Nao Hibino

Hibino at the 2019 French Open
Country (sports)	Japan
Residence	Ichinomiya, Aichi, Japan
Born	(1994-11-28) November 28, 1994 (age 26) Ichinomiya, Aichi, Japan
Height	1.63 m (5 ft 4 in)
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Coach	Eiji Takeuchi
Prize money	US$ 1,895,335
Singles
Career record	270-203 (57.1%)
Career titles	2
Highest ranking	No. 56 (18 January 2016)
Current ranking	No. 82 (26 April 2021)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	2R (2020, 2021)
French Open	2R (2020, 2021)
Wimbledon	2R (2021)
US Open	2R (2017)
Other tournaments
Olympic Games	1R (2021)
Doubles
Career record	151-136 (52.6%)
Career titles	2
Highest ranking	No. 43 (31 July 2017)
Current ranking	No. 68 (26 April 2021)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	3R (2019)
French Open	3R (2017)
Wimbledon	2R (2021)
US Open	3R (2016, 2018)
Last updated on: 3 May 2021.

Nao Hibino ( , Hibino Nao, born 28 November 1994) is a professional tennis player from Japan. She has been ranked as high as singles No. 56 and doubles No. 43 in the world by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA). Hibino has won two singles and two doubles titles on the WTA Tour and eight singles and eight doubles on the International Tennis Federation Women's Circuit (ITF).

Personal life and background

Hibino was born on November 28, 1994, in Ichinomiya, Japan. She came from a family of tennis lovers. She is named after former top-20 player Naoko Sawamatsu, while her brother is named after Shuzo Matsuoka.^[1] She also has one older sister. At the age of 10, her mother introduced her and her older brother to tennis to shift their attention from playing video games to sports.^[2]

In 2015, she moved to Kobe, Japan for training. She enjoys spending time with her family because she does not usually live with them. When she returns home, she often goes shopping with her sister and takes their dogs for a walk. She also likes reading and often reads when she has time. Travelling has given Hibino the chance to eat local foods and visit famous places. Since a young age, she has dreamt of playing on the Centre Court of Wimbledon.^[2]

Junior career

Hibino reached a career-high ranking of No. 54 as a junior.^[3] She began playing on the ITF Junior Circuit, which is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF), in January 2009 at the age of 14.^[4] The following March, she made her debut at the Grade-1 Dunlop Japan Open in Nagoya, reaching the second round in both singles and doubles events.^[4][5] Three weeks later, she won her first singles junior title at the Grade 4 Gallipoli Youth Tennis Cup in Queensland after defeating Ashleigh Barty in the final.^[6] There she also won her first doubles title.^[7] In October, she played her strongest tournament to date, Grade-A Osaka Mayor's Cup, where she was advanced to the second round.^[4] Things got better in doubles, reaching the quarter-final alongside Mana Ayukawa.^[5]

After starting the 2011 season with an early loss at the Grade-1 Loy Yang Traralgon International in Traralgon, she made her Grand Slam debut at the Australian Open. In singles, she reached the second round, while in doubles she failed in the first round alongside Emily Fanning.^[4][5] At her next tournament, the Grade-1 Chang LTAT ITF Junior Championships in Nonthaburi, Hibino reached her most significant result to date in singles, getting to the semi-finals.^[4] Two weeks later, she had her biggest result as well in doubles, winning her first Grade-1 title at the Mitsubishi-Lancer International Championships in Manila.^[5] In her two following tournaments, she won two Grade-4 events in Australia in both singles and doubles, including the one in Queensland where she defended her titles.^[6][7] Her singles performances then started to weaken, falling in the early rounds at tournaments such as French Open, Wimbledon, Canadian Open, US Open, Osaka Mayor's Cup, or Dunlop Japan Open.^[4] However, doubles were an exceptions as she reached the semi-finals of the Canadian Open and Osaka Mayor's Cup.^[5] She closed out the season with singles quarter-finals and title at the Grade-B1 Seogwipo Asian/Oceania Closed International Championships in Jeju-Do.^[4][7]

