1988 - Played first events of career on ITF Circuit in Japan, winning two singles titles and two doubles titles; first appeared on rankings on November 21 (No.321).
1989 - Played first five Tour main draws, reaching two QF and making Grand Slam debuts at
Roland Garros (as LL),
Wimbledon (as qualifier) and
US Open; won three singles titles and two doubles titles on ITF Circuit.
1990 - First season played exclusively on Tour; reached two more QF and first Grand Slam 4r in
Australian Open debut (l. to Sukova); made Top 100 debut on January 8 (rose from No.119 to No.90).
1991 - Reached first Tour singles final at Los Angeles, finishing runner-up (as qualifier, l. to Seles); made Top 50 debut on August 12 (rose from No.112 to No.32 after Los Angeles).
1992 - Won first Tour singles title at Tokyo [Japan Open] (d. Appelmans in final); SF twice, at Tokyo [Pan Pacific] (l. to Sabatini) and Osaka (l. to Sukova); QF once; made Top 20 debut on April 13 (rose from No.25 to No.17).
1993 - Won second Tour singles title at Tokyo [Japan Open] (d. Rottier in final); runner-up twice, at Osaka (l. to Novotna) and Tokyo [Nichirei] (l. to Coetzer); SF at Miami (l. to Sánchez-Vicario); reached first Grand Slam QF at
US Open (l. to Maleeva-Fragnière).
1994 - Won third and fourth Tour singles titles at Sydney (d. Fernandez in final) and Tokyo [Japan Open] (d. Frazier in final); SF four times, incl. first Grand Slam SF at
Australian Open (l. to Graf), Strasbourg (l. to Fernandez), Montréal (l. to Sánchez-Vicario) and Tour Championships (l. to Sabatini); QF twice, incl.
US Open (l. to Sánchez-Vicario); made Top 10 debut on January 17 (rose from No.13 to No.9 after Sydney), becoming first Japanese ever to crack Top 10, now one of two (Sugiyama).
1995 - Won fifth Tour singles title at Tokyo [Pan Pacific] (d. Davenport in final); runner-up three times, at Miami (l. to Graf), Tokyo [Japan Open] (l. to Frazier) and Strasbourg (l. to Davenport); SF twice, at Sydney (ret. vs. Davenport) and second Grand Slam SF at
Roland Garros (l. to Sánchez-Vicario); QF four times, incl.
Wimbledon (l. to Novotna) and Tour Championships (l. to Huber).
1996 - Won seventh and eighth Tour singles titles at Tokyo [Japan Open] (d. Frazier in final) and San Diego (d. Sánchez-Vicario in final); SF four times, at Sydney (l. to Davenport), Indian Wells (l. to Martínez),
Wimbledon (l. to Graf) and Tokyo [Nichirei] (l. to Seles); QF four times, incl. Olympics (l. to Sánchez-Vicario) and Tour Championships (l. to Hingis in last match before retirement); announced on September 24 that she would retire at end of season; when taken off rankings on December 23, 1996, was ranked No.8, having spent 149 non-consecutive weeks in Top 10 (all in 153-week span between January 17, 1994 and December 23, 1996).
1997-2007 - Only appearance came in doubles at Tokyo [Princess Cup] in September 2002 (as WC w/Saeki, ret. vs. top seeds Black/Likhovtseva in 1r w/left Achilles tendon injury).
2008 - Came out of retirement in May (had announced return to competition on April 6); initially played on ITF Circuit (would win three singles titles and two doubles titles during season); played two Tour events in fall, falling in qualifying at Tokyo [Pan Pacific] (as WC) and in 1r at Tokyo [Japan Open] (as WC).
2009 - Sensational comeback season for Tour veteran, highlighted by winning eighth Tour singles title (and first in over 12 years) at Seoul (d. No.5 seed Kleybanova and top seed Hantuchova en route to final, then d. No.2 seed Medina Garrigues for title; at 38y/11m/30d, was second-oldest player in Open Era to win a Tour singles title after
Billie Jean King, who won 1983 Birmingham at 39y/7m/23d); also longest gap ever between Tour singles titles (13y/1m between 1996 San Diego and 2009 Seoul); returned to Top 100 afterwards on September 28 (rose from No.155 to No.100; first time in Top 100 since retiring in 1996); also reached SF at Bali (qualified for SF w/1-1 RR record; l. to top seed Bartoli in SF); peaked at No.82 afterwards on November 9 year-end rankings; fell 1r in nine other Tour main draws, incl.
Australian Open (as qualifier, l. to No.25 seed Kanepi 86 third set; was first Grand Slam event since 1996
US Open),
Wimbledon (as WC, l. to No.9 seed Wozniacki in 3s) and Tokyo [Pan Pacific] (as WC, l. to Wozniak 57 76(2) 64; led 75 52); fell in Tour qualifying twice (
Roland Garros,
US Open); won two singles titles on ITF Circuit.
