MADRID: Moyuka Uchijima is living a dream – at least that’s how she described it.
Over the past few days, the Japanese world No. 56 defeated her favorite player Ons Jabeur in the second round before claiming a career-first top-10 win over world No. 3 Jessica Pegula on Sunday.
This time last year, Uchijima was ranked 130 in the world, which was not high enough for her to get into the draw in Madrid. She was instead grinding it out on the lower-level ITF circuit.
Then she went on a 15-match winning streak, sweeping three consecutive titles — in Japan, Slovakia and Spain — in as many weeks.
That run earned her a place in the top 100 for the first time, and the 23-year-old has not looked back since, rising to a career-high 51 in the world earlier this month.
With wins over Robin Montgomery, and 2022 Madrid finalists Jabeur and Pegula, Uchijima punched her ticket to the last-16 stage at a WTA 1000 tournament for the first time.
She will take on 21-seed Ekaterina Alexandrova for a place in the quarterfinals on Monday evening.
“I’m just really, really happy. It’s my first Masters 1000 round of 16, and I still cannot believe it, I’m in a dream kind of,” Uchijima said in an interview with Arab News and wtatennis.com.
“I know Jessica is a really, really great player, so I was just really happy to share a court with her, but to get a win is something really, really special for me.”
Uchijima entered her third round against Pegula with a 0-6 record against top-10 opposition, including a tight third-set tiebreak loss to Coco Gauff in Indian Wells last month.
She lost in similar fashion to 15th-ranked Mirra Andreeva at the Australian Open early in the year.
Those two close defeats gave Uchijima the belief she was at the same level as these top players; she just needed to get over that final hump and close out victories.
She did just that against Jabeur and Montgomery, rallying back from a set down, and was clinical in her straight-sets win over Pegula.
“I just try not to think about the score, because when you think you have a chance, then you start to get nervous,” explained Uchijima.
“So this week, I’m just trying to, even first round, I was getting killed by Robin Montgomery, she is also a great player; I just try not to think during the point too much and just enjoy the moment and just try to do what I can do at that moment.”
She added: “Ons is one of my favorite players, and I’m always watching her on TV.
“And Jessica as well. Obviously, they’ve always been on top in the WTA Tour, so it’s kind of a dream that I’m playing against them and actually able to win some matches.”
Jabeur, the Tunisian former world No. 2, plays a brand of tennis that Uchijima finds particularly exciting to watch, albeit when she is not on the receiving end of it.
“It’s just she’s different,” said Uchijima.
“She plays a style that is different than a lot of players, so I hate to play against her because she uses a lot of drop shots, so I have to run more, but to watch is really, really interesting because you don’t see a lot of players like the way she plays, so it’s just really fun to watch.”
Uchijima was born in Kuala Lumpur to a Japanese father and Malaysian mother. She moved around with her family for a few years before settling in Tokyo when she was around 8 years old.
On her way to elementary school every day, she would pass a tennis court at her father Kazuto’s workplace. Uchijima did swimming and basketball at the time, but when she picked up tennis, she enjoyed it way more than the monotony of swim practice and the running drills in basketball.
She forced her sister, who did ballet and gymnastics, to join her during tennis practice and was doing it for fun until, at 13, she realized she was good at it.
Uchijima’s current training base is Guangzhou, where she gets to spend her preseason hitting with Zheng Saiai, Zhu Lin and others.
“A lot of those girls, they’ve been top 30, top 20, so they gave me a lot of tips, and they always support me from wherever,” she said.
“We are far away from each other, maybe not playing the same tournament, but if we play the same tournament, we still support each other, and yeah, of course, my coaches, they’re helping me a lot.”
This week in Madrid, Uchijima received some priceless advice from her compatriot Kei Nishikori, who she grew up watching and idolizing. The 35-year-old Nishikori is a former world No. 4 and the only man from an Asian country to reach a Grand Slam final (US Open 2014).
He contested the men’s tournament in Madrid this week, losing to Denis Shapovalov in the second round, and Uchijima cannot believe that after all these years, she gets to be at the same event as her idol.
“We went to the Olympics together last year, so I got to know him more there,” said Uchijima.
“I was watching him on TV, so it’s just crazy, you’re actually living the same life, same place.
“I don’t have a lot of experience here, playing in Madrid, where (there is) a little bit of altitude, and a little bit different conditions, and Kei played here many, many years.
“And I think he was runner-up here (in 2014), so he gave me some tips. Actually, after the first-round match, he gave me some tips, so I guess it’s working.”
Years after Li Na and Nishikori paved the way, Japan’s Naomi Osaka exploded onto the scene, winning four Grand Slams and becoming Asia’s first singles world No. 1.
More recently, China’s Zheng Qinwen reached the Australian Open final in 2024 and clinched the gold medal at the Paris Olympics. Filipina teenager Alex Eala made a historic run to the semifinals in Miami last month.
Asian tennis is booming and Uchijima is keen to write her own chapter in its story.
“I think it’s a really, really great thing,” she said.
“For me, I grew up watching Kei Nishikori and Naomi, for the most part, but yeah, Alex in Miami, what she has done was really, really incredible, and of course, I got a lot of motivation from her, and also from Olympics last year, when Zheng Qinwen won the gold, first Asian to win a gold.
“So yeah, of course, I got a motivation from her that even we can do it, so I don’t know, hopefully, I can be a little part of it, and give some dreams for the younger players, not only in Japan, maybe in Asia.
“Because that’s how I look up, watching Kei and Naomi, so I can hope I can do the same for the younger generation.”
Uchijima grew up playing on hard courts and artificial grass in Japan but says she started to find her game on clay last season and realized the red dirt is probably the most suited to her playing style.
With a quarterfinal spot on the line for Uchijima on Monday, she is focusing on the task at hand and does not want to get distracted by her achievements so far at the Caja Magica.
“It gave me confidence, but there’s a lot of things still I can improve from today’s match, so just trying to improve day by day,” she said.
After competing at a lower-level tournament at a different site in Madrid 12 months ago, Uchijima’s time at the WTA 1000 in the Spanish capital this week has been a significant upgrade.
“Good food, good courts, a good facility — I’m just enjoying it and everything,” she says with a smile.
