Sania Mirza born 15 November 1986) is an Indian professional tennis player, who is currently ranked No. 1 in women's doubles rankings. From 2003 until her retirement from singles in 2013, she was ranked by the Women's Tennis Association as India's No. 1 player, both in singles and doubles. Throughout her career, Mirza has established herself as the most successful female Indian tennis player ever and one of the highest-paid and high-profile athletes in the country.
In her singles career, Mirza has notable wins over Svetlana Kuznetsova, Vera Zvonareva and Marion Bartoli; as well as formerworld No. 1s Martina Hingis, Dinara Safina, and Victoria Azarenka. She is the highest-ranked female player ever from India, peaking at world No. 27 in singles in mid-2007; however, a major wrist injury forced her to give up her singles career and focus on the doubles circuit, where she is currently ranked No. 1. She has achieved a number of firsts for her native country, including surpassing US$1 million in career earnings (now over $5 million), winning a Pro-level title, and winning five major titles (two in women's doubles and three in mixed doubles), as well as qualifying for (and eventually winning) the WTA Finals in 2014 alongsideCara Black, defending the title the following year partnering with Martina Hingis.
In addition, she is the third Indian woman in the Open Era to feature and win a round at a Grand Slam tournament (going as far as the last 16). She has also won a total of 14 medals (including 6 Gold) at three major multi-sport events, namely the Asian Games, the Commonwealth Games and the Afro-Asian Games.
Mirza was named one of the "50 heroes of Asia" by Time in October 2005.[9] In March 2010, The Economic Times named Mirza in the list of the "33 women who made India proud". She was appointed as the UN Women's Goodwill Ambassador for South Asia during the event held to mark the International Day To End Violence Against Women on 25 November
Sania Mirza was born in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India on 15 November 1986, to Imran Mirza, a builder, and his wife Naseema, who worked in a printing business. Shortly after her birth, her family moved to Hyderabad where she and younger sister Anam were raised in a religious family. She is the distant relative of former cricket captains Ghulam Ahmed of India, and Asif Iqbal of Pakistan. She took up tennis at the age of six. She has been coached by her father and also Roger Anderson.
She attended Nasr School in Hyderabad and later graduated from St. Mary's College. Mirza received an honorary degree ofDoctor of Letters from the MGR Educational and Research Institute University in Chennai on 11 December 2008. She is also a very good swimmer.
2001–2003: Success on the Junior ITF circuit
Sania Mirza began playing tennis at the age of six, turning professional in 2003. She was trained by her father. Mirza won 10 singles and 13 doubles titles as a junior player. She won the 2003 Wimbledon Championships Girls' Doubles title, partnering Alisa Kleybanova. She also reached the semifinals of the 2003 US Open Girls' Doubles, with Sanaa Bhambri, and the quarterfinals of the 2002 US Open Girls' Doubles. On the senior circuit, Mirza started to show early success as she made her debut in April 2001 on the ITF Circuit as a 15-year-old. Her highlights of 2001 include a quarterfinals showing in Pune and a semifinal finish in New Delhi. As the 2002 season began, she turned around a season of early losses to winning three straight titles; her first in her hometown Hyderabad and the other two in Manila, Philippines.
In February 2003, Mirza was given a wildcard to play in her first ever WTA tournament, at the AP Tourism Hyderabad Open, in her hometown. She lost the tough first round encounter to Australia's Evie Dominikovic, 6–2, 1–6, 2–6. The following week, at the Qatar Ladies Open, she fell to Czech Olga Blahotová in the first qualifying round. She had a good result representing India on the Fed Cup, winning three straight matches. She helped India win a bronze medal in the mixed doubles event of the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, partnering Leander Paes. In addition, Mirza picked up 4 gold medals at the 2003 Afro-Asian Games in Hyderabad.
At her hometown event, the 2004 AP Tourism Hyderabad Open, Mirza was a wildcard entrant. 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. She won her first WTA doubles title at the same event, partnering Liezel Huber. She then received a wildcard to compete at the Grand Prix SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem inCasablanca, Morocco, but suffered a first round deficit to eventual champion Émilie Loit.
On the ITF Circuit, Mirza had a runner-up showing at the Palm Beach Gardens Challenger, where she fell to Sesil Karatantcheva. Mirza won 6 ITF singles titles in 2004. Going into the 2005 Australian Open, Sania defeated Cindy Watson and Petra Mandula in the first and second rounds, respectively, to reach the third round where she was beaten in straight sets by eventual champion Serena Williams. In February, Mirza became the first ever Indian woman to win a WTA title, by winning her hometown event, the 2005 AP Tourism Hyderabad Open, defeating ninth seeded Alona Bondarenko in the final, 6–4, 5–7, 6–3. Her good-form continued at the2005 Dubai Tennis Championships, where in round two she upset 4th seed and reigning US Open champion to reach the second round of 2005 Wimbledon Championships, where she lost to Svetlana Kuznetsova in a tight three setter.
