PERSONAL
Sania Mirza (born November 15,
1986, Mumbai, India resides in Hyderabad,
India) is a professional female tennis
player from India. Coached by her father,
Imran Mirza, Sania began playing tennis
at age six. She turned professional in
2003. She became the first and only Indian
woman to reach the 4th round of a Grand
Slam tournament at the 2005 US Open. She
is now the highest ranked female tennis
player ever from India (She had a rank
of 41, her highest ever, by end of August
2005). Her original goal was to enter
the top 100 by the end of 2005, but she
revised it to entering the top 50 after
good performances at the beginning of
the year. (She may have also been helped
by the fact that she has very few points
to defend for this year and thus, it has
been an upward journey in rankings.) As
of July 2005, she ranked 5th among Asian
women. Her year-end rank in 2004 was 206.
She has earned a large fan following
in India as she is one of the very few
young women from the country to have done
well at the highest levels of sport. In
2005, she was awarded the Arjuna award
in tennis for the year 2004 and Padmashri
for the year 2006. She has defeated two
top 10 players, Svetlana Kuznetsova and
Nadia Petrova. She is a devout Muslim,
who began playing tennis at the age of
six.
Sania won the Wimbledon Championships
Girls' Doubles title in 2003, teaming
up with Alisa Kleybanova of Russia. She
got a wild card entry to the 2005 Australian
Open and created history by becoming the
first Indian woman to enter the third
round of a Grand Slam tournament. She
lost in the 3rd round to eventual champion
Serena Williams. On February 12, 2005,
she became the first Indian woman to win
a WTA singles title defeating Alyona Bondarenko
of Ukraine in the Hyderabad Open Finals.
In her Wimbledon Championships debut,
Mirza won her first match at the 2005
event, defeating Akiko Morigami of Japan
in three very tight sets, 6-3, 3-6, 8-6.
However, she was narrowly defeated in
the second round by Svetlana Kuznetsova
(a player whom she had defeated earlier
in the year for her first top ten victory)
4-6, 7-6, 4-6.
Watching her performance in Acura Classics,
legendary Pancho Segura, Ecuador-born
American player who roamed the courts
in the 1940s and 50s, felt that Sania's
hard-hitting game resembles that of Romanian
tennis legend Nastase. Segura said that
Sania has a natural way of hitting the
ball and she hits it hard. These qualities
remind him of Ilie Nastase.
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
- 2005 US Open: reaches 4th round
by defeating Marion Bartoli of France
in straight sets (7-6(4),
6-4); Voted Best Player of the day on
the 3rd day for winning her 2nd round
match despite
bleeding toes.
- 2005 Forest Hills Women's Tennis Classic,
New York: reaches her second WTA final
but fails to win
- 2005 Acura Classic: upsets Nadia Petrova
in 2nd round but loses in the third round
to Akiko Morigami
of Japan (2-6,6-4,4-6). By beating the
8th-ranked Petrova, she breaks into
top 50 in world rankings for the
first time ever.
- 2005 Dubai Tennis Championships:
2nd Round: Upset reigning US Open Champion
Svetlana Kuznetsova
6-4, 6-2 to reach the quarter-finals
- 2005 Hyderabad Open singles: Won the
tournament defeating Alyona Bondarenko
of Ukraine 6-4, 5-7,
6-3 in the final and became the first
Indian woman to capture a WTA singles
title.
- 2005 Australian Open singles: 3rd round:
Became first Indian woman to reach the
3rd round of a Grand
Slam tournament.
- 2004 Hyderabad Open doubles: Won the
tournament (partnering with Liezel Huber)
to become the youngest
Indian to win a WTA or ATP tour title
and the first Indian woman to capture
a WTA tour title.
- 2003 Junior Wimbledon Championships
doubles: Won the tournament (partnering
with Alisa Kleybanova)
to become the youngest Indian and the
first Indian woman to win a junior
Grand Slam title.
