Sania Mirza

Sania Mirza in-action in her second round singles match at the 2011 French Open
Country	India
Residence	Hyderabad, India
Born	(1986-11-15) 15 November 1986 (age 25) Bombay, India (now Mumbai)
Height	1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Weight	57 kg (126 lb; 9 st 0 lb)
College	St. Mary's College
Turned pro	3 February 2003
Retired	Active
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Career prize money	US$ 2,478,417
Official web site	http://www.saniamirza.com/
Singles
Career record	W-L / 267–159
Career titles	1 WTA, 14 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 27 (27 August 2007)
Current ranking	No. 184 (16 April 2012)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	3R (2005, 2008)
French Open	2R (2007, 2011)
Wimbledon	2R (2005, 2007, 2008, 2009)
US Open	4R (2005)
Other tournaments
Olympic Games	1R (2008)
Doubles
Career record	226-118
Career titles	14 WTA, 4 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 7 (30 January 2012)
Current ranking	No. 9 (16 April 2012)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	SF (2012)
French Open	F (2011)
Wimbledon	SF (2011)
US Open	QF (2007)
Other Doubles tournaments
Olympic Games	2R (2008)
Mixed Doubles
Career titles	1
Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results
Australian Open	W (2009)
French Open	2R (2007)
Wimbledon	QF (2011)
US Open	QF (2007)
Last updated on: 13 February 2012.

Medal record
Women's Tennis
Competitor for  India
Afro-Asian Games
Gold	2003 Hyderabad	Singles
Gold	2003 Hyderabad	Women's Doubles
Gold	2003 Hyderabad	Mixed Doubles
Gold	2003 Hyderabad	Team
Asian Games
Gold	2006 Doha	Mixed Doubles
Silver	2006 Doha	Singles
Silver	2006 Doha	Team
Silver	2010 Guangzhou	Mixed Doubles
Bronze	2010 Guangzhou	Singles
Bronze	2002 Busan	Mixed Doubles
Commonwealth Games
Silver	2010 Delhi	Singles
Bronze	2010 Delhi	Women's Doubles

Sania Mirza (Hindi: सानिया मिर्जा, Telugu: సానియా మీర్జా, Urdu: ثانیہ مرزا ) (born 15 November 1986, in Bombay) is a professional Indian tennis player. She began her tennis career in 2003 and is well known for her powerful forehand ground strokes. She is the first ever Indian to break into the top 30 WTA rankings in singles and top 10 in doubles. Mirza has defeated many top players, including Svetlana Kuznetsova, Vera Zvonareva, Marion Bartoli and Former World No. 1's Martina Hingis & Dinara Safina.

Mirza has won one WTA singles title so far, at Hyderabad in 2005. She has won one Grand Slam title: the mixed doubles event at the 2009 Australian Open. She was also the runner-up on two other Grand Slam occasions: the mixed doubles event at 2008 Australian Open and the women's doubles event at Roland Garros 2011.

In 2004 she was awarded the Arjuna award by the Indian Government. In 2006, Mirza was awarded a Padma Shri, India's fourth highest honour for her achievements as a tennis player.^[1] In March 2010, The Economic Times named Mirza in the list of the "33 women who made India proud".^[2] Mirza was also the most searched Indian sportsperson on Google in 2009. In addition, Mirza was one named one of the '50 heroes of Asia' by the Time Magazine (2005).

Early life[link]

Mirza was born to Imran Mirza, a sports journalist, and his wife Nasima in Mumbai, Maharashtra. She was brought up in Hyderabad in a religious family.^[3][4][5] Mirza began playing tennis at the age of six, turning professional in 2003. She was trained by her father. She attended NASR school in Hyderabad and later graduated from St. Mary's College. She is married to the Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik.^[6][7]

Mirza received an honorary degree of Doctor of Letters from the MGR Educational and Research Institute University in Chennai on 2008-12-11.^[8] Her niece, Sonia Baig Mirza, studies there.

Career[link]

Mirza is the highest ranked female tennis player ever from India, with a career high ranking of 27 in singles and 7 in doubles. She is the third Indian woman to be featuring at a Grand Slam tournament (the first one being Nirupama Vaidyanathan at the 1998 Australian Open and the second being Shikha Uberoi at the 2004 US Open.) She is the first Indian woman to be seeded in a Grand Slam tennis tournament and the first Indian woman to win a WTA title.

Junior career[link]

Mirza won 10 singles and 13 doubles titles in her Junior career. She also won the 2003 Wimbledon Championships Girls' Doubles title, partnering Alisa Kleybanova. She also reached the semifinals of the 2003 French Open Girls' Doubles, with Sanaa Bhambri, and the quarterfinals of the 2002 US Open Girls' Doubles, with Isha Lakhani.

2001[link]

On 16 April 2001, Mirza made her debut at an ITF $10,000 event in Chandigarh, as a wildcard receiver. She crushed Geeta Manohar, in the first round, 6–0, 6–1 before falling to Karen Paterson in the second round, 6–3, 6–4. The following week, She played at an another ITF $10,000 event in Pune, where she beat Kamini Murugaboopathy and Jyotsna Vasisht before falling to Sai-Jayalakshmy Jayaram 6–0, 6–4 in the quarterfinals.