In August, she reached the third round at the Acura Classic, falling to Morigami. Mirza reached her second WTA final at the 2005 Forest Hills Tennis Classic, falling to Lucie Šafářová. Mirza became 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, before losing to top seed Maria Sharapova in the Round of 16. At the Japan Open, Mirza reached the semifinals with wins over Vilmarie Castellvi, Aiko Nakamura and Vera Zvonareva, before being overpowered by Tatiana Golovin. Thanks to a successful 2005 season, Mirza was named the WTA Newcomer of the Year.
Mirza was seeded at the 2006 Australian Open (the first female Indian to be seeded in a grand slam event), only 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 2006 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 2006 US Open, losing toFrancesca Schiavone. In September, she reached the semifinals of the Sunfeast Open, losing to eventual champion and top seednMartina Hingis. She also won the doubles title there partnering Huber. Mirza made the quarterfinals of the Hansol Korea Open(defeating top seed Hingis en route) and the Tashkent Open. In December, Mirza picked up three medals at the Doha Asian Games– Gold, in mixed doubles and Silver in women's singles and team.
In 2006, Mirza notched up three top ten wins- against Svetlana Kuznetsova, Nadia Petrova and Martina Hingis. Mirza started 2007 strongly, making it to the semifinals of Hobart, the second round of the 2007 Australian Open, semifinals in Pattaya, and the quarterfinals in Bangalore. At the 2007 French Open, Mirza lost the battle against Ana Ivanovic in the second round. She also fell in the second round at the 2007 Wimbledon Championships to Nadia Petrova. Mirza had the best results of her career during the 2007 summer hardcourt season, finishing eighth in the 2007 U.S. Open Series standings and reaching her highest singles ranking of world No. 27.
She reached the quarterfinals in San Diego, the semifinals at Cincinnati, and made it to the final at Stanford. She also won the doubles event in Cincinnati with Shahar Pe'er. At the 2007 US 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.
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 2008 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 Bhupathiwhere they lost 7–6(4), 6–4 to Sun Tiantian and Nenad Zimonjić.
She had to withdraw from the PTT Pattaya Open because of a left abductor strain. She reached round four at Indian Wells as the No. 21 seed, defeating No.9 seed Shahar Pe'eren route, but lost to No.5 seed Daniela Hantuchová. On Grass, Mirza was crushed in the second round of Birmingham by Marina Erakovic. At 2008 Wimbledon Championships, as the 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 represented India at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. She was eliminated from singles 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 Russia. Throughout 2008, Mirza was plagued by a slew of wrist injuries, requiring her to withdraw from several matches including those of the 2008 French Open and 2008 US Open Grand Slams.
Sania Mirza at an exhibition match atBangalore.
Mirza started her year by playing at the doubles event of the Moorilla Hobart International. Partnering Francesca Schiavone, they reached the quarterfinals. At 2009 Australian Open, she won her first round match against Marta Domachowska, but she fell against 10th seed Nadia Petrova in round two. 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 in the first round. Mirza and her doubles partner Chuang Chia-jung 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 also lost in the first round at 2009 French Open, Galina Voskoboeva. On grass, Mirza participated at the 2009 Aegon Classic and reached the semifinals, losing to Magdaléna Rybáriková. At 2009 Wimbledon Championships, Mirza defeated Anna-Lena Grönefeld in the first round. She then fell to No.28 seed 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, where she won the title after a few good wins. Sania'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 Stéphanie Dubois. But at the Rogers Cup, she fell to Heidi El Tabakh in the second qualifying round.
Playing in the U.S Open, she defeated Olga Govortsova in the first round but was double-bagled by 10th seed Flavia Pennetta. She also lost in the second round of the doubles event (partnering Francesca Schiavone) to Shahar Pe'er and Gisela Dulko. Mirza then went to Japan where she qualified for the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo but lost in the first round to Zheng Jie. At Osaka, Mirza won against 5th seed Shahar Pe'er and Viktoriya Kutuzova and in the quarterfinal she defeated 2nd seed Marion Bartoli 6–4, 2–0 by retirement. Mirza moved on to the semifinal, where she lost to Francesca Schiavone.
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, 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 the2010 Australian Open. In February, Mirza competed in the 2010 PTT Pattaya Open as the 6th seed, but was upset by 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, the BNP Paribas Open and the Family Circle Cup due to a right wrist injury. This injury also caused her to pull out of the 2010 French Open.
She returned at the 2010 Aegon Classic, where she lost in the second round to Tamarine Tanasugarn in three sets. Mirza then fell in the qualifying at Eastbourne and also lost in the first round of Wimbledon; however, she did manage to finish runner-up at the Aegon GB Pro-Series Wrexham. 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. Mirza won her first round match against Michelle Larcher de Brito at the 2010 US Open, but she went down against 20th seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the second round.
