Misaki Doi

Misaki Doi (土居 美咲, Doi Misaki; born 29 April 1991) is a Japanese former professional tennis player. Her highest WTA rankings are No. 30 in singles and No. 77 in doubles.

Doi reached two junior Grand Slam doubles finals – at Wimbledon in 2007 with Kurumi Nara, and at the Australian Open in 2008, with Elena Bogdan (losing both). She has made it to three WTA tournament finals (only winning one). She is managed by Muse Group, a sports marketing agency based in Tokyo.

Doi began playing tennis at the age of six. She first distinguished herself in tennis as a middle-school student, reaching the semifinals of the All Japan Middle School Tennis Championships in both 2004 and 2006 and joining the ITF Junior Circuit in 2006. In 2007, while enrolled as a freshman in Sundai Kōei High School, Doi earned second place in the Japan Open Junior Championships in Nagoya.

A highlight of Doi's junior career was her successful doubles partnership with age-mate Kurumi Nara. They placed second in girls' doubles at the 2007 Wimbledon Championships, becoming only the second Japanese pair to reach the finals of a Grand Slam juniors event since Yuka Yoshida and Hiroko Mochizuki at the 1993 US Open. Doi and Nara continued their run by advancing to the girls' doubles semifinals at a number of high-profile tournaments, such as the 2007 US Open and Wimbledon 2008. Doi also teamed with Romanian Elena Bogdan to place second in girls' doubles at the 2008 Australian Open. This flurry of successes catapulted Doi to No. 3 in Japan's under-18 tennis rankings for 2007; she had been recognized early on as one of Japan's rising stars in junior tennis.

2008 marked Doi's first participation in ITF Women's Circuit events. She partnered with Kurumi Nara again for the 2008 ITF event in Miyazaki, where they upset top-seeded sisters Erika and Yurika Sema, 3–6, 6–3, [10–6] in the second round. Doi and Nara went on to triumph over Kimiko Date-Krumm and Tomoko Yonemura in the final.

Doi officially turned pro in June 2006, at the age of 15. In 2009, she focused primarily on Japanese tournaments, where she earned two first-place and two second-place finishes in singles and one second-place result in doubles. In March 2009, she won her first ITF title at the $10k Kofu event. In October, she made her tour debut in the qualifiers of the Japan Women's Open, falling to American Abigail Spears in the second qualifying round. Doi was seeded sixth in the women's singles draw of the All Japan Tennis Championships. She lost in straight sets to Akiko Morigami in the round of 16. Her performance in 2009's events lifted Doi from a year-opening ranking of No. 613 to a year-end mark of No. 199 and a place among the top 10-players in Japanese tennis.

In 2010, Doi began playing professional tournaments outside Japan. She appeared in the women's singles qualifiers for that year's Australian Open. Doi then made appearances at several circuit tournaments, placing second in singles at Irapuato, Mexico in March. In doubles, she recorded three second-place finishes in as many weeks in April tournaments at Incheon, Gimhae, and Changwon, South Korea, with partner Junri Namigata. With new partner Kotomi Takahata, Doi won her first $50k title in doubles at the Fukuoka International in May, defeating Marina Erakovic and Alexandra Panova in straight sets.

Her success continued in the qualifying rounds of the French Open, where she defeated Mandy Minella and upset Michelle Larcher de Brito to reach the qualifier finals. With her victory over Vitalia Diatchenko, Doi had earned a spot in her first major tournament main draw, where she lost to Polona Hercog in the first round. She finished the year with a first-place performance in the All Japan Tennis Championships women's singles.