On only her third (and her last event of 2001), Mirza reached the semifinals of a ITF $10,000 event in New Delhi without dropping a set, by defeating Radhika Mandke, Geeta Manohar and Isha Lakhani, before losing to eventual champion Rushmi Chakravarthi, 6–7(1), 6–2, 6–3.

2002[link]

In February 2002, Mirza played at an ITF $10,000 event in Mumbai but lost the First Round to eventual finalist American Sunitha Rao. Her next tournament was the qualifying draw of an ITF $25,000 event in New Delhi. She defeated Archana Venkataraman and Sai-Jayalakshmy Jayaram before falling to Chinese Liu Jing-Jing.

In February on only her fifth tournament, Mirza won her first ITF singles title at her hometown Hyderabad, beating Akgul Amanmuradova 6–1, 6–2  in the final of the $10,000 event.

In November, Mirza also won the titles of her next two tournaments in Manila, beating Wang I-Ting and Amanmuradova, respectively. Mirza also won the bronze medal at the 2002 Busan Asian Games in mixed doubles, partnering Leander Paes.

In December, Mirza played at a $25,000 event in Mumbai, falling to Dominika Luzarová. Next, at a $10,000 event in Pune, she lost to Jennifer Schmidt.

2003[link]

In February, Mirza was given a wildcard to play in her first WTA tournament, at the AP Tourism Hyderabad Open, in her hometown. She lost in the first round to Evie Dominikovic, 6–2, 1–6, 2–6. The following week, at the Qatar Ladies Open, she fell to Olga Blahotova in the first qualifying round. Next up, she won two $10,000 titles in Benin City, Nigeria, defeating Franziska Etzel and Anca Anastasiu in each final.

In April, Mirza played for the India Fed Cup team, winning all three singles matches. 

In September, Mirza played at a $25,000 event in Peachtree City, United States, where she lost to Marta Domachowska in the second qualifying round.   In October, Mirza won her sixth ITF singles title, defeating Rushmi Chakravarthi in the finals of a $10,000 event in Jakarta. She also reached the semifinals of a $10,000 event, also in Jakarta, with wins over Yuan Meng, Eny Sulistyowati and Wilawan Choptang, before losing to Montinee Tangphong.

In November, Mirza participated at a $25,000 event in Mumbai, where she reached the quarterfinals by defeating Liza Pereira and Sonal Phadke, before falling to Isha Lakhani.

Mirza also picked up 4 gold medals at the 2003 Afro-Asian Games- in singles, women's doubles, mixed doubles and team.

2004[link]

At her hometown event, the 2004 AP Tourism Hyderabad Open, Mirza was a wildcard receiver. She put up a good fight against the fourth seed and eventual champion Nicole Pratt in round one, but lost 6–4, 3–6, 2–6. But she won her first WTA doubles title here, partnering Liezel Huber. 

She also got a wildcard to  play at the Grand Prix SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem in Casablanca, Morocco, but suffered a first round deficit to eventual champion Émilie Loit.

Mirza also had a runner-up showing at the Palm Beach Gardens Challenger, where she fell to Sessil Karatantcheva.

In addition, Mirza won 6 ITF singles titles in 2004.

2005[link]

Mirza started her year off as a wildcard receiver at the Moorilla Hobart International in Hobart. She fell to Cara Black in the second qualifying round.

Mirza defeated Cindy Watson and Petra Mandula at the Australian Open, before losing to eventual champion Serena Williams in the third round.

In February, Mirza became the first ever Indian women to win a WTA title, by winning her hometown event, the 2005 AP Tourism Hyderabad Open, defeating ninth seeded Ukrainian Alona Bondarenko in the final, 6–4, 5–7, 6–3.

Her good-form continued at the Dubai Tennis Championships, where she was a wildcard. Mirza, ranked No.94 then, defeated Jelena Kostanić in the first round. In the second round, Mirza upset 4th seed, reigning US Open champion and the Australian Open quarterfinalist Svetlana Kuznetsova, in straight sets. Mirza was down 0–4 in the first set, but won 6 straight games and the second set to win 6–4, 6–2. This raised her ranking to No.78.

Next she lost in the first round of the Roland Garros to Gisela Dulko. At Wimbledon, she defeated Akiko Morigami to reach the second round, where she lost to Kuznetsova.

In August, she reached the third round at the Acura Classic, falling to Morigami. Next Mirza reached the final of the Forest Hills Tennis Classic, beating Shahar Pe'er, Roberta Vinci and Alexa Glatch, before falling to Lucie Šafářová in the final.

Mirza became the first Indian woman to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament at the U.S. Open, defeating Mashona Washington, Maria Elena Camerin and Marion Bartoli.

At the Japan Open, Mirza reached the semifinals with wins over Vilmarie Castellvi, Aiko Nakamura and Vera Zvonareva. She lost to Tatiana Golovin in the semis.

2006[link]

Sania Mirza at the 2006 US Open

Mirza reached the second round of the Australian Open, falling to Michaëlla Krajicek. Next she fell to Camille Pin at the Bangalore Open, but won the doubles title partnering Huber.

She played at the Dubai Tennis Championships but lost to Martina Hingis. 

At the Indian Wells Masters, she reached the third round but lost to Elena Dementieva. She also lost in the first round of the French Open Grand Slam to Anastasia Myskina.

