Ayumi Morita

2.1. Debut and Early Milestones

Morita turned professional in 2005. In 2007, she was selected to represent Japan in the Fed Cup for the first time. In June of that year, she successfully navigated the qualifying rounds of Wimbledon to make her first main draw appearance at a Grand Slam tournament, where she lost in the first round to Mara Santangelo.

In 2008, Morita made her first direct entry into the main draw of the French Open, though she was defeated in the first round by the 12th seed, Ágnes Szávay. She also participated in the Beijing Olympics, reaching the second round in both singles (losing to Li Na) and doubles, where she partnered with Ai Sugiyama and faced the formidable Venus Williams and Serena Williams in the second round. On September 16, 2008, at the Toray Pan Pacific Open, she scored a significant upset victory over world No. 19 Ágnes Szávay in three sets. In October 2008, she reached the doubles final at the Japan Open Tennis Championships with partner Aiko Nakamura. In January 2009, Morita upset former Wimbledon quarterfinalist Michaëlla Krajicek in the final round of qualifying to reach the main draw of the WTA Auckland Open. Notably, she overcame a third-set deficit in all three of her qualifying matches, including a 4-1 deficit against Katie O'Brien in her first match. Despite direct entries into all four Grand Slam main draws in 2009, she lost in the first round of each.

2.2. Major Achievements and Peak Performance

Morita achieved her first Grand Slam main draw victory at the 2010 Wimbledon Championships, defeating Tamarine Tanasugarn 7-5, 6-1 in singles. In doubles, partnering with Chang Kai-chen, she also secured a win against the team of Kimiko Date-Krumm and Tanasugarn. In October 2010, she won the Japan Women's Open (an ITF Circuit event), defeating Jill Craybas in the final. This was not her first WTA Tour title, as the Japan Open had been downgraded to an ITF Circuit event from 2009.

At the 2011 Australian Open, Morita earned her first Australian Open main draw victory by defeating the 27th seed Alexandra Dulgheru 6-4, 6-4 in the first round. She then beat wildcard Caroline Garcia in straight sets to advance to the third round, where she was eventually defeated by Peng Shuai. In February 2011, at the Dubai Tennis Championships, Morita qualified for the main draw and went on to upset the 14th seed Petra Kvitová (who had only lost once in 2011 and won two titles) in the first round with two tiebreaks. She further advanced by defeating wildcard Sania Mirza in the second round before losing to Caroline Wozniacki in the third. On October 3, 2011, she reached her career-high singles ranking of world No. 40. In October 2011, Morita won the ITF $100,000 Taipei Open title, defeating her compatriot Kimiko Date-Krumm in the final. She also reached the third round of the doubles at the 2012 Australian Open.

In 2013, Morita continued her strong performances. At the 2013 Australian Open, she reached the third round for the second time, with straight-set victories over Anna Tatishvili and Annika Beck, before being defeated by the third seed, Serena Williams.

In Thailand, at the 2013 PTT Pattaya Open, she caused an upset by defeating top seed Ana Ivanovic in the first round and then beat Kimiko Date-Krumm to reach the quarterfinals, where she lost to Nina Bratchikova. During the 2013 Fed Cup World Group tie against Russia, Morita won both of her singles rubbers against Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina, although Japan ultimately lost the tie 3-2. She also reached the semifinals of the 2013 Malaysian Open, losing to eventual champion Karolína Plíšková. At the 2013 Miami Open, she advanced to the third round by defeating Heather Watson and the 31st seed Yanina Wickmayer, before being stopped by top seed and eventual champion Serena Williams. In the 2013 Monterrey Open, Morita reached the quarterfinals, where she was defeated by top seed Angelique Kerber.

2.3. Injuries and Later Career

Morita's career from 2013 onwards was significantly impacted by a series of injuries. In May 2013, she retired from her second-round qualifying match at the 2013 Mutua Madrid Open due to a left abductor strain. She returned for the 2013 Italian Open, reaching the third round with wins over Sorana Cîrstea and Urszula Radwańska, but was forced to retire again from her third-round match against third seed Victoria Azarenka due to injury. A low back injury led her to withdraw from her first-round match at the 2013 New Haven Open at Yale in August 2013 and subsequently forced her to withdraw from the US Open.

In November 2013, Morita reached the final of the Nanjing Ladies Open but retired during the match against third seed Zhang Shuai due to a left hamstring injury. From around 2014, Morita was frequently plagued by injuries, leading to a recurring cycle of returning to the tour only to be sidelined again.

In July 2015, she underwent surgery on her right wrist. Her affiliation changed from Canon to Ando Securities in 2017.

5.1. Grand Slam Performance Timelines

Ayumi Morita's performance in singles and doubles at the four Grand Slam tournaments is detailed below.

5.2. WTA Tour and Challenger Finals

Morita reached two doubles finals on the WTA Tour and one singles final at the WTA Challenger level.

5.3. ITF Circuit Finals

Morita competed in numerous ITF Circuit finals, achieving significant success in both singles and doubles.