#2 Akane Yamaguchi (Japan)
Standing at a diminutive 5’ 2”, Akane Yamaguchi’s immense talent is good enough to lord it over anyone in the game. Singled out by many as a future World No. 1, the prodigious 19-year-old made rapid strides in 2016.
The former two-time junior world champion did not start the season well but thrived as the year progressed. Post the Rio Olympics, she went on a tear, giving a full display of her vast potential. She first made it to the semi-finals of the Japan Open Superseries, then took it further by winning back-to-back Superseries titles at the Korea Open and the Denmark Open. Her run at Denmark was especially stunning where she got the better of both the current and the former World No. 1s Tai Tzu Ying and Carolina Marin.
That was a remarkable achievement which made her just the third non-Chinese woman to triumph in Superseries tournaments in consecutive weeks, joining Tai and the Danish great Tine Baun.
