Kimiko Date Krumm life and biography

Kimiko Date Krumm is a Japanese professional tennis player. In her career, she won over 200 tournament matches, including the Japan Open four times.

CAREER:

2010:
Date-Krumm started 2010 with participation at the 2010 ASB Classic, in Auckland where she received a wildcard to enter the maindraw. She beat former world number five Anna Chakvetadze in the first round by 6–1, 6–2, and then recovered from a set down to beat 5th seed Virginie Razzano 3–6 6–3 6–2 for her first win over a top twenty opponent since her comeback. In the quarter finals Date-Krumm was beaten 6–2, 6–2 by the 3rd seed and eventual champion Yanina Wickmayer. Date-Krumm then qualified for 2010 Medibank International Sydney, a premier tournament. In the opening round she defeated Nadia Petrova 6–3, 5–7, 6–4 for her second top twenty victory of 2010. In the second round Date-Krumm came close to claiming her first top ten win since 1996 when she pushed world number seven Victoria Azarenka 1–6, 7–5, 5–7 having at one stage trailed 1–6, 2–4. Date Krumm competed at the Australian Open in Melbourne, the first time since her comeback that she has had direct acceptance into a Grand Slam main draw. In the first round she fell to Yaroslava Shvedova in straight sets.

In February, Date-Krumm played for Japan's Fed Cup Team for the first time since 1996. By winning all of her four matches, she was instrumental in securing her team's advance to the World Group II play-offs. At the PTT Pattaya Open in Pattaya City, Thailand, Date-Krumm was seeded 7th but fell to Anastasia Rodionova in the first round.

Date-Krumm defeated Melinda Czink in the first round of the 2010 BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells before falling to No. 15 seed Francesca Schiavone 6–3, 6–4 in the second. Kimiko also made it to the second round of the 2010 Sony Ericsson Open in Miami by defeating former top 10 player Anna Chakvetadze 7–5, 3–6, 6–4. Kimiko then lost to No. 16 seed Nadia Petrova 6–3, 7–6(7).

Date-Krumm began her clay court season at the 2010 Estoril Open in Portugal. In the first round, Kimiko outlasted 19 year-old Petra Martić, defeating her in 3 hours and 12 minutes 6–7(4), 7–5, 7–6(2). She played Anastasija Sevastova (who ousted top seed Ágnes Szávay in the first round) in the second round, but retired due to a recurring calf injury.

At the second Grand Slam tournament of the year, the 2010 French Open, Date-Krumm defeated No.9 seed and former world number 1, 2009 runner-up Dinara Safina in the first round 3–6, 6–4, 7–5, despite being 2–4 down in the second set and two breaks down at 1–4 in the third, plus having an apparent calf injury. This was her first win in a grandslam's main draw since 1997 and at 39y/7m/26d, she became the oldest player ever to beat a Top 10 player (previous-oldest was Billie Jean King at 39y/6m/29d). She was defeated by wildcard Jarmila Groth 6–0, 6–3 in the second round. In Stanford, she again defeated Dinara Safina, 4–6, 7–6(0), 6–2 in the first round, after trailing by a set and 2–0. Following the conclusion of the US Open Series, Date-Krumm, ranked number 50, became the oldest top-50 player since Billie Jean King in 1984.

At the US Open, she received direct entry into the main draw but lost to two-time Grand Slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in the first round 2–6, 6–4, 1–6. She then traveled to Seoul to defend her title at the 2010 Hansol Korea Open but lost in the quarterfinals to Ágnes Szávay. One week later, she accepted wild card entry at the 2010 Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo. She beat the defending champion and former world no.1, Maria Sharapova, in the first round 7–5, 3–6, 6–3. She then faced Daniela Hantuchová in the second round and won 2–6, 6–0, 4–0 after Hantuchová retired. This was on her 40th birthday. She then lost to French Open champion Francesca Schiavone in the third round 6–3, 6–3. Later on that same week, she went to China to participate at the China Open. She beat Anabel Medina Garrigues 6–0, 6–4 in the first round, but lost to Elena Dementieva 6–3 1–6 6–3 in the second round. Kimiko then returned home to compete at the 2010 HP Open in Osaka, Japan. Seeded 6th she defeated teenage qualifier Laura Robson in the first round 6–3, 6–3 and compatriot Aiko Nakamura 6–2, 6–0. In the quarterfinals she upset top seed and World No.8 Samantha Stosur 5–7, 6–3, 7–6(4) (becoming the first 40-something player to win a match against a Top 10 player) to book a semifinal encounter with 3rd seed Shahar Pe'er. She beat Shahar Pe'er 3–6 7–6(5) 7–5, but lost the final match to unseeded Tamarine Tanasugarn 7–5 6–7(4) 6–1. With that reaching of the final in Osaka, she once again entered the Top 50 WTA Rankings at #48. Also, this final in Osaka had the oldest combined age of WTA tournament finalists at 73 (Date Krumm 40, Tanasugarn 33).

Date-Krumm then received a wild card to enter the 2010 Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions in Bali, Indonesia for the second time in a row. Despite at one point having her serve broken seven consecutive times, she defeated first seeded, Li Na in the quarterfinals by 6–4, 3–6, 6–4 after being down 1–3 in the third set. She lost to Ana Ivanović in the semifinals 7–5, 6–7(5), 6–2, but won the third place match against Daniela Hantuchová by the scoreline of 7–5, 7–5. With that performance in Bali, she is once again in the Top 50 of the WTA rankings, moving up to #46, but falling back to finish the year at #51.

Date-Krumm last activity of 2010 was participation in the 2010 Asian Games, where she won a bronze medal in singles and with Japan in the team competition.

2011:
Date-Krumm's first two tournaments of 2011 were in the 2011 ASB Classic and 2011 Moorilla Hobart International. She would go on to lose in both first rounds' to Kateryna Bondarenko 6–4, 6–3 then Angelique Kerber 7–5, 7–6(3) the following week. Kimiko's next tournament was the 2011 Australian Open where she lost a close encounter 4–6, 6–4, 5–7 to 12th seed Agnieszka Radwańska in the first round . Date-Krumm had lead 4–1 in the final set when her opponent called a medical time out . On resumption she suffered from cramps and found it hard to move losing six of the final seven games once the rhythm of the match had been interrupted as she stated in her post match interview . Date-Krumm earned her first victory of the 2011 season at the 2011 PTT Pattaya Open, defeating Renata Voráčová 6-2, 6-2. At the 2011 BNP Paribas Open Kimiko gained direct entry into the trounament. In the first round she defeated Yaroslava Shvedova, in straight sets, but lost to Ana Ivanovic in the second round.

Singles Titles

2009: Seoul
1996: Tokyo, San Diego
1995: Tokyo
1994: Sydney, Tokyo
1993: Tokyo
1992: Tokyo

Doubles Titles

1996: Tokyo

PERSONAL:

Lives in Tokyo with husband, German race car driver Michael Krumm
Father is Juichi (passed away in 2007); mother is Masako; siblings are Ryusuke, Junko
Started playing at age 6 after being introduced by her parents
Was tennis champion at Sonoda High School (graduated in 1989)
Left-handed; encouraged to play right-handed to follow Japanese custom.

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