The 2012 season was the final junior season for Hibino. She played once again at the Australian Open but again passed with no success with only the second round in singles and first round in doubles. Her last tournament was Grade-1 Mitsubishi-Lancer International Juniors Championships in Manila, where she reached the semi-final in singles and quarter-final in doubles.^[4][5] As a junior, she has won four singles and five doubles titles in total at the ITF Junior Circuit.^[6][7]

Professional career

2012-14: Successful start at the ITF Circuit, WTA Tour debut

Hibino began playing on the ITF Women's Circuit in May 2012 at the age of 17.^[8] She played in the qualification of the $25K Karuizawa in the singles event but failed to reach main-draw.^[9] Nonetheless, she made her debut in the doubles event.^[10] A month later, she was handed a wildcard for the singles main draw of the $10K tournament in Tokyo.^[9] It turned out to be the right decision as she won the title in her debut appearance. The following week, she continued with success, winning another $10K title, this time in Mie.^[11] This performance led her on WTA Rankings for the first time, getting to place No. 974 in singles.^[12] In September of the same year, she won her first ITF doubles title at the $10K event in Kyoto along with the title in singles as well.^[13][11] A week later, she debuted in the doubles rankings as well, getting to the place of 1066.^[12]

After not having such impressive results during the first four months, she reached her first bigger ITF final at the $50K Kangaroo Cup in Gifu, in the doubles event.^[10] After three weeks, she won her first doubles title of the season at the $25K event in Goyang.^[13] Things got better in singles during the second half of the year. In early September, she won the $25K tournament in Tsukuba after defeating fellow Japanese Erika Sema.^[11] Then, in late September, she got her first attempt at playing at the WTA Tour, after getting a wildcard for the qualifications of the WTA 1000 Pan Pacific Open. She faced 14th seed Ashleigh Barty but lost in straight sets. Nearly after that, she got another chance for her WTA Tour debut at the Japan Women's Open in Tokyo. She passed the first round of qualifications, after beating her compatriot Miki Miyamura but then was stopped by Zarina Diyas.^[14] During the year, Hibino improved her ranking. In singles, she rose from world No. 576 in the opening week to No. 291 as her year-end ranking. In doubles, she advanced from No. 1069 to No. 327.^[12]

During the season of 2014, Hibino was advanced to the couple of quarter-finals and semi-finals on the ITF Circuit and reached one final in both singles and doubles, at the $25K Fergana. In both events, she failed to win the trophy.^[9][10] However, she made some progress, making her WTA Tour main-draw debut at the Japan Women's Open in the doubles event where she partnered with Riko Sawayanagi.^[14] That year, she had her first chance for her Grand Slam main-draw debut but lost in the qualifications at the US Open.^[14] She made mild progress in the singles ranking, getting to the place of 204 in July, as her highest singles ranking until then.^[12]

2015: Breakthrough and first WTA title, top 100

Hibino in the qualifications of the 2015 Wimbledon Championships for the first time

Despite making progress in the previous seasons, Hibino was still forced to play mainly at the ITF tournaments. However, she continued doing well there. Her first title of the year happened in early April at the $15K Bangkok in doubles.^[13] Then, the following week, she was advanced to the final of the $25K Ahmedabad, also in doubles.^[10] A month later, at the $50K Fukuoka, she reached her first singles final after almost a year.^[9] She failed to Kristýna Plí?ková in order to get the title but then the following week, she won the $50K Kurume, after beating Eri Hozumi.^[11] She then lost in Wimbledon qualifications,^[14] followed up with another ITF singles title at the $50K Stockton.^[15] In late July, she won both singles and doubles titles at the $50K Lexington.^[11][13]

Hibino then was really close to making her Grand Slam main-draw debut, reaching the final stage of qualifications of the US Open but did not manage to qualify after losing to Kateryna Bondarenko, where she won only two games. Two weeks later, she made her singles WTA Tour debut, playing at the Japan Women's Open. She entered the main draw as a wildcard player and also won her first WTA match, after defeating her compatriot Hiroko Kuwata. This helped her to enter qualification of the Premier-level Pan Pacific Open but she was stopped again by Bondarenko in the final stage of qualification.^[14] Nonetheless, the following week she made big progress, winning her first WTA singles title at the Tashkent Open. In the final, she defeated Donna Veki?.^[16] The victory helped her debuting inside the top 100 of the WTA singles rankings, rising up to the place of 76.^[17] By the end of the year, she was advanced to the semi-final of the WTA 125K Hua Hin,^[14] followed up with the final of the $100K Tokyo^[9] that made her move to the place of 66 in the singles ranking.^[12]