Her next tournament was the DFS Classic, where she defeated Alona Bondarenko and Shenay Perry to reach the third round, where she was overpowered by Meilen Tu. She also reached the quarterfinals of the Cincinnati Masters and the third round of the Acura Classic, falling to Patty Schnyder and Elena Dementieva, respectively.

She reached the second round of the US Open, losing to Francesca Schiavone. In September, she reached the semifinals of the Sunfeast Open, losing to eventual champion and top seed Martina Hingis. She also won the doubles title there partnering Huber. Mirza made the quarterfinals of the Hansol Korea Open and the Tashkent Open.

In December, Mirza picked up three medals at the 2006 Doha Asian Games- Gold, in mixed doubles and Silver in women's singles and team

As of September 2006, Mirza has notched up three top ten wins- against Svetlana Kuznetsova, Nadia Petrova and Martina Hingis.

2007[link]

Sania Mirza at the 2007 Australian Open

Mirza started 2007 strongly, making it to the semifinals of Hobart, the second round of the Australian Open, semifinals in Pattaya, and the quarterfinals in Bangalore.

At the French Open, Mirza lost to the battle against Ana Ivanović in the second round. She also fell in the second round at the Wimbledon Championships to Nadia Petrova.

Mirza had had the best results of her career during the 2007 summer hardcourt season, finishing eighth in the 2007 U.S. Open Series standings. She reached the semifinals at Cincinnati. She also reached the final of the Bank of the West Classic and won the doubles event with Shahar Pe'er, and reached the quarterfinals of the Tier 1 Acura Classic.

At the 2007 U.S. Open, she reached the third round before losing to Anna Chakvetadze for the third time in recent weeks. She fared much better in the doubles, reaching the quarterfinals in mixed with her partner Mahesh Bhupathi and the quarterfinals in the women's doubles with Bethanie Mattek, including a win over number two seeds Lisa Raymond and Samantha Stosur. She won four doubles titles in 2007.

2008[link]

Mirza reached the quarter-finals at Hobart as No. 6 seed. She lost to Flavia Pennetta in three sets. She reached the third round at the Australian Open as No.31 seed, where she lost to No.8 seed Venus Williams 7–6(0) 6–4, having led 5–3 in the first set. She was runner-up in the Australian Open mixed doubles partnering Mahesh Bhupathi where they lost 7–6(4), 6–4 to Sun Tiantian and Nenad Zimonjić.

She withdrew from the Pattaya Open because of a left adductor strain.

Mirza reached the 4r at Indian Wells as No.21 seed, defeating No.9 seed Shahar Pe'er en route, but lost to No.5 seed Daniela Hantuchová.

On Grass, Mirza lost in the second round of Birmingham to Marina Erakovic of New Zealand. At Wimbledon, as No.32 seed, Mirza was defeated by qualifier María José Martínez Sánchez, 6–0, 4–6, 9–7 in round two, having had several match points.

Mirza was eliminated in the first round of the 2008 Summer Olympics when she retired in her match against Iveta Benešová because of a right wrist injury. For doubles, she got a walkover through the first round with Sunitha Rao, but lost in the second round to Russian teamn of Svetlana Kuznetsova and Dinara Safina. 

Throughout 2008, Mirza was plagued by a slew of wrist injuries, requiring her to withdraw from several matches including those of the Roland Garros and US Open Grand Slams.

2009[link]

Sania Mirza at the 2009 US Open

Mirza started her year by playing at the Moorilla Hobart International doubles only. Partnering Francesca Schiavone, they reached the quarterfinals. At 2009 Australian Open she won her first round match against Marta Domachowska, next she fell against 10th seed Nadia Petrova. In doubles she lost in first round partnering Vania King. But in mixed doubles Mirza picked up her first Grand Slam title at the 2009 Australian Open. Partnering with Mahesh Bhupathi, they beat Nathalie Dechy & Andy Ram 6–3, 6–1 in the final.

She then entered the Pattaya Women's Open Tournament in Bangkok where she reached the finals after a string of good performances. She lost the finals to Vera Zvonareva 7–5, 6–1. She made the semis in doubles in the same tournament.

Mirza then competed in the BNP Paribas Open where she lost in the second round to Flavia Pennetta. She then participated in the Miami Masters and lost to Mathilde Johansson of France in the first round. Mirza and her doubles partner Chia-jung Chuang of Chinese Taipei made the semifinals of the doubles event. Mirza lost in the first round of the MPS Group Championships but won the doubles title with Chuang. She lost in the first round at Roland Garros, losing to Kazakhstan's Galina Voskoboeva. 

On grass, Mirza parrticipated in the 2009 AEGON Classic and reached the semifinals, losing to Magdaléna Rybáriková of Slovakia 3–6,6–0,6–3, who eventually won the title. At Wimbledon, Mirza defeated Anna-Lena Grönefeld in the first round. She then fell to No.28 Sorana Cîrstea in the second round. She then lost in the second round of the doubles (with Chuang) and mixed doubles (with Mahesh Bhupathi). 

Next Mirza went to Lexington to compete in Fifth Third Bank Tennis Championships. Mirza had a good first round win, defeating María Fernanda Álvarez Terán in straight sets, and followed it up with another over Tetiana Luzhanska. In the quarterfinals, Mirza was leading 5–2 when her opponent, Lindsay Lee-Waters, retired due to injury. She beat Yuan Meng in the semifinal, and in straight sets won the title defeating top seed Julie Coin of France. 

