is a Japanese former professional tennis player. She reached a career-high ranking of 40 in the world in October 2011. At junior level, she reached a combined career-high ranking of 3.
Morita is recognized for her two‑handed groundstrokes, which she strikes with a characteristically flat trajectory. A small, quick athlete, Morita possesses good footwork and court coverage, allowing her to neutralize opponents and dictate play through movement and precision. Morita is one of the most successful Fed Cup players of recent times with a 23–14 match win-loss record for Japan.
Career On September 16, 2008, she beat world No. 19, Ágnes Szávay, in three sets in the Pan Pacific Open.
In January 2009, Morita upset former Wimbledon quarterfinalist Michaëlla Krajicek in the final round of qualifying to reach the main draw of the Auckland Open. She faced third set deficits in all three of her qualifying matches, including a 4–1 deficit in her first match against Katie O'Brien.
2011 Her first tournament of the season was the Auckland Open. She faced Romanian teenager Simona Halep and lost in straight sets despite recovering from being two breaks down in the second set. Her next tournament was the Hobart International. She beat Akgul Amanmuradova. Her next opponent was Bethanie Mattek-Sands, to whom she lost in two sets. Ayumi played at the Australian Open where she defeated No. 27 seed Alexandra Dulgheru in two sets. She defeated wildcard Caroline Garcia in the second round but lost to Peng Shuai in the third.
Into the Dubai Championships, Morita qualified by defeating Sophie Lefèvre and Vesna Manasieva. In the first round of the main draw, she defeated No. 14 seed Petra Kvitová in two tiebreaks. Before the match, Kvitová had only lost once in 2011 and had already won two titles. Morita beat wildcard Sania Mirza in the second round, before losing to Caroline Wozniacki in the third.
2013
Morita began her season at the first edition of the Shenzhen Open where she lost in the second round to sixth seed Peng Shuai. After qualifying for the Sydney International, Morita reached the second round where she was defeated by fourth-seeded Li Na. Ranked 72 at the Australian Open, Morita reached the third round with straight-set victories over Anna Tatishvili and Annika Beck. She lost her third-round match to the third seed, Serena Williams.
In Thailand at the Pattaya Open, Morita upset top seed, Ana Ivanovic, in the first round. She then beat Kimiko Date-Krumm to advance to the quarterfinals in which she was defeated by Nina Bratchikova. During the Fed Cup tie versus Russia, Morita won both of her rubbers over Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina. Russia ended up winning 3-2. Morita retired from her second round of qualifying match at the Dubai Championships to Zheng Jie. Seeded fourth at the Malaysian Open, Morita lost in the semifinal round to eventual champion Karolína Plíšková. In Indian Wells, Morita was defeated in the first round by qualifier Lesia Tsurenko. At the Miami Open, she made it to the third round by defeating Heather Watson and 31st seed Yanina Wickmayer. She lost her third-round match to top seed and eventual champion, Serena Williams. Seeded eighth at the Monterrey Open, Morita was defeated in her quarterfinal match by top seed and eventual finalist, Angelique Kerber. Playing in the Fed Cup tie versus Spain, Morita lost both of her matches to Sílvia Soler Espinosa and Carla Suárez Navarro. Spain won 4-0.
Morita began her clay-court season at the Portugal Open where she was defeated in her quarterfinal match by defending champion Kaia Kanepi. Morita retired during her first-round match at the Madrid Open against Sorana Cîrstea due to a left abductor strain. She returned to action at the Italian Open where she made it to the third round beating Sorana Cîrstea and Urszula Radwańska. She retired from her third-round match against third seed Victoria Azarenka, again due to injury. Ranked 44 at the French Open, Morita lost in the first round to Yulia Putintseva.
Beginning her grass-court season at the Birmingham Classic, she was defeated in the first round by qualifier Alison Van Uytvanck. At the Rosmalen Open, Morita lost in the first round to Sofia Arvidsson. Ranked 50 at the Wimbledon Championships, she was again defeated in the first round, by Marina Erakovic.
Starting her US Open Series at the Silicon Valley Classic, Morita lost in round one to fifth seed Sorana Cîrstea. At the Southern California Open, she was defeated in the first round by Laura Robson. Advancing to the main draw as a lucky loser at the Rogers Cup, she lost to American Varvara Lepchenko. In Cincinnati at the Western & Southern Open, Morita was defeated in the first round of qualifying by Alison Riske. After qualifying for the New Haven Open at Yale, Morita retired during her first-round match against Elena Vesnina due to a low back injury. The low back injury caused her to withdraw from the US Open.
In Tokyo at the Pan Pacific Open, Morita beat Laura Robson in her first-round match. She lost in the second round to sixth seed Jelena Janković. At the Japan Women's Open, Morita was defeated in the first round by Luksika Kumkhum. Seeded fourth at the Nanjing Ladies Open, Morita made it to the final where she retired against third seed Zhang Shuai due to a left hamstring injury. Morita played her final tournament of the season at the Taipei Open. Seeded fourth, she lost in the first round to Yaroslava Shvedova.
Morita ended the year ranked 61.
2014
Morita started her 2014 season at the Auckland Open. She upset sixth seed Lucie Šafářová in the first round. In the second round, she lost to compatriot Kurumi Nara. At the Sydney International, she retired during her first qualifying match against Tsvetana Pironkova due to injury. Ranked 61 at the Australian Open, Morita was defeated in the second round by eighth seed Jelena Janković.
In Mexico at the Monterrey Open, she retired during her second-round clash against sixth seed Magdaléna Rybáriková due to dizziness. Seeded eighth at the Malaysian Open, she lost in the first round to qualifier Lyudmyla Kichenok.