2016-17: Continue with progress, first WTA doubles title

Hibino at the 2017 Wimbledon Championships

Having made it to the top-100 and relatively few WTA main draws in previous years, Hibino mostly played tour-level events in 2016. She entered the year with the quarter-final of the Auckland Open,^[14] after defeating two top 100 players but then lost to top-50 player Julia Görges.^[18] Next week, she was advanced to the second round of the Hobart International.^[14] Right after that, she reached her highest-singles ranking in the first week following the Australian Open.^[12] With her improvement with ranking in previous years, she was not forced to play Grand Slam qualification, so she made her singles main-draw Grand Slam debut the Australian Open. There she faced former world No. 1, Maria Sharapova, in the first round and failed to reach the following one.^[19] Her improvement journey continued with her WTA 1000 debut at the Qatar Total Open, where she cruised Yaroslava Shvedova before losing to world No. 5 Garbiñe Muguruza.^[20] She then suffered first-round losses of the WTA 1000 Indian Wells and Miami Open.^[14]

As a seed for the first time on some tour-level event, Hibino made it into the quarter-finals of the ?stanbul Cup.^[21] She then did not perform well at either the French Open or Wimbledon, losing in the first round. However, it was her first main draw appearance at both. In early August, she was advanced to another WTA quarter-final, this time at the Brasil Tennis Cup in Florianópolis but lost to Irina-Camelia Begu. She followed this performance by playing for Japan at the Summer Olympics in Rio, where she made her revenge on Begu but then lost to Muguruza. At the US Open, she made her debut to complete at least the first round at all four Grand Slams.^[14] She closed the season with the final of the Tashkent Open in singles^[22] and the title of the $100K Poitiers in doubles.^[14] This season was the first one for Hibino when she spent a whole year inside the top 100 in singles. In doubles, she debuted in the top 100 in September and spent the rest of the year inside there.^[12]

Hibino began the year of 2017 ranked No. 93 in the world.^[12] Despite being in the top 100, she was still forced playing in some qualifications. She had a disappointing start, being knocked out in either the first round of qualifications at the Australian Open or WTA 1000 Dubai. Indian Wells and Miami Open. Nonetheless, she rebounded at the following tournament, getting to the final of the Malaysian Open. After defeating Maryna Zanevska in the first round, she gets a walkover victory due to withdrew of Elina Svitolina. Then, the following victories over Lesley Kerkhove and Magda Linette sent her into the final.^[14] There she faced qualifier Ashleigh Barty but lost in straight sets.^[23] She rebounded at the Monterrey Open in April, winning her first doubles title. Alongside Alicja Rosolska, she defeated Dalila Jakupovi? and Nadiia Kichenok.^[24] Her crashing out in qualifications continued at the WTA 1000 Madrid and Rome. After first-round losses of the French Open and Wimbledon, she managed to win three matches in a row in singles since March of the same year. She has done it at the Jiangxi Open in Nanchang but lost to Peng Shuai in the final.^[14] At the US Open, she recorded her first singles Grand Slam win after defeating CiCi Bellis in the three-sets match in the first round.^[25] Later, at the Tashkent Open, she reached the final in doubles but failed to win the title.^[14] In May, she debuted in the top 50 in doubles and later rose to No. 43 in July that is so far her highest doubles ranking. She spends almost all year inside the top 100 in singles, being inside the top 110 for only four weeks.^[12]

