round. 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. In the quarterfinals, they beat Elena Likhovtseva and Sun Tiantian. They came back from 1–6, 0–3 to beat top-seeded Raymond and Stosur, winning in three sets. They lost in the final to the second seeded Black and Huber. During the US Open Series, she reached the third round of San Diego, where she defeated Sybille Bammer. She then lost to Chakvetadze. 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. At the US Open, Sugiyama lost in the second round to Ekaterina Makarova. Ai and Srebotnik impressively defeated Sun Shengnan and Ji Chunmei, and eventually defeated Michaëlla Krajicek and Agnieszka Radwańska. The team advanced to the quarterfinals after defeating Loit and Vania King, but lost to eventual champions Dechy and Safina. Srebotnik and Sugiyama continued their form and thus qualified for the Tour Championships, which were held in Madrid. 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. 2008 In singles, Sugiyama's season started out badly, as she lost to Azarenka in Gold Coast and Gajdosova in Sydney. However, in Melbourne, her form returned, beating Vera Zvonareva in the first round and Tatiana Perebiynis in the second round, before losing to 12th seed Vaidišová. In doubles, she and Srebotnik lost in straight sets in Sydney to Yan/Zheng, the eventual champions. In Melbourne, they drew the Williams sisters in the second round and lost in two sets. Sugiyama's dream of a career slam died. In doubles, she reached the final in Antwerp with Peschke, as well as the semifinals in Doha and Dubai with Srebotnik. 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. She came back after losing a match point in the second set, as well as having served for the match twice in the second set. In the third set, she was down