Ena Shibahara

In 2016, she graduated from Palos Verdes Peninsula High School and attended UCLA before turning pro after her sophomore season.^[4]

Shibahara made her Grand Slam main-draw debut at the US Open in the doubles event, partnering with Jada Hart as wildcard entrants, where they lost to seventh seeds Sania Mirza and Barbora Strýcová in the first round.^[5] Later in the tournament, Shibahara and Hart won the girls' doubles title.^[6]

Shibahara played her first five doubles tournaments of the year with Hayley Carter winning two titles and reaching another final. This raised her ranking from No. 205 to an entry into the top 100, with a doubles ranking of world No. 98 on May 20.^[3]

Shibahara then played tournaments with eight other partners before playing her first tournament with Shuko Aoyama in August at the Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose, where they reached the final. Shibahara said, "Our chemistry was spot on from the beginning, where I would set her up from the baseline and she just moves all over the net^[7]".

Shibahara and Aoyama played five more tournaments together in 2019, winning their first two titles at the Tianjin Open (Shibahara's first WTA Tour-level title) and Kremlin Cup in Moscow.^[8] By the end of the year, Shibahara's WTA doubles ranking was world No. 31.^[3]

In singles, she started the year playing a mixture of ITF and WTA Challenger tournaments. Following a quarterfinal result at the 100k Vancouver Open, her singles ranking reached a career-high of world No. 416, on 19 August 2019.^[3]

Partnering Aoyama, Shibahara won her maiden WTA 1000 title at the 2021 Miami Open and represented Japan at the 2020 Summer Olympics, where the pair lost in the first round to eventual silver medalists Belinda Bencic and Viktorija Golubic. She also reached the semifinals at Wimbledon and of the WTA Finals, seeded No. 2.^[9][10] She won seven more titles, five being at the WTA 500 level, during her successful partnership with Aoyama. Also in 2021 Shibahara made her WTA Tour-level main draw debut in singles in Cleveland as a lucky loser but lost to Bethanie Mattek-Sands.^[8]

At the Australian Open, she reached the semifinals of a major for the second time in her career, partnering again with Shuko Aoyama. Later, she set a new career-high ranking of No. 4, on 21 March 2022,^[3] after making the Indian Wells Open final where she partnered with Asia Muhammad.^[8]

At the French Open, she won the first major title of her career in mixed doubles, partnering with Wesley Koolhof.^[11] She became the first Japanese player in 25 years to win the mixed doubles championship in Paris, since Rika Hiraki and Mahesh Bhupathi took home the title in 1997.^[12]

At the Australian Open, she reached the semifinals of a major for the third time in her career, partnering again with Shuko Aoyama. The pair defeated second-seeded pair of Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula to reach their first Grand Slam final.^[13] However, they were defeated in straight sets by defending champions, Krejčíková and Siniaková.^[14][15]

She won her ninth title at the Rosmalen Open^[16] and her first WTA 1000 title at the Canadian Open, partnering Aoyama.^[17]

She qualified for the singles main draw of the WTA 1000 Guadalajara Open but lost to Karolína Plíšková.^[18] In doubles, the pair Shibahara and Aoyama qualified for the WTA Finals for the second time with a seeding of No. 3 ^[19] but lost in the round robin stage.^[20][8]

After entering the main draw as a lucky loser, Shibahara won her first WTA Tour singles main-draw match, when she defeated Tamara Korpatsch in three sets in the first round at the WTA 250 Prague Open, her second career victory over a top 100 player.^[21] She also made her major debut in singles at the 2024 US Open, after qualifying into the main draw.^[22][23] She recorded her first singles win at a major over Australian Daria Saville, before losing to world No. 1, Iga Świątek in the second round, in straight sets.^[24] She also qualified for the main draw at the WTA 500 Guadalajara Open for the second time and defeated another Australian and fellow qualifier, Kimberly Birrell, for her second WTA Tour win.^[25][26] She won her 11th doubles title at the 2024 Japan Women's Open in Osaka partnering Laura Siegemund.^[27] Shibahara and Siegemund ended runners-up at the Pan Pacific Open, losing to Shuko Aoyama and Eri Hozumi in the final.^[28]

At the 2025 ATX Open, Shibahara qualified for the main draw and reached her first WTA Tour quarterfinal defeating Kaja Juvan and again Kimberly Birrell. As a result, she returned to world No. 134 in the singles rankings on 3 March 2025.^[29][30] She also qualified for a consecutive year at the 2025 US Open.^[31][32]

Only main-draw results in WTA Tour, Grand Slam tournaments, Billie Jean King Cup and Olympic Games are included in win–loss records and career statistics.

Current through the 2023 Indian Wells Open.