Mirza's next two tournaments were in Canada, where she had mixed results. She managed it all the way to the final at the Odlum Brown Vancouver Open where she was beaten by Stephanie Dubois. At the Rogers Cup, she fell to Heidi El Tabakh in the second qualifying round.

Next playing in the U.S Open, she defeated Olga Govortsova in the first round but lost 6–0, 6–0 to 10th seed Flavia Pennetta of Italy. She also lost in the second round of the doubles event (partnering Francesca Schiavone) to Shahar Pe'er and Gisela Dulko.

Mirza qualified for the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo but lost in the first round to Zheng Jie. Mirza won the first set but could not hold the lead, eventually losing to the Chinese player 7–5, 2–6, 3–6.

At Osaka, Mirza won her first round match against 5th seed Shahar Pe'er 3–6, 6–3, 6–4. Mirza then defeated Viktoriya Kutuzova 6–4, 6–3 and in the quarterfinal she defeated 2nd seed Marion Bartoli 6–4, 2–0 by retirement. Bartoli conceded her match and Mirza moved on to the semifinal. She lost to Francesca Schiavone of Italy.

2010[link]

Sania Mirza at the 2010 US Open

Mirza began her year at the ASB Classic in Auckland. She won her first round match against Stefanie Vögele in three sets, but was crushed by 4th seed Francesca Schiavone in the second round. Mirza then suffered two first-round losses at the Moorilla Hobart International and the Australian Open. 

In February, Mirza competed in the 2010 PTT Pattaya Open as the 6th seed, but lost to Tatjana Malek 6–3, 4–6, 3–6. She then played in the Dubai Tennis Championships but suffered a first round defeat to Anabel Medina Garrigues. Mirza was forced to withdraw from the Sony Ericcson Open and BNP Paribas Open due to a right wrist injury. This injury also caused her to pull out of the French Open. 

She returned at the AEGON Classic, where she lost in the second round to Tamarine Tanasugarn in the three sets. Mirza then fell in the qualifying at Eastbourne and also lost in the first round of Wimbledon.

Her bad form continued, as she lost in the second round of the Odlum Brown Vancouver Open and qualifying rounds of both the Cincinnati Masters and the Rogers Cup.

She then competed at the US Open where she easily beat Michelle Larcher De Brito 6–3, 6–2 in the first round. In next round she went down to 20th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6–2, 6–4.

In September Mirza competed in the 2010 Guangzhou International Women's Open. In the first round she defeated Katie Obrien 6–3, 1–6, 6–2. Next she defeated 3rd seed Akgul Amanmuradova 6–4, 6–3 to reach the quarterfinals, where she lost fighting to Zhang Shuai 6–4, 1–6, 6–4. She then lost in the first round of the Tashkent Open and the qualifying draw of the BGL Luxembourg Open. She also lost in round one of the OEC Taipei Ladies Open to Bojana Jovanovski, but was runner-up in doubles with Hsieh Su-wei.

In October, she represented India at the 2010 Commonwealth Games as the 2nd seed. She defeated Brittany Teei (Cook Islands), Marina Erakovic (New Zealand), and Olivia Rogowska (Australia) before losing to Australia's Anastasia Rodionova in the final. In doubles, she partnered with fellow Indian Rushmi Chakravarthi, losing in the semifinals to Australians Anastasia Rodionova and Sally Peers. Mirza and Chakravarthi beat fellow Indians Poojashree Venkatesha and Nirupama Sanjeev to win the bronze medal.

In November, she represented India at the 2010 Asian Games. The unseeded Indian defeated Chan Venise Wing-yau in first round. Next she defeated 6th seed Zhang Shuai in straight sets 6–2, 6–2 to enter into quarterfinal. In quarterfinal Mirza won against 2nd seed Tamarine Tanasugarn 6–2,6–3 to move in semi final, where she went down fighting to 3rd seed Akgul Amanmuradova 7–6(7), 3–6, 4–6 and won Bronze Medal in singles. In Mixed Doubles she partnered with India's Vishnu Vardhan losing in the finals to Chan Yung-jan and Yang Tsung-hua and won Silver Medal.

In December, she went to Dubai to compete at the Al Habtoor Tennis Challenge. Coming unseeded, she won the tournament, defeating 6th seed Ksenia Pervak, top seed Julia Görges & 8th seed Evgeniya Rodina en route, and 2nd seed Bojana Jovanovski in the final.

2011[link]

Sania Mirza at the 2011 Citi Open

Ranked at no.141, Mirza kicked-off her year with the ASB Classic in Auckland. She needed one more win to qualify for the tournament, but lost in three sets against Sabine Lisicki. In doubles, she partnered Renata Voráčová of Czech Republic and reached the semifinals, but lost to Katarina Srebotnik and Kveta Peschke.

Going into the Australian Open, Mirza went down fighting to former world no. 1 Justine Henin in a tight three-setter 5–7, 6–3, 6–1 in the first round. She partnerd Voracova for doubles but lost in the first round also.

She received wildcards to play in the Dubai Tennis Championships and the Qatar Ladies Open. She made the second rounds of both events, falling to Ayumi Morita and Jelena Janković, respectively. She also was the quarterfinalist in doubles at both, with Russian Elena Vesnina.

