner-up	7.	31 May 1997	Bundaberg, Australia	Clay	Benjamas Sangaram	Nannie de Villiers Lisa McShea	6–4, 1–6, 1–6
Runner-up	8.	7 June 1997	Ipswich, Australia	Clay	Benjamas Sangaram	Nannie de Villiers Lisa McShea	4–6, 6–3, 5–7
Winner	9.	18 October 1998	Seoul, South Korea	Hard	Kirstin Freye	Catherine Barclay Choi Young-ja	6–2, 7–6
Runner-up	10.	21 March 1999	Noda, Japan	Hard	Yuka Yoshida	Cho Yoon-jeong Park Sung-hee	3–6, 3–6
Runner-up	11.	24 October 1999	Nashville, United States	Hard	Yuka Yoshida	Nicole Arendt Katie Schlukebir	1–6, 6–7
Winner	12.	7 May 2000	Gifu, Japan	Hard	Yuka Yoshida	Nannie de Villiers Surina De Beer	6–3, 6–1
Winner	13.	14 May 2000	Seoul, South Korea	Clay	Saori Obata	Li Na Li Ting	6–1, 6–3
Winner	14.	26 November 2002	Minneapolis, United States	Hard (i)	Els Callens	Rika Hiraki Nana Smith	7–6(3), 7–6(3)
Runner-up	15.	1 May 2002	Gifu, Japan	Grass	Rika Fujiwara	Cho Yoon-jeong Evie Dominikovic	2–6, 2–6
Winner	16.	12 May 2002	Fukuoka, Japan	Hard	Cho Yoon-jeong	Julie Pullin Lorna Woodroffe	6–2, 6–4
Runner-up	17.	18 August 2002	Bronx, United States	Hard	Nana Smith	Maret Ani Flavia Pennetta	4–6, 1–6
Runner-up	18.	27 April 2003	Gifu, Japan	Grass	Nana Smith	Rika Fujiwara Saori Obata	6–1, 5–7, 3–6
Winner	19.	8 June 2003	ITF Surbiton, United Kingdom	Grass	Nana Smith	Bethanie Mattek-Sands Lilia Osterloh	7–6, 3–6, 6–4

External links

• Shinobu Asagoe at the Women's Tennis Association
• Shinobu Asagoe at the International Tennis Federation
• Shinobu Asagoe at the Billie Jean King Cup