is a Japanese professional tennis player who specializes in doubles. On 1 January 2024, she peaked at world No. 26 in the WTA doubles rankings. She also achieved her career-high singles ranking of No. 122 in January 2018.
Kato has won five doubles titles on the WTA Tour and two WTA Challenger doubles titles. In addition, she has won four singles and 13 doubles titles on the ITF Circuit.
Playing for Japan Fed Cup team, Kato has a winâÂÂloss record of 6âÂÂ1 (5âÂÂ1 in doubles), as of June 2024.
Kato won her major title in the mixed doubles at the 2023 French Open, together with her German partner Tim Pütz.
She reached a new career-high ranking of No. 27 on 23 October 2023, the week she was selected to participate in the 2023 WTA Elite Trophy with Aldila Sutjiadi.
At the 2023 French Open, she and her partner Aldila Sutjiadi were defaulted in the women's doubles, after she accidentally hit a ball girl with a ball. She had to forfeit her points and prize money, although she made clear she would appeal the supervisor's decision. Kato received ample support from fellow players, including from the Professional Tennis Players Association, who deemed the disqualification unfair. Kato and Sutjiadi's opponents, Sara Sorribes Tormo and Marie Bouzková, were criticized for pushing the supervisor to disqualify Kato and laughing after the pair were disqualified, but did not apologize to Kato.
Kato and Sutjiadi won the doubles title at the 2024 Thailand Open, defeating Guo Hanyu and Jiang Xinyu in the final.
In March 2025, partnering with new partner Cristina BucÃÂa, Kato reached the doubles final of the WTA 1000 Miami Open with an upset over the top seeds and world No. 1 and No. 2 players Kateà Âina Siniaková and Taylor Townsend. They lost the championship match to Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider.
Kato has one brother named Yuki. She started playing tennis at the age of eight. She has stated that her tennis idols growing up were Justine Henin and Roger Federer. Her favorite surface to play on is hardcourt, but her favorite tournament is Wimbledon.
Only main-draw results in WTA Tour, Grand Slam tournaments, Fed Cup/Billie Jean King Cup and Olympic Games are included in winâÂÂloss records and career statistics.