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By Chris Oddo | @Thefanchild | Tuesday 4 February 2025
The transition from Juniors to Pro is turns out to be manageable for the 17-year-old Wakene sonobe of Japan. Weeks after winning the title of the girls’ single girls Aussie Open, Sonobe mostly used a wild card to qualify for Abu Dhabi. She won two 100 main victories, over American Hailey Baptiste and Cristina Bucsa, Spain, to reach the main draw.
On Monday she knocked Yuan Yuan of China’s 55th rank for her first main WTA victory.
Sonobe, ranked 837 this week, is already showing signs of being a potential star in the tour. She turned 17 two weeks ago in Melbourne, but don’t let age cheat you-SOURPAW has a full-fledged game with a strong left-handed and electric stroke. It is also unclear from the net, and it is known that it is striking and removing some volumes.
Meet the Japanese 17-year-old Wakana Sonobe, who made a winning WTA draw debut in Abu Dhabi this week.👉https://t.co/xugqpuotnd Pic.twitter.com/dagodlrbbg
– Aberbellam (@rehemabulil) 4 February 2025
Sonobe is 9-0 at all levels so far in 2025. Last year she won 17 of the 27 matches at the professional level, including a loss in the first round of qualification in Abu Dhabi.
Born in Saitama, Japan, Sonobe was given a scholarship to move to train at the IMG academy in Florida, courtesy of the Morita Tennis Fund – the same organization sent to ATP Kei Nishikori and Shintaro Mochizuki in Bradenton in the past.
According to Reem Abulleil, who is covering Abu Dhabi for wattennis.com this week, the Japanese young man had a chance to hit with Nishikori in Florida and credited her by giving her some valuable lessons. Her true idol, however, is Petra Kvitova.
Sonobe, who became the first girls’ champion in Japan in Melbourne two weeks ago, hopes her future moves will be made in the Pro County. It will face either ounce Jabaur or Jelena Ostapenko in the second round.
Sonobe fired 36 winners in her 6-4, 6-3 victory over Yuan, which included a 3-0 return to the second set.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlol4vsc8go
She is the third player of 2008 to score a win at WTA Tour along with Laura Samson and Emerson Jones. Sonobe faced only two resting points in her match against Yuan, falling only once and turning four of her vacations.
Keep an eye on this talented left, which can work on its ranking over the next 52 weeks.
