Moyuka Uchijima is living a dream – at least that’s how she described it.

Moyuka Uchijima is living a dream – at least that’s how she described it. 

In the last few days at the Madrid Open, the Japanese world No. 56 defeated her favorite player Ons Jabeur in the second round before claiming the first top-10 win of her career over world No. 3 Jessica Pegula on Sunday. 

This time last year, Uchijima was ranked 130 in the world, which wasn’t high enough for her to get into the draw in Madrid. 

She was instead grinding on the lower-level ITF circuit, and about to go on a 15-match winning streak, sweeping three consecutive titles – in Japan, Slovakia, and Spain – in as many weeks. 

That run earned her a place in the top 100 for the first time, and the 23-year-old hasn’t looked back since, rising to a career-high 51 in the world earlier this month. 

With wins against Robin Montgomery, and 2022 Madrid finalists Jabeur and Pegula, Uchijima punched her ticket to the last-16 stage at a WTA 1000 tournament for the first time. She’ll take on 21st-seeded Ekaterina Alexandrova for a place in the quarterfinals on Monday evening. 

“I'm just really, really happy. It's my first Masters 1000 round of 16, and I still cannot believe it, I'm in a dream kind of,” Uchijima said in an interview with Arab News and wtatennis.com. 

“I know Jessica is a really, really great player, so I was just really happy to share a court with her, but to get a win is something really, really special for me.”

Moyuka Uchijima fights back to defeat Ons Jabeur Jabeur 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in Madrid

The biggest win of her career!!

First Top 30 win

Into the third round of the Madrid Open #MMOpen

(video via @WTA) pic.twitter.com/j6DxUQZjbw

— Victor Okechukwu (@Uzochuwu1) April 25, 2025

Uchijima entered her third round against Pegula