2018-21: Inconsistence (Up and downs), first top 10 win

Hibino at the 2018 French Open

Despite good progress in previous years, Hibino starts to struggle with results. This was particularly reflected in results in singles. The poor results dragged on ranking as well, falling outside the top 100 in late February and not returning for the rest of the year. In doubles, she did not shine as well but reached the final of the Taiwan Open in February.^[14] However, she was forced to return to the ITF Circuit. There she started to produced solid results but her first final came in July at the $60K Honolulu in the singles event^[9] and later first doubles title of the year at the $100K Suzhou in October.^[13] In the midtime, she did not get further than the first round, or qualifications of Australian Open, French Open or US Open.^[14]

The following year, she continued to struggle with results for the next nine months. She was crushed out in the qualifications of all four Grand Slams and did not do well either on WTA 1000 tournaments such as Indian Wells, Miami Open, or Canadian Open.^[14] Despite not reaching any at least quarter-final on the tour-level events since the begging of the season, Hibino then made significant progress at the Japan Women's Open in Hiroshima. She won titles in both singles and doubles.^[26] To get the title in singles, she needed to defeat four out five better-ranked players than her, including two top 100: Zarina Diyas and seed No. 1 Hsieh Su-wei.^[27] Winning in straight sets over her compatriot Misaki Doi, Hibino won the title.^[26] That was the first all-Japanese WTA final in 22 years.^[28] In doubles, she partnered with Doi and they defeated Christina McHale and Valeria Savinykh in the final.^[26] That was the first time that she won both events on the same WTA events in the same year. With these results, she returned to the top 100. On her next three tournaments, she produced other great results in doubles. First, at the Premier-level Pan Pacific Open, she was advanced to the semi-final, followed up then with the final of the Tianjin Open, and a month later, she won the title at the $100K Shenzhen.^[14]

After losing in qualifications of the Auckland Open in the opening week, Hibino then reached the main draw of the Australian Open after three wins in qualifications. In the opening main-draw round, she cruised Peng Shuai in a three-set match. Victory over Shuai was her first Grand Slam win.^[14] This brought her back to the top-100.^[29] At her next tournament, she was advanced to the semi-final of the Hua Hin Championships after recording her first top-10 win over Svitolina.^[30] However, she could not build on this success in the following round, losing to qualifier Leonie Küng.^[31] After tennis resumed in August due to COVID-19, she suffered three consecutive losses at the Cincinnati Open, US Open, and Italian Open. However, she made it to the second semi-final of the year at the Internationaux de Strasbourg.^[14] On her road to the semi-final, she defeated three top-100 players, including two former Grand Slam champions: Sloane Stephens^[32] and Je?ena Ostapenko.^[33] She then lost to Elena Rybakina to reach the final.^[34] Hibino closed out the year with her first win at the French Open, a defeat over qualifier Marta Kostyuk in the first round.^[35] Ons Jabeur knocked her out in the following round.^[36]

National representation

Hibino has played at the Fed Cup for Japan since 2016. She has played in ten ties, compiling an overall record of 6-5, playing only in singles. Her debut was when Japan was in Zone Group I along with India, Thailand, and Uzbekistan. Against all three teams, Hibino played per one match but lost all of them. Her first match was against Nigina Abduraimova from Uzbekistan where she won the first set but was not able to finish the match in her favor. The following day, her team played against India. Given that her compatriot Eri Hozumi won the first match, her potential win could secure a win over India. However, Hibino lost to Ankita Raina. Since her team made lost to Uzbekistan and won over India, they faced Thailand to be promoted to the Play-offs. Hibino had a disappointing start to her match against Luksika Kumkhum, losing the first set 6-0 but then managing to make a turnover. For the place in World Group II Play-offs next year, Japan faced Chinese Taipei. Hibino won the first set against Hsieh Su-wei but then lost the next two sets.

After one year of absence, she participated again at the Fed Cup. In Zone Group I, Hibino won all of her three matches. She started with a set loss against Thailand's Kumkhum but then won the following two. The same scenario then happened in the next match against South Korea's Han Na-Lae. The third one was against Hsu Chieh-Yu from Chinese Taipei but this time she won in straight sets. Japan then played against Kazakhstan for their spot in the World Group II Play-offs. Even though they won, Hibino lost her match against Yulia Putintseva. The following year, Japan faced Spain in World Group II. Hibino played in the opening match against Sara Sorribes Tormo and won in straight sets. Following the win and loss for Japan, Hibino had her chance to secure her team spot in the World Group Play-Offs. However, she lost to Georgina García Pérez in three sets. Things got better in the play-offs against the Netherlands, when Hibino defeated Bibiane Schoofs, letting her win only three games. Hibino was set to play against Richèl Hogenkamp but since it was obvious that Japan won, the match was canceled.

