It was heartening news for Indian sports lovers and her fans, as Sania Mirza won the ITF Lexington Challenger title at Lexington, USA. On Sunday Sania beat top seeded Julie Coin of France 7-6 (5), 6-4 to win the title along with a prize money of $50,000.
The 22-year-old Sania Mirza improved her world rankings as she moved to the 80th place in the latest WTA singles rankings with this win. But she dropped 10 places to 49th place in the WTA doubles ranking list. It is hoped that Sania Mirza would again repeat the magic she had shown earlier and break into the top 25 in the WTA singles rankings in the near future.
Sania Mirza made her tennis career debut in 2003 in the India Fed Cup team winning all the three singles matches. Then Sania won the 2003 Wimbledon Championships Girls Doubles title teaming up with Alisa Kleybanova of Russia.
In 2005 Sania Mirza had become the first Indian woman to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament at the 2005 US Open defeating Mashona Washington, Maria Elena Camerin and Marion Bartoli. She had won the Mixed Doubles at the 2009 Australian Open with Mahesh Bhupathi and became the first Indian woman to win any grand slam event.
Sania Mirza was born to a sports journalist father Imran Mirza and mother Nasima in Mumbai and was brought up in Hyderabad in a religious Muslim family. Sania, who began playing tennis at the age of six, was trained by her father as well as her other family members in the initial stages of her career.
Sania Mirza was recently engaged to Hyderabad businessman Sohrab Mirza whom she knew from her school days. However, marriage does not seem to be immediately on the cards, as Sohrab wants to continue his studies and Sania wants to excel in her tennis career, as news reports indicate.