At the Premier Mandatory events in March, Mirza made the second rounds in both. In doubles, she won her first Premier Mandatory title at Indian Wells, with Vesnina, defeating Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Meghann Shaughnessy.

Mirza participated at the Premier-level Family Circle Cup in Charleston. In singles, she made her first Premier quarterfinal since San Diego in August 2007. In doubles, Mirza won the title with Vesnina: the Indo-Russian duo beat Mattek-Sands and Shaughnessy in the final for the second time this season. Mirza won her 11th WTA Tour Doubles Title and second of the year.

Next, she also competed at the 2011 Mutua Madrid Open, losing in the first round against doubles partner Elena Vesnina. In doubles, with Vesnina, she managed to go up to the third round. Mirza took part in the 2011 Sparta Prague Open, but had to retire in her first round match against Aleksandra Krunic due to a back injury. Next she played at the 2011 Internationaux de Strasbourg, but suffered a first round lost Alize Cornet.

Mirza breezed through the first round of the French Open where she beat Kristina Barrois in straight sets, 6–3, 6–3. Then in Round 2, she lost to 12th seed Agnieszka Radwanska, 2–6, 4–6. In doubles, Mirza had what was probabaly the greatest highlight of her career- she was the runner-up with Vesnina to Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka.

At Wimbledon, Mirza made the semifinals of doubles with Vesnina and the quarterfinals in mixed doubles with Rohan Bopanna. She also made the third round of the US Open in doubles with Vesnina. At the 2011 Citi Open, Mirza won the doubles title with Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan.

After Roland Garros, Mirza suffered six straight main draw losses, including the Wimbledon Championships and US Open grand slams. An knee injury stopped Mirza from playing the rest of the season. She ended the year ranked at No. 104.

2012[link]

Mirza kicked-off her 2012 season ranked 104th at the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand. She lost a tough 6–1, 5–7, 3–6 first qualifying match against Coco Vandeweghe. As for doubles, she partnered Elena Vesnina and made it to the semifinals, losing to Julia Görges and Flavia Pennetta. Her next tournament was in Sydney where she played doubles only alongside Italian Roberta Vinci, but lost in round one.

Going into the Australian Open, Mirza was overpowered by Tsvetana Pironkova 4–6, 2–6 in the first round. In doubles, Mirza reached her third Grand Slam semifinal, partnering Vesnina, where they fell to Svetlana Kuznetsova and Vera Zvonareva. For the mixed doubles event, Mirza played alongside compatriot Mahesh Bhupathi and reached her 4th Grand Slam semifinal.

Mirza then represented India at the Fed Cup in Shenzhen, China where they were facing Hong Kong. In singles, she defeated Zhang Ling 5–7, 6–0, 6–1. Partnering with Isha Lakhani, the pair beat Chan Wing-Yau Venise and Zhang 6–7(7), 6–1, 7–5. With this performance, India advanced to the Fed Cup Asia/Oceania Zone Group I for 2013. Mirza then played at the PTT Pattaya Open where she won her first WTA main draw match since Roland Garros 2011- coming from a set down to upset Ayumi Morita (ranked 47 spots higher), 3–6, 6–1, 6–2. In second round she beat Anne Keothavong 6–4, 7–5 to enter in Quarter Final, where she lost to Su-Wei Hsieh. In doubles with Australian Anastasia Rodionova she won her 13th WTA title: they defeated the Taiwanese sisters Hao-Ching Chan and Yung-Jan Chan 3-6, 6-1, 10-8

Mirza then went to Doha to play at the Qatar Ladies Open where she had to withdraw from the singles qualifying event, due to playing Pattaya doubles final. She lost in the second round of doubles with Vesnina. Then, in Dubai, she was beaten by Aleksandra Wozniak in the first qualifying round. In doubles, Mirza and Vesnina are were runners-up against No.1 seeds Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond. Mirza then lost a tough 2–6, 6–1, 4–6 encounter to Eleni Daniilidou in Round 1 of the BMW Malaysian Open.

Playing doubles at the Premier-line up of Indian Wells, Miami and Charleston, Mirza reached the final, lost in round one and made the quarters, respectively. She also reached round two of singles in Indian Wells. She then would begin the European Clay Court Season at the 2012 Estoril Open, where she was the semifinalist in doubles (with Anastasia Rodionova). She lost in round 2 of doubles in Madrid and also in Rome.

Mirza returned on the singles circuit in May at the 2012 Brussels Open where she won three good matches- including her first 'double bagel'- in the qualifying competition, where she beat  Lesia Tsurenko by 6–0, 6–0, who was ranked 87 spots higher than she.

