Shuko Aoyama

Shuko Aoyama (青山 修子) is a Japanese professional tennis player who specializes in doubles.

Aoyama turned professional after graduating from Waseda University.

Aoyama made her ITF Women's Circuit debut in the doubles event at Gifu in 2007.

In March 2009, she won her first ITF title at the $10k Kōfu doubles event.

In June 2010, she won her first singles ITF title at the $10k Tokyo event.

In October 2010 at the Japan Women's Open, she made her debut at a WTA Tour main-draw event.

She failed to qualify in singles and had more success in doubles, reaching her first WTA final.

In late November 2010, she won the $75k Toyota doubles event.

In June 2011, she made her WTA Tour singles debut at the Birmingham Classic as a qualifier.

At the 2011 Wimbledon, she made her Grand Slam debut in doubles.

At the 2012 Washington Open, she won her first WTA title in doubles.

In September 2012 she won the $100k Ningbo Challenger.

During the 2012 season, she also won two $50k events, the Lexington Challenger and the Bronx Open.

As time passed, Aoyama became mainly a doubles player, playing in doubles events preferentially to singles.

She made a strong start into the 2013 season reaching the semifinal in the first week of January at the Shenzhen Open.

Soon after, she won her first Grand Slam match at the Australian Open, but then lost in the second round playing with Irina Falconi.

In March, she won the Malaysian Open with Chang Kai-chen.

She also had a strong start into the grass-court season, reaching the semifinals at the Rosmalen Championships.

She achieved more success at Wimbledon, when she and Chanelle Scheepers reached semifinals.

This was her first significant Grand Slam result.

In the semifinal match, they lost to Hsieh Su-wei and Peng Shuai.

In September, she won the Washington Open for the second year in a row.

At the end of the year, she reached semifinals of the Korea Open and won the Toyota World Challenge.

During the next three seasons she did not have as good performances as in the 2013 season.

In 2014, in singles, her only significant result came at the end of the year, when she reached the final of the Toyota World Challenge but lost to An-Sophie Mestach.

In doubles, she won the Washington Open for the third year in a row, and later in October, she won the Japan Women's Open.

During the year, she also had success on the ITF Women's Circuit.

In May, she won the $50k Fukuoka International with Eri Hozumi, and later finished as runner-up at both the $50k Lexington Challenger and the $75k Toyota World Challenge.

She reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 182, on 9 February 2015, and a doubles ranking of world No. 4, on 28 February 2022.

She plays predominantly in doubles and has won 19 titles on the WTA Tour, having had her most successful Grand Slam appearances at the 2023 Australian Open final and at Wimbledon, reaching the semifinals at the 2013 and 2021 tournaments.

She has also won four singles and 30 doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit.

Aoyama started playing tennis at age 9.

Her favorite surface is grass.

She studied at Waseda University in Japan.

In the first week of the 2015 season, she reached the final at the Auckland Open with Renata Voráčová, they lost to Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci.

A month later, she reached the final of the Thailand Open with Tamarine Tanasugarn.

She then did not have significant results until September, before she reached semifinals at the Korea Open, and later winning two $100k events, in Nanjing and Tokyo.

During 2016, she won one WTA doubles title at the Japan Women's Open, and finished runner-up at the Nuremberg Cup, Washington Open and Jiangxi International Open.

She also won three $50k events, in Quanzhou, Shenzhen and Wuhan.

She reached the 2020 French Open quarterfinals, partnering compatriot Ena Shibahara.