2023: Retirement In August 2023, Morita announced her retirement from tennis.
Grand Slam performance timelines
Singles Tournament200620072008200920102011201220132014201520162017 Australian OpenAQ2Q31R1R3R1R3R2RAAQ15–6 French OpenAQ11R1R1R2R2R1RQ2AAA2–6 WimbledonA1RQ11R2R1R2R1RQ2Q1AA2–6 US OpenQ1Q1Q11R1R1R2RAAAAA1–4Win–loss0–00–10–10–41–43–43–42–31–10–00–00–010–22
Doubles Tournament200820092010201120122013 Australian OpenA2RA2R3R1R4–4 French OpenA1RA1R1R2R1–4 Wimbledon1R1R2R3R1R1R3–6 US OpenA1R2R2RAA2–3Win–loss0–11–42–24–42–31–310–17
WTA Tour finals Doubles: 2 (runner-ups) LegendGrand SlamWTA 1000WTA 500Tier III / WTA 250 (0–2)
ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfacePartnerOpponentsScoreLoss 0–1 Oct 2007 Bangkok Open, Thailand Tier III Hard Junri Namigata Sun Tiantian Yan Zi w/oLoss 0–2 Sep 2008 Japan Open Championships Tier III Hard Aiko Nakamura Jill Craybas Marina Erakovic 6–4, 5–7, [6–10]
WTA Challenger finals Singles: 1 (runner-up) ResultW–LDateTournamentSurfaceOpponentScoreLoss 0–1 Nov 2013Nanjing Ladies Open, China Hard Zhang Shuai 4–6, ret.
ITF Circuit finals Legend$100,000 tournaments$75,000 tournaments$50,000 tournaments$25,000 tournaments$15,000 tournaments
Singles: 19 (10 titles, 9 runner-ups) ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfaceOpponentScoreLoss0–1May 2005 Fukuoka International, Japan 50,000Grass Chan Yung-jan3–6, 2–6Loss0–2May 2006 Fukuoka International, Japan 50,000Grass Chan Yung-jan3–6, 6–4, 1–6Win1–2Aug 2006 ITF Tokachi, Japan 25,000Carpet Erika Takao6–3, 4–6, 7–6(6)Win2–2Sep 2006 ITF Tokyo Open, Japan 50,000Hard Chan Yung-jan3–6, 6–3, 6–4Loss2–3May 2007 Kangaroo Cup Gifu, Japan 50,000Hard Chan Yung-jan3–6, 1–6Loss2–4Jun 2007 Surbiton Trophy, United Kingdom 25,000Grass Brenda Schultz-McCarthy6–4, 4–6, 6–7(5)Win3–4Jul 2007 Kurume Cup, Japan 25,000Grass Erika Takao6–1, 3–1 ret.Loss3–5Aug 2007 ITF Obihiro, Japan 25,000Carpet Sophie Ferguson4–6, 3–6Win4–5Nov 2008 ITF Tokyo Open, Japan 50,000Hard Jarmila Gajdošová6–2, 2–6, 6–3Win5–5Nov 2008 ITF Kolkata, India 50,000Hard Elora Dabija6–3, 6–1Win6–5Nov 2008 Toyota World Challenge, Japan 75,000Carpet (i) Ksenia Lykina6–1, 6–3Loss6–6Nov 2009 Taipei Open, Taiwan 100,000Carpet (i) Chan Yung-jan4–6, 6–2, 2–6Win7–6Oct 2010 Toyota World Challenge, Japan 100,000Carpet (i) Jill Craybas6–3, 7–5Loss7–7Nov 2010 Taipei Open, Taiwan 100,000Carpet (i) Peng Shuai1–6, 4–6Win8–7Oct 2011 Taipei Open, Taiwan 100,000Carpet (i) Kimiko Date-Krumm6–2, 6–2Loss8–8Nov 2021 ITF Monastir, Tunisia 15,000Hard Sonay Kartal1–6, 2–6Loss8–9Feb 2022 ITF Monastir, Tunisia 15,000Hard Haruna Arakawaw/oWin9–9May 2022 ITF Monastir, Tunisia 15,000Hard Yao Xinxin7–6(4), 7–5Win10–9May 2022 ITF Monastir, Tunisia 15,000Hard Milana Zhabrailova7–5, 6–0
Doubles: 7 (3 titles, 4 runner-ups) ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfacePartnerOpponentsScoreLoss 0–1 Jul 2005 Kurume Cup, Japan 25,000 Grass Erika Sema Chan Chin-wei Hsieh Su-wei 4–6, 3–6Loss 0–2 Feb 2006 ITF Sydney, Australia 25,000 Hard Junri Namigata Chan Yung-jan Chuang Chia-jung 2–6, 1–6Loss 0–3 Feb 2007 ITF Melbourne, Australia 25,000 Clay Natsumi Hamamura Hwang I-hsuan Lee Ye-ra 2–6, 1–6Win 1–3 May 2007 Kangaroo Cup Gifu, Japan 50,000 Hard Ai Sugiyama Kumiko Iijima Seiko Okamoto 6–1, 3–6, 6–0Win 2–3 May 2007 Fukuoka International, Japan 50,000 Grass Akiko Yonemura Rika Fujiwara Junri Namigata 6–2, 6–2Loss 2–4 Aug 2007 ITF Obihiro, Japan 25,000 Carpet Akiko Yonemura Kumiko Iijima Junri Namigata 6–7(3), 0–6Win 3–4 Oct 2009 ITF Tokyo Open, Japan 100,000 Hard Chan Yung-jan Kimiko Date-Krumm Rika Fujiwara 6–2, 6–4
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