Personal life[link]

Sania with husband Shoaib Malik

In 2009, Sania Mirza became engaged to childhood friend Sohrab Mirza. However the engagement was called off shortly after. Then, she dated Faizan Udyawar, who is a multimillionaire businessman, for six months. Since she wanted to marry a sportsperson, she started seeing Shoaib Malik.^[9] Mirza married Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik on 12 April 2010.^[10][11] The wedding was held in Hyderabad, India, followed by a ceremony in Sialkot, Pakistan and a Walima ceremony in Lahore, Pakistan. The online attention the wedding received made Mirza the most searched woman tennis player in 2010 according to Google Trends.^[12] The couple planned to settle down in Dubai. The wedding was even more controversial because Shoaib Malik was accused by another girl of already being married to him and hence he could not marry Mirza without first divorcing her. Initially for many days, Shoiab Malik refused to grant the divorce claiming he was never married. This resulted in a huge media drama leading to so much online attention as stated earlier. Finally, having no other option, Shoaib divorced the girl paving the way for his next marriage to Mirza.^[13]

Controversy[link]

The short tennis clothes she has to wear in the court has drawn criticism from some Muslim religious group.^[5] According to one report published 8 September 2005, an unnamed Muslim scholar had issued a ruling, saying that women's tennis attire is not suited to Islam.^[14] Jamiat-ulema-e-Hind rejected rumours about disrupting her game saying that they do not stop anyone from playing, although they found female tennis players' dress code objectionable. Nevertheless, Calcutta police tightened security measures to protect her.^[15] 

After Mirza spoke at a conference on safe sex in November 2005, some groups said she was detached from Islam and that she was a "corrupting influence on the youth." Mirza clarified her stance by saying that she was opposed to pre-marital sex.^[16]

In 2006, some newspapers reported that Mirza declined to play doubles with Israeli tennis player Shahar Pe'er for fear of protests from India's Muslim community.^[16] However, when she teamed up with Pe'er for the 2007 WTA Tour of Stanford, California, there was no reaction. 

Mirza was pictured resting her feet and showing the soles of her bare feet as she watched compatriot Rohan Bopanna play in the 2008 Hopman Cup, with an Indian flag in front.^[17] She faced possible prosecution under the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act after a private citizen complained. Mirza protested, "I love my country, I wouldn't be playing Hopman Cup otherwise."

On 4 February 2008, Mirza said that she would stop appearing in tennis tournaments held in India, starting with the 2008 Bangalore Open the following month, citing the series of controversies and upon advice by her manager.^[18]

But Mirza chose to participate at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi. This time, she faced no controversies, but instead the public was happy that she has started to play at major tournaments in India.

Career statistics[link]

Major finals[link]

Sania Mirza and Elena Vesnina were one of the most victorious doubles team in 2011, by winning two Premier Level titles, reaching the Roland Garros Finals, the Wimbledon Semis and many other quarterfinals and semifinals.

Grand Slam events[link]

Women's Doubles: 1 (0-1)[link]

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents in Final	Score in Final
Runner-up	2011	French Open	Clay	Elena Vesnina	Andrea Hlaváčková Lucie Hradecká	4–6, 3–6

Mixed Doubles: 2 (1-1)[link]

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents in Final	Score in Final
Runner-up	2008	Australian Open	Hard	Mahesh Bhupathi	Sun Tiantian Nenad Zimonjić	6–7(4–7), 4–6
Winner	2009	Australian Open	Hard	Mahesh Bhupathi	Nathalie Dechy Andy Ram	6–3, 6–1

Girls' Doubles: 1 (0-1)[link]

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents in Final	Score in Final
Winner	2003	Wimbledon	Grass	Alisa Kleybanova	Kateřina Böhmová Michaëlla Krajicek	2–6, 6–3, 6–2

Awards[link]

• Arjuna Award (2004)
• WTA New Comer of the Year (2005)
• Padma Shri (2006)

References[link]

Sources[link]

• Sania Mirza at the Women's Tennis Association

1. India Today dt. 19 September 2005 – Cover Story titled Sania Mania.
2. ^ Sania Mirza gets Padmashri,26 January 2006
3. Sania Mirza Searches for Additional Base
4. Sania Mirza Gets a doctorate

Preceded by Tatiana Golovin

WTA Newcomer of the Year 2005

Succeeded by Agnieszka Radwańska

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Sania Mirza

• Sania Mirza at the International Tennis Federation
• Sania Mirza at the Women's Tennis Association
• Sania Mirza at the Fed Cup

Martina Hingis

Hingis playing for the New York Sportimes in the 2011 WTT.
Country	Switzerland
Residence	Hurden, Switzerland
Born	(1980-09-30) 30 September 1980 (age 31) Košice, (then Czechoslovakia, now in modern Slovakia)
Height	1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Weight	59 kg (130 lb; 9.3 st)
Turned pro	1994
Retired	2007
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Career prize money	US$20,130,657 (7th in all-time rankings)
Singles
Career record	548–133 (80.5%)
Career titles	43 WTA, 2 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 1 (31 March 1997)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	W (1997, 1998, 1999)
French Open	F (1997, 1999)
Wimbledon	W (1997)
US Open	W (1997)
Other tournaments
Championships	W (1998, 2000)
Olympic Games	2R (1996)
Doubles
Career record	286–54 (84.1%)
Career titles	37 WTA, 1 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 1 (8 June 1998)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	W (1997, 1998, 1999, 2002)
French Open	W (1998, 2000)
Wimbledon	W (1996, 1998)
US Open	W (1998)
Mixed Doubles
Career titles	1
Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results
Australian Open	W (2006)
Last updated on: 8 June 2011.

Martina Hingis (born 30 September 1980) is a retired Swiss professional tennis player who spent a total of 209 weeks as World No. 1.^[1] She won five Grand Slam singles titles (three Australian Opens, one Wimbledon, and one US Open). She also won nine Grand Slam women's doubles titles, winning a calendar year doubles Grand Slam in 1998, and one Grand Slam mixed doubles title.

