On July 1, Waseda University alumnus Yuichi Sugita (former student of School of Sport Sciences and currently a member of Mitsubishi Electrics) defeated Adrian Mannarino and won the Antalya Open to claim his first 2017 ATP World Tour title. The ATP World Tour is the global elite men’s professional tennis circuit organized by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). In the tournament, Sugita also defeated former world’s number three David Ferrer.

Sugita is the third Japanese professional tennis player to claim victory at the ATP World Tour after Shuzo Matsuoka and Kei Nishikori, and is also the first Japanese player to win the tournament played on grass court. Accordingly to the latest world ranking released after the tournament on July 3, Sugita now ranked 44^th (previously 66^th) which is his personal best, overtaking Shuzo Matsuoka who ranked 46^th in 1992 and becoming the second best professional tennis player in Japan.

Sugita has also represented Japan at the Davis Cup and Olympic Games Rio 2016 and is a Japanese tennis player of great promise.