Sugiyama held the all-time record, for both male and female players, for her 62 consecutive Grand Slam main-draw appearances, until she was surpassed by Roger Federer at the 2015 Wimbledon Championships.

[1] In 1993, at age 17, Sugiyama played tennis legend Martina Navratilova in her native city, losing in three sets.

Sugiyama began 1997 season by playing her third final losing to Elena Likhovtseva, after defeating Sabine Appelmans in the quarterfinals.

9 and multi-Grand Slam events winner Arantxa Sánchez Vicario, and Dominique Van Roost before failing in the final against top seed and second-ranked Jana Novotná.

Throughout that year, Sugiyama showed consistency: a third WTA Tour title at the Japan Open, quarterfinals in Tokyo (Pan Pacific), Berlin, defeating No.

The same year, Sugiyama won the US Open mixed doubles with Mahesh Bhupathi, her first Grand Slam title.

On July 10, Sugiyama reached the final of the women's doubles at Wimbledon, partnered by Halard-Decugis, but lost in straight sets to the Williams sisters after a one-day rain delay.

On September 10, she won the women's doubles at the US Open, defeating Cara Black and Elena Likhovtseva in three sets, in one hour and 19 minutes.

She also won a total of eight doubles titles that year, seven with Kim Clijsters (Sydney, Antwerp, Scottsdale, Roland Garros, Wimbledon, San Diego, Zurich) and one with Liezel Huber (Linz).

Partnering with Elena Dementieva, she reached the finals of her first tournament, Sydney, losing to Bryanne Stewart and Samantha Stosur.

She tried three partners in the next tournaments, before returning to Daniela in Zurich, where they reached the finals (beating top seeds Lisa Raymond and Stosur en route), losing a close three-set match to Black and Rennae Stubbs.

She won the doubles title with Hantuchová, defeating Yan and Zheng in the semifinal and Li Ting and Sun Tiantian in the final.

Deciding not to compete in the mixed, Ai and Daniella beat Caroline Dhenin and Mathilde Johansson, then squashed Sofia Arvidsson and Martina Müller; they escaped in three sets against Marion Bartoli and Shahar Pe'er.

She went 0–3 in Fed Cup play versus France, losing to both Tatiana Golovin and Dechy, but rebounded to win 50k Gifu with Ayumi Morita.

They swept Lourdes Domínguez Lino and Flavia Pennetta in a double bagel, but then fell to the second seeded Black and Huber the same day.

They upset top seeds and defending champions Raymond and Stosur in the semifinals, winning in three sets to reach the French Open finals.

In doubles, she and Srebotnik beat Andreea Ehritt-Vanc and Anastasia Rodionova; Émilie Loit and Nicole Pratt, and got a walkover from Bartoli and Meilen Tu in the third round.

She reached two doubles semifinals in San Diego and Stanford with Srebotnik, losing both times to Victoria Azarenka and Chakvetadze.

However, they won Toronto, defeating Peng Shuai and Yan in the quarterfinal, Molik and Santangelo, in the semifinal and Black and Huber in the final, winning their first title as a te.

The team advanced to the quarterfinals after defeating Loit and Vania King, but lost to eventual champions Dechy and Safina.

The team, seeded second, defeated the Taiwanese duo of Chan Yung-jan and Chuang Chia-jung, but lost to Black and Huber in the final in a super tiebreak.

[2] In singles, Sugiyama's season started out badly, as she lost to Azarenka in Gold Coast and Gajdosova in Sydney.

On March 30 in the third round at the Tier-I event in Miami, she upset eighth seeded Hantuchová in an epic three-set match.

In doubles, she and Srebotnik won the title, beating Akiko Morigami and Alina Jidkova, Lucie Hradecká and Renata Voráčová, and Davenport and Hantuchová.

Ai started with a first-round loss to Stosur, and in the women's doubles a semifinal finish losing to Klaudia Jans and Alicja Rosolska in the Brisbane International partnering Hantuchová.

Sugiyama entered the Dubai Tennis Championships and lost in the opening round to Bartoli in a tight three-set match.

At the Indian Wells Open, Sugiyama and Hantuchová were seeded fifth in the women's doubles but lost to the pair Alla Kudryavtseva and Rodionova in the first round.

They reached the quarterfinals at the Madrid Masters where they lost to Stosur and Stubbs, whom she and Akgul Amanmuradova beat in the finals at Eastbourne, her 38th doubles title.

On June 22, she extended her record of consecutive Grand Slam appearances to 61 at Wimbledon, defeating the seeded Patty Schnyder in straight sets to break her eleven match losing streak.

Sugiyama retired at the end of the 2009 tennis season after the Pan Pacific Open, held in her native country, Japan.