UMEMURA Aya

Date of birth: 4 December 1976

New title winner

Sao Paolo 1 July 2001. Last year she was often fighting to advance from the qualification groups at the ITTF Pro Tour, on Sunday Aya UMEMURA (JPN) became a title holder, winning women’s singles at the Brazilian Open and taking home 10.000 US Dollars in prize money.
UMEMURA(only nr. 90 in the World) faced the nr. 1 seeded LIU Jia (AUT) and in the 1^st game everything “followed schedules” with LIU taking the game 21-10.
But since then UMEMURA turned everything around. She put more and more pressure on LIU and went to 2-1 in two close games. That broke down LIU who in the 4^th game only got 12 points.
“Last time I met LIU she beat me easily 3-0, but I have improved a lot since then. The 40 mm ball is good for me”, says Aya UMEMURA who was profiting from the experience of her compatriot Yuka NISHII, who lost to LIU on Saturday.
“We were sharing the room together and last night we spent a lot of time analysing LIU’s game. Eventually that made me believe that it was possible to beat her”.
The top seeded LIU was of course disappointed, but losing was no big surprise for her.
“First of all UMEMURA was playing really well, she improved a lot. Second I have been taking a break after the World Championships. I have been in China for some weeks, but I didn’t practice that much – I only played a few tournaments. Of course it is a pity though once you have the chance of winning a title”.

Pro Tour

Farum Danish Open 2001: Women’s singles: Finalist
US Open 2001: Women’s singles: Finalist, Women’s doubles: Semi-finalist
Brazil Open 2001 : Women’s singles : Champion, Women’s doubles: Semi-finalist

US Open 98 : Women’s doubles : Champion