Born: 5/7/75 Nationality: Japanese Seeded: 13 World ranking: 12 Wimbledon best: 4th round (1996) Recent record: 2002: 3rd round 2001: 3rd round 2000: 2nd round

Japan's number one player has been one of the world's best doubles exponents for some years but this season she has proved she can be an equally potent singles player.

The petite star boosted her confidence with a quarter-final run in Antwerp, defeating Jelena Dokic in the process.

Then at the Tier 1 event in Scottsdale, she upset world number two Kim Clijsters and former world number one Lindsay Davenport before picking up her fourth WTA singles title.

Although her game is not best suited to clay, the Tokyo-born player put in a creditable peformance at this year's French Open, reaching the fourth round before losing to Serena Williams.

At Wimbledon, Sugiyama has only ever reached the last 16 once, back in 1996, while her best Grand Slam performance remains a place in the quarter-finals at the Australian Open three years ago.

Last year, she went out of Wimbledon in the third round after losing to eventual quarter-finalist Monica Seles.