Hingis set a series of "youngest-ever" records before ligament injuries in both ankles forced her to withdraw temporarily from professional tennis in 2002 at the age of 22. After several surgeries and long recuperations, Hingis returned to the WTA tour in 2006. She then climbed to world number 6 and won three singles titles. On 1 November 2007, Hingis announced her retirement from tennis after testing positive for cocaine during Wimbledon in 2007. She denied using the drug, but decided not to appeal the imminent ban.^[2][3]

In June 2011, she was named one of the "30 Legends of Women's Tennis: Past, Present and Future" by Time.^[4]

Childhood and early career[link]

Hingis was born in Košice, (then part of Czechoslovakia, now in modern Slovakia), to accomplished tennis players^[5] Melanie Molitorová and Karol Hingis. Molitorová was a professional tennis player, who was once ranked tenth among women in Czechoslovakia, and was determined to develop Hingis into a top player as early as pregnancy.^[6] Her father was ranked as high as nineteenth in the Czechoslovakian tennis rankings. Hingis's parents divorced when she was six, and she and her mother relocated around a year later to Trübbach in Switzerland.^[6] Her father, who continued to live in Košice as a tennis coach, said in 1997 that he had seen little of his daughter after the split.^[7]

Hingis began playing tennis when she was two years old and entered her first tournament at age four.^[8] In 1993, 12-year-old Hingis became the youngest player to win a Grand Slam junior title: the girls' singles at the French Open.^[9] In 1994, she retained her French Open junior title, won the girls' singles title at Wimbledon, and reached the final of the US Open.^[10]

She made her professional debut in October 1994, two weeks after her 14th birthday. She ended the year ranked World No. 87,^[10] and in January 1995, she became the youngest player to win a match at a Grand Slam tournament when she advanced to the second round of the Australian Open.^[11]

Grand Slam success and period of dominance[link]

In 1996, Hingis became the youngest Grand Slam champion of all time, when she teamed with Helena Suková at Wimbledon to win the women's doubles title at age 15 years and 9 months.^[12] She also won her first professional singles title that year at Filderstadt, Germany. She reached the singles quarterfinals at the 1996 Australian Open and the singles semifinals of the 1996 US Open. Following her win at Filderstadt, Hingis defeated the reigning Australian Open champion and co-top ranked (with Steffi Graf) Monica Seles in the final at Oakland. Hingis then lost to Graf at the year-end WTA Tour Championships.

In 1997, Hingis became the undisputed World No. 1 women's tennis player. She started the year by winning the warm-up tournament in Sydney. She then became the youngest Grand Slam singles winner in the 20th century by winning the Australian Open at age 16 years and 3 months (beating former champion Mary Pierce in the final). In March, she became the youngest top ranked player in history. In July, she became the youngest singles champion at Wimbledon since Lottie Dod in 1887 by beating Jana Novotná in the final. She then defeated another up-and-coming player, Venus Williams, in the final of the US Open. The only Grand Slam singles title that Hingis failed to win in 1997 was the French Open, where she lost in the final to Iva Majoli. She won the Australian Open women's doubles with Natasha Zvereva.

Hingis (right) in 2002, with doubles partner Anna Kournikova.

In 1998, Hingis won all four of the Grand Slam women's doubles titles, only the fourth in women's tennis history to do so,^[13] (the Australian Open with Mirjana Lučić and the other three events with Novotná), and she became only the third woman to simultaneously hold the No. 1 ranking in both singles and doubles. She also retained her Australian Open singles title by beating Conchita Martínez in straight sets in the final. Hingis, however, lost in the final of the US Open to Lindsay Davenport. Davenport ended an 80-week stretch Hingis had enjoyed as the No. 1 singles player in October 1998, but Hingis finished the year by beating Davenport in the final of the WTA Tour Championships.

1999 saw Hingis win her third successive Australian Open singles crown as well as the doubles title (with Anna Kournikova). She then reached the French Open final and was three points away from victory in the second set before losing to Steffi Graf. During the match, Hingis had infuriated an already partisan crowd by arguing with the umpire over several line calls. In the second set, she crossed to the other side of the net to inspect her own ball mark, thereby incurring a mandatory one-point penalty. She was also booed for taking a bathroom break early in the final set, and twice delivering underhand serves. After the match, Hingis rushed from the court in tears, and only returned to the court for the trophy ceremony after being comforted by her mother.^[14] Following the French Open, Martina revealed at Wimbledon that her mother was no longer her coach.^[15] After a shock first-round 6–2, 6–0 loss to Jelena Dokić at Wimbledon,^[16] Hingis bounced back to reach her third consecutive US Open final, where she lost to Serena Williams. Hingis won a total of seven singles titles that year and reclaimed the No. 1 singles ranking. She also reached the final of the WTA Tour Championships, where she lost to Lindsay Davenport.

In 2000, Hingis again found herself in both the singles and doubles finals at the Australian Open. This time, however, she lost both. Her three-year hold on the singles championship ended when she lost to Davenport. Later, Hingis and Mary Pierce, her new doubles partner, lost to Lisa Raymond and Rennae Stubbs. Hingis captured the French Open women's doubles title with Pierce and produced consistent results in singles tournaments throughout the year. She reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon before losing to Venus Williams. Although she did not win a Grand Slam singles tournament, she kept the year end No. 1 ranking because of nine tournament championships, including the WTA Tour Championships where she won the singles and doubles titles.