Playing style

Hibino hitting the forehand.

Hibino prefers an aggressive style of play. After defeating Hsieh Su-wei in the quarter-final at the 2019 Japan Women's Open, she described the match as 70 percent defense and 30 percent offense but stated that she has to be more aggressive.^[27] After defeating compatriot Misaki Doi in the final of the same tournament, Doi stated: "She has strong backhand but she was also using her forehand to structure points well giving me very little chance to play my game."^[26] Hibino can also be effective at the net to fend off a powerful strike from the same player and secure a volley winner.^[37] One of the signatures of her style of play is the use of drop shots.^[38] She prefers hardcourts, but her favorite tournament is Wimbledon that is played on grass.^[2]

Coach

Since 2012 she has been coached by former male Japanese player Eiji Takeuchi.^[1][2]

Apparel and equipment

Hibino has been sponsored by Le coq sportif for clothing.^[39] She uses a Yonex VCore 100 racket.^[40]

Performance timelines

Only main-draw results in WTA Tour, Grand Slam tournaments, Fed Cup/Billie Jean King Cup, and Olympic Games are included in Win-Loss records.^[41]

Singles

Current after the 2021 US Open.

Doubles

Notes

WTA Tour finals

Singles: 5 (2 titles, 3 runner-ups)

Result	W-L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1-0	Oct 2015	Tashkent Open, Uzbekistan	International	Hard	Donna Veki?	6-2, 6-2
Loss	1-1	Oct 2016	Tashkent Open, Uzbekistan	International	Hard	Kristýna Plí?ková	3-6, 6-2, 3-6
Loss	1-2	Mar 2017	Malaysian Open	International	Hard	Ashleigh Barty	3-6, 2-6
Loss	1-3	Jul 2017	Jiangxi Open, China	International	Hard	Peng Shuai	3-6, 2-6
Win	2-3	Sep 2019	Japan Women's Open	International	Hard	Misaki Doi	6-3, 6-2

Doubles: 6 (2 titles, 4 runner-ups)

Result	W-L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1-0	Apr 2017	Monterrey Open, Mexico	International	Hard	Alicja Rosolska	Dalila Jakupovic Nadiia Kichenok	6-2, 7-6(4)
Loss	1-1	Sep 2017	Tashkent Open, Uzbekistan	International	Hard	Oksana Kalashnikova	Tímea Babos Andrea Hlavackova	5-7, 4-6
Loss	1-2	Feb 2018	Taiwan Open	International	Hard (i)	Oksana Kalashnikova	Duan Yingying Wang Yafan	6-7(4), 6-7(5)
Win	2-2	Sep 2019	Japan Women's Open	International	Hard	Misaki Doi	Christina McHale Valeria Savinykh	3-6, 6-4, [10-4]
Loss	2-3	Oct 2019	Tianjin Open, China	International	Hard	Miyu Kato	Shuko Aoyama Ena Shibahara	3-6, 5-7
Loss	2-4	Apr 2021	?stanbul Cup, Turkey	WTA 250	Clay	Makoto Ninomiya	Veronika Kudermetova Elise Mertens	1-6, 1-6

Note: Matches sourced per WTA^[14]

