It’s not the most expected pair but the one who will fight against the odds at the 2016 Summer Olympics on the hard courts of the Olympic Tennis Center in Rio de Janeiro.
Misaki Doi, Japanese number one in singles (currently at her best ranking of 36), and Eri Hozumi, ranked 58 in doubles - number one in Japan - received one of the ITF places for the tournament and will pair up for the second time, looking for a great result in the Olympic doubles competition.
Doi and Hozumi had previously played together only once, on the indoor hard-court of the Katowice Open, back in 2014, losing in the first round.
It will be the only doubles team to compete for Japan; on the men’s side, Japan will count on Kei Nishikori for the singles tournament, but won’t have anyone for the doubles competition. Misaki Doi, along with Nao Hibino, will also compete in the singles tournament.
Misaki Doi looking for improvement in her doubles’ record
Misaki Doi has been performing a remarkable run in singles recently, starting with maiden WTA her title at Luxemborug Open at the end of 2015 season, and followed by good results as the 2016 started, such as a final in Kaoshiung and a win at WTA 125K tournament in San Antonio, a quarterfinal appearance in Rome and a run to the fourth round in Wimbledon. She has also achieved important wins against players like Karolina Pliskova, Carla Suárez Navarro and Lucie Safarova.
Her season hasn’t been as brilliant in doubles. She partnered fellow singles Olympic representative Nao Hibino during the Australian swing, reaching the quarterfinals in Hobart but losing in the first round of the Australian Open.
At the French Open, she reached the second round, partnering Naomi Osaka, and achieved the same result in Wimbledon, this time with Elina Svitolina.
Partnering Svitolina, Doi has won her only WTA doubles title of her career, at 2014 Istanbul Cup, and she won in Japan 3 of her 4 ITF doubles titles, her latest one at Toyota 75K in 2013, when she and Shuko Aoyama defeated Doi’s Rio doubles partner Eri Hozumi and Makato Ninomiya in the super-tie-break.
Doi, focusing on her singles career, doesn’t currently have a regular doubles partner; she has paired up with a lot of players during her career - especially fellow Japanese ones - but without building a regular and consistent partnership with anyone.
Eri Hozumi in search of a capstone of a good doubles season
22-year-old Eri Hozumi has reached her career-high ranking in doubles in July, rising to the 57th position in the world, after starting the year as number 83.
She achieved good results on the WTA tour, but in all, she has already won 14 ITF titles in career, all of them partnering fellow Japanese players. She had been partnering Miyu Kato for the majority of her 2016 season, and the pair together achieved good results since they started a regular partnership at the beginning of the year.
Hozumi started her season with a final in Kaoshiung, in which she and Kato defeated the second and third seed of the tournament, but eventually fell to first-seeded pair Chan Hao-Ching and Chang Yung-Jan in the final. They then reached the final of an ITF event in Canberra before winning their first WTA title together in Katowice.
After another ITF title in Gifu, Japan, always with Kato, she partnered Nao Hibino at the French Open; the pair reach the second round, but couldn’t steal more than two games to top seeds Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza in the second. For Hozumi this had been a main draw debut in a major tournament.
Hozumi resumed her partnership with Kato right after, heading to the grass season and reaching the second round at Wimbledon; once again, Hingis and Mirza blocked Hozumi’s path, this time with a 6-3, 6-1 win.
