Ayumi Morita

Ayumi Morita (森田 あゆみ) is a Japanese former professional tennis player.

At the Miami Open, she made it to the third round after defeating Heather Watson and 31st seed Yanina Wickmayer.

She lost her third-round match to top seed and eventual champion Serena Williams.

Seeded eighth at the Monterrey Open, Morita was defeated in her quarterfinal match by top seed and eventual finalist, Angelique Kerber.

Playing in the Fed Cup tie versus Spain, Morita lost both of her matches to Sílvia Soler Espinosa and Carla Suárez Navarro.

Spain won 4-0.

Morita began her clay-court season at the Portugal Open where she was defeated in her quarterfinal match by defending champion Kaia Kanepi.

On September 16, 2008, she beat world No. 19, Ágnes Szávay, in three sets in the Pan Pacific Open.

In January 2009, Morita upset former Wimbledon quarterfinalist Michaëlla Krajicek in the final round of qualifying to reach the main draw of the Auckland Open.

She faced third set deficits in all three of her qualifying matches, including a 4–1 deficit in her first match against Katie O'Brien.

Her first tournament of the season was the Auckland Open.

She faced Romanian teenager Simona Halep and lost in straight sets despite recovering from being two breaks down in the second set.

Her next tournament was the Hobart International.

She beat Akgul Amanmuradova.

Her next opponent was Bethanie Mattek-Sands, to whom she lost in two sets.

Ayumi played at the Australian Open where she defeated No. 27 seed Alexandra Dulgheru in two sets.

She defeated wildcard Caroline Garcia in the second round but lost to Peng Shuai in the third round.

At the Dubai Championships, Morita qualified by defeating Sophie Lefèvre and Vesna Manasieva.

In the first round of the main draw, she defeated No. 14 seed Petra Kvitová in two tiebreaks.

She reached her career-high ranking of No. 40 in the world in October 2011.

At junior level, she reached a combined career-high ranking of No. 3.

Morita is known for strong and consistent two-handed groundstrokes which she hits very flat.

She is also regarded as very tough mentally for a young player, often showing great resolve to win close matches despite a lackluster serve.

Morita is a small and quick player with excellent footwork and movement around the court.

Morita is one of the most successful Fed Cup players of recent times with a 23–14 match win record for Japan.

Before the match, Kvitová had only lost once in 2011 and had already won two titles.

Morita beat wildcard Sania Mirza in the second round before losing to Caroline Wozniacki in the third round.

Morita began her season at the first edition of the Shenzhen Open.

She lost in the second round to sixth seed Peng Shuai.

After qualifying for the Sydney International, Morita reached the second round where she was defeated by fourth seed Li Na.

Ranked 72 at the Australian Open, Morita reached the third round after straight-set victories over Anna Tatishvili and Annika Beck.

She lost in her third-round match to third seed Serena Williams.

In Thailand at the Pattaya Open, Morita upset top seed, Ana Ivanovic, in the first round.

She beat Kimiko Date-Krumm in the second to advance to the quarterfinals.

She was defeated in her quarterfinal match by Nina Bratchikova.

During the Fed Cup tie versus Russia, Morita won both of her rubbers over Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina.

Russia ended up winning 3-2.

Morita retired from her second round of qualifying match at the Dubai Championships to Jie Zheng.

Seeded fourth at the Malaysian Open, Morita lost in the semifinal round to eventual champion Karolína Plíšková.

In Indian Wells, Morita was defeated in the first round by qualifier Lesia Tsurenko.