Injuries and hiatus from tennis[link]

In 2001, Switzerland, with Hingis and Roger Federer on its team, won the Hopman Cup. Hingis was undefeated in singles during the event, defeating Tamarine Tanasugarn, Nicole Pratt, Amanda Coetzer, and Monica Seles.^[17]

Hingis reached her fifth consecutive Australian Open final in 2001, defeating both of the Williams sisters en route, before losing to Jennifer Capriati. She briefly ended her coaching relationship with her mother Melanie early in the year^[18] but had a change of heart two months later just before the French Open. 2001 was a her least successful year in several seasons, with only three tournament victories in total. She lost her No. 1 ranking for the last time (to Jennifer Capriati) on 14 October 2001. In that same month, Hingis underwent surgery on her right ankle.

Coming back from injury, Hingis won the Australian Open doubles final at the start of 2002 (again teaming with Anna Kournikova) and reached a sixth straight Australian Open final in singles, again facing Capriati. Hingis led by a set and 4–0 and had four match points but lost 4–6, 7–6, 6–2. In May 2002, she needed another ankle ligament operation, this time on her left ankle. After that, she continued to struggle with injuries and was not able to recapture her best form.

In February 2003, at the age of 22, Hingis announced her retirement from tennis, due to her injuries and being in pain.^[19] "I want to play tennis only for fun and concentrate more on horse riding and finish my studies"^[20] In several interviews, she indicated she wanted to go back to her country and coach full time.^{[citation needed]}

During this segment of her tennis career, Hingis won 40 singles titles and 36 doubles events. She held the World No. 1 singles ranking for a total of 209 weeks (fourth most following Steffi Graf, Martina Navratilova, and Chris Evert). In 2005, Tennis magazine put her in 22nd place in its list of 40 Greatest Players of the TENNIS era.

Return to the game[link]

2005[link]

In February 2005, Hingis made an unsuccessful return to competition at an event in Pattaya, Thailand, where she lost to Germany's Marlene Weingärtner in the first round. After the loss, she claimed that she had no further plans for a comeback.

Hingis, however, resurfaced in July, playing singles, doubles, and mixed doubles in World Team Tennis and notching up singles victories over two top 100 players and shutting out Martina Navratilova in singles on 7 July. With these promising results behind her, Hingis announced on 29 November her return to the WTA Tour in 2006.

2006[link]

Martina Hingis in the Australian Open, 2006.

At the Australian Open, Hingis lost in the quarterfinals to second-seeded Kim Clijsters. However, Hingis won the mixed doubles title with Mahesh Bhupathi of India. This was her first career Grand Slam mixed doubles title and fifteenth overall (5 singles, 9 women's doubles, 1 mixed doubles).

The week after the Australian Open, Hingis defeated World No. 4 Maria Sharapova in the semifinals of the Tier I Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo before losing in the final to World No. 9 Elena Dementieva. Hingis competed in Dubai then, reaching the quarter-finals before falling to Sharapova. At the Tier I Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California, Hingis defeated World No. 4 Lindsay Davenport in the fourth round before again losing to Sharapova in the semifinals.

At the Tier I Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, Hingis posted her 500th career singles match victory in the quarterfinals, beating World No. 18 Flavia Pennetta, and subsequently won the tournament with wins over Venus Williams in the semifinals and Dinara Safina in the final. This was her 41st Women's Tennis Association tour singles title and first in more than four years. Hingis then reached the quarterfinals of the French Open before losing to Kim Clijsters.

At Wimbledon, Hingis lost in the third round to Ai Sugiyama.

Hingis's return to the US Open was short lived, however, as she was upset in the second round by World No. 112 Virginie Razzano of France.

In her first tournament after the US Open, Hingis won the second title of her comeback at the Tier III Sunfeast Open in Kolkata, India. She defeated unseeded Russian Olga Poutchkova in the final. The following week in Seoul, Hingis notched her 50th match win of the year before losing in the second round to Sania Mirza.

Hingis qualified for the year-ending WTA Tour Championships in Madrid as the eighth seed. In her round robin matches, she lost in three sets to both Justine Henin and Amélie Mauresmo but defeated Nadia Petrova.

Hingis ended the year ranked World No. 7. She also finished eighth in prize money earnings (U.S.$1,159,537). Hingis too ranked as number 7 on the Annual Top Google News Searches in 2006.^[21]

2007[link]

At the Australian Open, Hingis won her first three rounds without losing a set before defeating China's Li Na in the fourth round. Hingis then lost a quarterfinal match to Kim Clijsters. This was the second consecutive year that Hingis had lost to Clijsters in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open and the third time in the last five Grand Slam tournaments that Clijsters had eliminated Hingis in the quarterfinals.

Hingis won her next tournament, the Tier I Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, defeating Ana Ivanovic in the final. This was Hingis's record fifth singles title at this event.

A hip injury that troubled her at the German Open caused her to withdraw from the Internazionali BNL d'Italia, where she was the defending champion, and the French Open, the only important singles title that eluded her.

In her first round match at Wimbledon, Hingis saved two match points to defeat British wildcard Naomi Cavaday, apparently not having fully recovered from the hip injury that prevented her from playing the French Open.^[22] In the third round, Hingis lost to Laura Granville of the United States, and stated afterwards she should not have entered the tournament.^[23]