She is a former Tokyo Open champion but has just lost in qualifying to the world number 384

The Tokyo Open has played host to some legendary champions over the years.

Martina Hingis has won the most titles in the history of the Tokyo Open, having won five titles in her career at the now WTA 500 level tournament.

Hingis is not the only Grand Slam champion who has found success in the Japanese capital, with Steffi Graf, Martina Navratilova, Billie Jean King and Maria Sharapova also winning titles at the Tokyo Open.

All of these players have now retired, but an active former Tokyo Open champion has just lost in qualifying at this year’s event.

Russian player Liudmila Samsonova is a former world number 12, has reached the Wimbledon quarter-finals and has won five WTA titles in her career. One of those titles is the Tokyo Open, which Samsonova won in 2022 after beating both Elena Rybakina and Qinwen Zheng en route to victory.

It has been more of a mixed season for Samsonova in 2026, who has struggled to find consistent form and fell to as low as world number 70 in July. Samsonova had rediscovered some form during the North American hard court swing, and therefore made her way back into the top 50.

Despite this, it was still not enough for Samsonova to gain direct entry into the Tokyo Open, and she was not a recipient of one of the four wildcards handed out by the tournament.

Instead, Samsonova was placed in the qualifying draw as the third seed, where she was drawn to play against former British number one Heather Watson. Watson is a former top 40 player, but after dealing with a glute injury last year, the Briton has dropped down to world number 384.

Despite there being 341 places between the two players, it was Watson who came out on top in a two hour and 35 minute battle, coming from behind to beat Samsonova 2-6, 7-5, 7-6(4).

Samsonova achieved one of her greatest career successes to date at the Tokyo Open in 2022, but she will not even be part of the main draw this year.

After the Tokyo Open returned to the WTA calendar in 2022, following a three-year hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Samsonova went on to win the title.

Since 2020, all four Tokyo Open champions have been different, with Veronika Kudermetova winning the title in 2023, Zheng took home the title in 2024 and Belinda Bencic was last year’s winner.

Bencic is the only one of these players returning to the Tokyo Open main draw in 2026, with Samsonova losing in qualifying, Kudermetova is currently pregnant with her first child, and Zheng has not competed since winning the China Open.