Kurumi Nara

Kurumi Nara (奈良 くるみ) is a Japanese former professional tennis player.

In her career, she won one singles title on the WTA Tour, with seven singles and three doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit.

They placed second overall, becoming only the second Japanese women's doubles pair to reach the finals of a Grand Slam juniors event since Yuka Yoshida and Hiroko Mochizuki at the 1993 US Open.

In 2002, while enrolled in Kawanishi Makinodai Elementary School, Nara took second place in the All Japan Primary School Tennis Championships at the age of ten.

She would go on to win that tournament in 2003.

In 2004, after entering the middle school associated with Osaka Sangyo University, Nara won the girls' singles title in the All Japan Middle School Tennis Championship.

2006 marked her debut, via sponsor recommendation, in the All Japan Tennis Championships women's singles draw; however, a first-round loss abruptly ended her tournament run.

As a freshman at Osaka Sangyo's high school in 2007, Nara won the Under-18 singles title at the All-Japan Junior Tennis Championships.

In addition to her participation in the major events for her age group, Nara also accumulated victories each year in junior events throughout Japan.

She enjoyed success in doubles on the ITF Junior Circuit with partner Misaki Doi, earning entrance to the girls' doubles draw at the Wimbledon Championships in 2007.

The Nara/Doi team went on to reach the junior doubles semifinals at the 2007 US Open and 2008 Wimbledon Championships, in addition to strong performances at smaller tournaments.

Nara also enjoyed success in singles.

In 2007, she became the first Japanese woman to win the Osaka Mayor's Cup since Ryōko Fuda in 2002.

Also that year, she made her second appearance, again by sponsor recommendation, in the All Japan Tennis Championships.

She reached the third round of the 2008 US Open girls' singles tournament, where she lost to Kristina Mladenovic.

Nara turned professional in April 2009, winning the All Japan Tennis Championships that same year.

She advanced to the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time at the 2010 French Open with a three set win over Monica Niculescu in the qualifiers.

At four hours and 42 minutes, it was said to be the longest women's Grand Slam qualifier or main-draw match in history.

She would go on to lose her first-round match to Arantxa Parra Santonja.

She also qualified for Wimbledon, and won her first Grand Slam main-draw singles match in two sets, over Mariana Duque Mariño.

She fell to Li Na in the second round.

In the second round, she defeated defending champion and fifth seed, Erika Takao, in straight sets, in the third round, she toppled 11th seed Tomoko Yonemura in three sets, and in the quarterfinals, she lost to Junri Namigata.

Nara teamed again with Misaki Doi in doubles, reaching the second round in her tournament doubles debut.

The next year, she partnered with Kimiko Date-Krumm to win the Kangaroo Cup in Gifu, and the title at the Hamanako Open.

Nara failed to gain entrance to the four Grand Slam tournaments in 2011, falling in the qualifiers each time.

July marked Nara's first appearance representing Japan in Fed Cup competition; she notched a win in doubles with partner Rika Fujiwara in the playoffs against Argentina.

Although she was again unable to pass the qualifying rounds of the year's Grand Slam events, Nara bested Polona Hercog and Eleni Daniilidou to qualify for the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo in 2012.

She was defeated in the first round by Urszula Radwańska.

Nara won three qualifying matches to enter the main draw of the 2013 US Open, winning her first-round match against Alexandra Cadanțu.

On 18 August 2014, she achieved her career-high singles ranking of world No. 32.

On 2 May 2016, she peaked at No. 109 in the WTA doubles rankings.

Playing for Japan Fed Cup team, Nara has a win–loss record of 12–8.

Nara began playing tennis at the age of three.

At the Esaka Tennis Center in Osaka, the budding pro player studied tennis under the tutelage of Japanese tennis luminaries Masaru Suishu and Hiroko Mochizuki.

She won recognition from an early age as a tennis prodigy.

She advanced to the third round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time, with a straight-set upset victory over 19th-seeded Sorana Cîrstea.

She lost to Jelena Janković in the third round.

After four early exits in Tashkent, Guangzhou, Tokyo and Beijing, Nara regained some form in her home city at the Japan Women's Open.

She would make it to the semifinals of the tournament but was ousted by Eugenie Bouchard, losing in straight sets.

Nara started season in New Zealand at the Auckland Open.