Japan's Uchijima continues climb with biggest win yet at W60 Canberra

Moyuka Uchijima made a purposeful stride forward in the WTA rankings after winning her biggest singles title yet on the ITF World Tennis Tour at W60 Canberra.

The 20-year-old from Japan climbs 27 spots to a career-high No. 255 in the world this week after defeating local favourite Olivia Gadecki 6-2 6-2 in the Australian capital on Sunday for her first ITF singles title on clay.

Uchijima, whose previous triumphs include three tournament wins at W15 level and further W25 wins at both Pune in December and Porto last month, has a 16-5 win-loss record so far in 2022.

At this rate, Uchijima appears on track to hit the goal she set herself for the season.

“My [2022] goal is to reach the Grand Slam qualies and to break the top 200 by May-June and end the year higher than that,” she told the Indian Express after winning her maiden W25 title in Pune in December.

The ITF World Tennis Tour provides a clear pathway for talented players to develop their game with a view to stepping up to compete at WTA tournaments and ultimately the Grand Slams.

Uchijima, who continues to train in Asia, spoke ahead of this season about broadening her horizons and competing in more ITF tournaments in order to develop her career.

“Most of the Japanese players have started to go [further afield] for tournaments, including me. It was just in the juniors I played domestic but after I won a few tournaments in Japan, I wanted to play more ITFs," she said. 

“The trends are changing a lot. Naomi (Osaka) is one of my idols and has reached Grand Slam and WTA finals… Hopefully I can be like her and inspire people like she does. Kei Nishikori, too, showed that Japanese players can be in the top 5-10.”

Uchijima wasn’t the only Japanese success story on the ITF World Tennis Tour last week, with compatriot Sakura Hosogi, 22, claiming the third ITF singles title of her career at W15 Monastir.

It was also a good week for Spain who could celebrate two women’s singles titlists, with Carlota Martinez Cirez winning at W15 Marrakech and 19-year-old Jessica Bouzas Maneiro overcoming Yvonne Cavalle-Reimers in an all-Spanish final on home soil at W15 Palmanova.

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