ITF Circuit finals

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

Result	W-L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1-0	Jun 2012	ITF Tokyo, Japan	10,000	Hard	Mari Tanaka	6-0, 6-2
Win	2-0	Jun 2012	ITF Mie, Japan	10,000	Grass	Yurina Koshino	6-2, 0-6, 6-3
Win	3-0	Sep 2012	ITF Kyoto, Japan	10,000	Carpet (i)	Yuuki Tanaka	6-4, 2-6, 6-2
Win	4-0	Sep 2013	ITF Tsukuba, Japan	25,000	Hard	Erika Sema	6-4, 7-6(2)
Loss	4-1	Jun 2014	ITF Fergana, Uzbekistan	25,000	Hard	Nigina Abduraimova	3-6, 4-6
Loss	4-2	May 2015	ITF Fukuoka, Japan	50,000	Grass	Kristýna Plí?ková	5-7, 4-6
Win	5-2	May 2015	ITF Kurume, Japan	50,000	Grass	Eri Hozumi	6-3, 6-1
Win	6-2	Jul 2015	ITF Stockton, United States	50,000	Hard	An-Sophie Mestach	6-1, 7-6(6)
Win	7-2	Aug 2015	ITF Lexington, United States	50,000	Hard	Samantha Crawford	6-2, 6-1
Loss	7-3	Nov 2015	ITF Tokyo, Japan	100,000	Hard	Zhang Shuai	4-6, 1-6
Loss	7-4	Oct 2017	ITF Liuzhou, China	60,000	Hard	Wang Yafan	6-3, 4-6, 3-3 ret.
Win	8-4	Jul 2018	ITF Honolulu, United States	60,000	Hard	Jessica Pegula	6-0, 6-2

Doubles: 13 (8 titles, 5 runner-ups)

Result	W-L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1-0	Sep 2012	ITF Kyoto, Japan	10,000	Carpet (i)	Emi Mutaguchi	Miyu Kato Misaki Mori	6-4, 6-3
Loss	1-1	May 2013	ITF Gifu, Japan	50,000	Hard	Riko Sawayanagi	Luksika Kumkhum Erika Sema	4-6, 3-6
Win	2-1	May 2013	ITF Goyang, South Korea	25,000	Hard	Akiko Omae	Yoo Mi Han Na-lae	6-4, 6-4
Loss	2-2	Jun 2014	ITF Fergana, Uzbekistan	25,000	Hard	Prarthana Thombare	Hiroko Kuwata Mari Tanaka	1-6, 4-6
Win	3-2	Apr 2015	ITF Bangkok, Thailand	15,000	Hard	Miyu Kato	Miyabi Inoue Akiko Omae	6-4, 6-2
Loss	3-3	Apr 2015	ITF Ahmedabad, India	25,000	Hard	Prarthana Thombare	Peangtarn Plipuech Nungnadda Wannasuk	3-6, 6-2, [10-12]
Loss	3-4	Jul 2015	ITF Sacramento, United States	50,000	Hard	Rosie Johanson	Ashley Weinhold Caitlin Whoriskey	4-6, 6-3, [12-14]
Win	4-4	Aug 2015	ITF Lexington, United States	50,000	Hard	Emily Webley-Smith	Nicha Lertpitaksinchai Peangtarn Plipuech	6-2, 6-2
Win	5-4	Oct 2016	ITF Poitiers, France	100,000	Hard (i)	Alicja Rosolska	Alexandra Cadan?u Nicola Geuer	6-0, 6-0
Loss	5-5	Mar 2018	ITF Zhuhai, China	60,000	Hard	Danka Kovini?	Anna Blinkova Lesley Kerkhove	5-7, 4-6
Win	6-5	Oct 2018	ITF Suzhou, China	100,000	Hard	Misaki Doi	Luksika Kumkhum Peangtarn Plipuech	6-2, 6-3
Win	7-5	Aug 2019	ITF Vancouver, Canada	100,000	Hard	Miyu Kato	Naomi Broady Erin Routliffe	6-2, 6-2
Win	8-5	Nov 2019	ITF Shenzhen, China	100,000	Hard	Makoto Ninomiya	Sofia Shapatava Emily Webley-Smith	6-4, 6-0

Note: Matches sourced per ITF^[8]

Wins over top 10 players

#	Player	Rank	Event	Surface	Rd	Score	NHR
2020
1.	Elina Svitolina	No. 4	Hua Hin Championships, Thailand	Hard	QF	6-4, 6-2	No. 84

References

External links

• Nao Hibino at the Women's Tennis Association
• Nao Hibino at the International Tennis Federation