The Female Ozeki

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Ozeki (=Champion) is the second highest Sanyaku (=Championship) rank and attained only by players who repeatedly competed at the highest level. The players listed below all reached several Grand Slam finals and semifinals, the majority also won Grand Slam titles. Anne Haydon-Jones (who also had major successes in the pre-open era, without piling up the necessary series for a Yokozuna promotion, however) and Ana Ivanovic fell short by just one match from a Yokozuna promotion. The table entries are discussed further below.

Female Ozeki

		Promotion to…			Grand slam achievements 1/				Career	GS tourn. as...
		O	S	K	Titles	Finals	Sfinals	Qfinals	points	O	S/K
1	Ann Haydon-Jones	W68	F68	F68	1	2	3	0	16	6	3
2	Nancy Richey	W68	F68	F68	1	1	3	3	16	6	6
3	Rosemary Casals	U70	W69	F69	0	2	4	10	24	2	15
4	Virginia Wade	A72	U68	U68	3	0	6	12	36	16	17
5	Kerry Melville Reid	A73	F69	A69	1	2	6	10	32	9	17
6	Olga Morozova	W74	F74	F72	0	2	1	7	15	6	6
7	Renata Tomanova	F76	A76	A76	0	2	1	3	11	2	6
8	Sue Barker	W76	F76	A75	1	0	3	2	12	2	8
9	Dianne Fromholtz	A77(1)	A77(1)	U76	0	1	3	2	11	2	7
10	Mima Jausovec	F77	F77	U76	1	2	2	5	19	7	9
11	Betty Stove	U77	W77	W77	0	1	1	1	6	2	3
12	Virginia Ruzici	W78	F78	F76	1	1	1	8	17	5	9
13	Tracy Austin	U79	U79	W79	2	0	3	8	22	13	6
14	Andrea Jaeger	F83	U80	U80	0	2	5	3	19	4	10
15	Helena Sukova	U86	A84	A84	0	4	3	11	29	2	20
16	Gabriela Sabatini	A89	F85	F85	1	2	15	10	50	26	15
17	Mary J. Fernandez	F93	A90	F89	0	3	6	8	29	2	19
18	Conchita Martinez	W94	W93	U91	1	2	9	12	40	13	13
19	Mary Pierce	A95	F94	F94	2	4	0	8	28	6	13
20	Iva Majoli	W97	F97	F96	1	0	0	5	9	2	5
21	Jana Novotna	W98	F90	F90	1	3	5	13	36	3	27
22	Anastasia Myskina	F04	F04	A04	1	0	0	5	9	2	3
23	Elena Dementieva	U04	F04	U00	0	2	7	3	23	8	12
24	Svetlana Kuznetsova	A05	U04	U04	2	2	1	11	27	8	13
25	Amelie Mauresmo	A06	A99	A99	2	1	5	9	30	5	18
26	Ana Ivanovic	W07	F07	F07	1	2	2	3	17	5	4
27	Dinara Safina	A09	F08	U06	0	3	2	2	15	4	6
28	Vera Zvonareva	U10	W10	A09	0	2	2	1	11	3	5
29	Na Li	F11	A10	A10	2	2	2	4	22	4	12
30	Petra Kvitova	A12	W11	W10	2	1	4	6	25	6	12
31	Victoria Azarenka	A12	A12	W09	2	3	4	9	34	10	11
32	Samantha Stosur	F12	F10	F09	1	1	3	2	15	4	10
33	Eugenie Bouchard	W14	F14	A14	0	1	2	1	8	4	3
34	Simona Halep	W14	F14	F14	2	3	4	7	32	12	16
35	Angelique Kerber	W16	W12	U11	3	1	4	3	25	5	13
36	Karolina Pliskova	F17	U16	U16	0	2	2	7	17	5	8
37	Jelena Ostapenko	W17	F17	F17	1	0	1	3	9	2	5
38	Garbine Muguruza	W17	W15	W15	2	2	1	3	18	4	9
39	Sloane Stephens	F18	U17	A13	1	1	1	4	13	6	6
40	Madison Keys	F18	U17	W15	0	1	5	4	17	6	9
41	Ashleigh Barty	F19	F19	F19	3	0	1	2	16	8	6
42	Sofia Kenin	F20	A20	A20	1	1	0	0	7	2	4
43	Iga Swiatek	F22	F20	F20	4	0	1	2	20	7	4
44	Ons Jabeur	U22	W22	W22	0	3	0	3	12	5	2
45	Elena Rybakina	A23	W22	W22	1	1	0	2	9	4	3
46	Aryna Sabalenka	A23	U21	W21	2	1	5	0	21	5	4
47	Marketa Vondrousova	U23	F19	F19	1	1	0	1	8	2	3
48	Coco Gauff	A24	F22	F19	1	1	1	3	12	1	5

48 players made it to Ozeki (but not Yokozuna) level in the open era. Some spent large parts of their careers at Ozeki level (for example, Gabriela Sabatini, Virginia Wade, Conchita Martinez), others were more often ranked at lower Sanyaku, and the spell at Ozeki marked a highlight of their careers (including Rosie Casals, Helena Sukova, Marie Joe Fernandez, Jana Novotna). Again others had only a brief, concentrated period of success during which the attained Ozeki rank (Betty Stove, Iva Majoli, Anastasia Myskina).

The most career points accumulated the Argentine Gabriela Sabatini, followed by Conchita Martinez. Sabatini is an example of logenvity: while she reached only 3 grand slam finals in her career, winning one, she made it to no less than 28 quarterfinals--a number that several Yokozuna fail to surpass. She also entered 41 tournaments as a Sanyaku-ranked player, spanning a period of more than 10 years. Other Ozeki won more grand slam titles than Sabatini, however, notably Angelique Kerber and Virginia Wade with three. Ann Hayden-Jones won three titles in the open and pre-open eras combined.

Updated January 24, 2024