Japan's Ai Sugiyama improved her singles world rankings by one place to find herself in a career-high ninth according to the latest WTA release, tennis officials said Monday.
Sugiyama, who last season became the second Japanese player after Kimiko Date in 1996 to make the top 10 in the season's final rankings, took over ninth spot from American Rubin Chanda, while Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium remained the world No. 1.
As for other Japanese players, Shinobu Asagoe was 49th, Saori Obata 53rd and Akiko Morigami 62nd.