[Veritas]

I am proud of Shinobu! I was really surprised that she made it through to the 4th round here. I didn't expect her to beat Paola, whom she lost in straight sets to earlier this year.

And I didn't expect her to beat Eleni as well!!! Shinobu's lost both her previous encounters against Eleni, and for her to pull off this victory and make it through to the QF stage is very impressive!

Well done Shinobu!

Here's a transcript of her interview after her 4th round victory:

Copied from: http://www.usopen.org/en_US/news/interviews/2004-09-06/200409061094503067190.html

S. ASAGOE/E. Daniilidou

7-6, 4-6, 6-3

An interview with:

SHINOBU ASAGOE

(Through Translation)

THE MODERATOR: Questions in English.

Q. You were down 3-1 in the first set and you were down again in the second set 2-1. What did you keep telling yourself to come back, especially in that first set?

SHINOBU ASAGOE: Especially in the first set, I wasn't serving very well, in the first set especially. So keep telling myself, "Serve better." It really got better towards the second set. But actually I don't know exactly how or what I was telling myself, you know, to get it over.

Q. Do you have a preference who you'll play next, Venus Williams or Lindsay Davenport, and why?

SHINOBU ASAGOE: I don't have any preference. I never won either of them before, so...

Q. What kind of results have you had against both of them in the past?

SHINOBU ASAGOE: I play Venus three times before, and I all lost. Davenport, I played her two years back in Wimbledon, and I lost, too.

Q. What kind of emotions are going through you right now, being this far in a Grand Slam event?

SHINOBU ASAGOE: I was trying my best to just keep going, but still I probably can go further. So I'm not really satisfied right now. I have to go further from here.

Q. Are you just trying to keep your emotions level, even keel, not getting too excited at this point?

SHINOBU ASAGOE: I'm still happy, but trying to tell myself that have to play more.

Q. You came into the US Open with a losing record. Now you're in your first Grand Slam quarterfinal ever. That must make you very happy.

SHINOBU ASAGOE: Just simply I'm happy today with the result. I'm not sort of overreacting with the result that I have now because I'll have another match day after tomorrow. I'm not really, you know, too much excited by the moment, but still I'm happy.

FastScripts by ASAP Sports...

 

[ex hopman]

Congrats, Shino!!!

I am so happy for her!!!

but next match against Lindsay!! Good luck!!

 

[fluffydreamcloud]

Thanks for the interview!

Good luck Shin against Lindsay!

 

[oaki]

good luck Shin chan . fantastic job

 

[grmbl]

Good Luck Shino!!

 

[ex hopman]

Shino's best pic!

from tbs site...

 

[Anik]

 

[pcrtennis]

Shinobu had a dissapointing showing against Davenport, losing 1-6, 1-6. The llllooonnnnngggg rain delay obviously affected her play. Dissapointing match but a great fight in this tournament!!!

 

[Sammm]

It was always gonna to be tough for Shino to beat Lindsay considering the form that Lindsay is in. Shino is really performing well at the slams :yeah:
Rounds 1, 3,4 were all great wins

 

[Veritas]

Shinobu is indeed totemo kawaii desu yo!

 

[Eric_tennis]

I'm happy to see Shinobu made a big breakthrough finally.
And more than anything I like her attitude. During her interview, she said "I was trying my best to just keep going, but still I probably can go further. So I'm not really satisfied right now. I have to go further from here. "
She is a kind of older than her fellow players but it's great to know she still have great ambition and motivation.
What Shinobu made me impressive most was happend in 2002 during 25K Seoul challenger event. She lost to Mi-ra Jeon of Korea, one of my fave , badly. It was like 1-6,2-6 or something like that. At the match, Mi-ra was smart enough not to Shinobu have any rythm. I thought after the last point of the match Shinobu would be very disappointed and would hurried back to the locker room. But she did NOT! She moved to the nearest court with her coach(or trainer), then started to hit ball. She tried to figure out what was the problem and continued until she got the answer. At that time, many audience and I were watching her rather than winner. She looked very professional to me.
In that tournament, Mi-ra Jeon won the event beating Flavia Penneta. But the next week, Shinobu beat Mi-ra Jeon in the semifinal of her homeground 50K challenger event.

Hopefully, she has many more good results in her career and becomes a good role model for late boomers.

 

[fluffydreamcloud]

Aww, nice story, thanks eric! :yeah:

 

[Sammm]

Shinobu in China Open
She plays the seed Jelena Jankovic in round 1, and is in Maria's quarters. Jankovic is beatable, IMO if Shino plays well.

 

[Sammm]

BTW, Shino is number 43 in the rankings

 

[Sammm]

Shino to play
Korea and Japan Open in the weeks after Beijing

 

[Sammm]

Shinobu playing in China dubs too with Fujiwara They play the number 3 seeds Zvonareva/ Sharapova

 

[Sammm]

Asagoe/ Fujiwara def Sharapova/ Zvonareva 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 :yeah:

 

[Veritas]

Go Shinobu!

 

[pcrtennis]

Go Shino!

 

[fabifan#1]

congratulations to asagoe for getting all the way to the QF!!