In September, Mirza competed in the 2010 Guangzhou International Women's Open where she made her first quarterfinal of the season. She then lost in the first round of the Tashkent Open, the qualifying draw of the BGL Luxembourg Open, and the first round of the OEC Taipei Ladies Open. In doubles, Mirza won in Guangzhou (with Edina Gallovits) and finished as a runner-up in Taipei (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 toAustralia's Anastasia Rodionova in the final. In doubles, she partnered with fellow Indian, Rushmi Chakravarthi, losing in the semifinals to Australians Anastasia Rodionova andSally Peers. Mirza and Chakravarthi compatriots 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 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 was defeated by 3rd seedAkgul 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 andYang 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.
Sania Mirza at the 2011 French Open. She reached the finals in Doubles alongside Vesnina
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 toKatarina Srebotnik and Květa Peschke. Going into the 2011 Australian Open, Mirza lost in the first round against Belgium's former world No. 1 Justine Henin in a tight three-setter, having won the first set 5–7 she went down 6–3, 6–1 in the next two. She continued her partnership with Voráčová for doubles but lost in the first round as well.
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 atIndian 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 Krunić due to a back injury. Next she played at the 2011 Internationaux de Strasbourg, but suffered a first round lost Alizé 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 Radwańska, 2–6, 4–6. In doubles, Mirza had what was probably the greatest highlight of her career- reaching the finals of a Grand Slam and she ended up runner-up with Vesnina losing out to Andrea Hlaváčková and Lucie Hradecká.
During the grass-court season Sania lost in the first rounds of the singles and doubles competition at the 2011 Aegon International. Playing at the All England Lawn Tennis Clubshe came up with her personal best performance by reaching her first semifinals at The Championships alongside Vesnina losing out to Květa Peschke Katarina Srebotnik 3–6, 1–6. En route they beat 13th seeds Daniela Hantuchová and Agnieszka Radwańska 6–4, 6–3 in the round of 16 and the Spanish duo of Nuria Llagostera Vives and Arantxa Parra Santonja 3–6, 6–4, 7–5 in the quarter final clash. In Singles she lost in the first round to Virginie Razzano in a close three-setter 7–6(4), 2–6, 6–3.
Sania Mirza during her first round match with Virginie Razzano at Wimbledon.
She then could not cross the first round hurdles in her next five attempts in singles including the U S Open where she lost yet another tight three setter 6–7(5), 6–3, 6–1 to Israel's 23rd seed Shahar Peer. On two occasions Sania scored 2 wins in qualifying rounds, defeated Heidi El Tabakh 6–0, 4–6, 6–0 at Rogers Cup and Vania King 7–6(4), 2–6, 7–6(5) at Cincinnati. She however continued her good run in doubles competition as she won the title at D.C. partnering Yaroslava Shvedova defeating the 2nd seeded Olga Govortsova and Alla Kudryavtseva pair of 6–2, 6–3 in the finals.
Partnering Vesnina Sania entered Southern California Open but the duo had to withdraw from their first round match against Elena Bovina and Zheng Jie while leading 5–2 in the first set. Playing at 2011 Rogers Cup the pair lost to future world no. 1s Italian duo ofSara Errani and Roberta Vinci in three sets 2–6, 6–0, 10–7.
At the Flushing Meadows Sania and Vesnina lost in the pre-quarters to the Czech duo of Iveta Melzer and Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová 7–6(4), 7–6(5) having beaten Samantha Crawford and Madison Keys , Vitalia Diatchenko and Olga Savchuk in straigh stes in their previous encounters. After playing on the singles circuit regularly throughout the year Sania also re-entered the top 60 in singles ranking in 2011.
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 toJulia 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, partneringElena 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 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 the 2011 French Open – 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 Hsieh Su-wei. In doubles with Australian Anastasia Rodionova she won her 13th WTA title: they defeated the Taiwanese sisters Chan Hao-ching and Chan Yung-jan 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 Elena 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.
Mirza at the 2012 Aegon International.
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 the2012 Estoril Open, where she was the semifinalist in doubles (with Anastasia Rodionova). She lost in round 2 of doubles in Madrid and also inRome. 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 her. She also won the doubles of the same event with Bethanie Mattek-Sands.
She then participated in the French Open in the Women's doubles (with Mattek-Sands) and the French Open mixed doubles (with Bhupathi). In the doubles she suffered a first round shock defeat but found great success in the French Open mixed doubles where she and Bhupathi won the crown by defeating Santiago González of Mexico and Klaudia Jans-Ignacik of Poland 7–6 (7/3), 6–1 in the final on 7 June 2012.
Sania her parter Yaroslava Shvedova crashed out of the 2012 Aegon Classic with a straight-set defeat against Iveta Benešová and Alla Kudryavtseva. Mirza then would go on to falling in the qualifying singles and first round doubles at the 2012 Aegon International.
Sania and her American partner Mattek-Sands advanced to the third round of the women's doubles competition at the 2012 Wimbledon Championships, where they fell to the Williams sisters. On 26 June 2012, Sania Mirza was awarded a wild card entry hence confirming her participation in women's doubles event of the London Olympics. On 17 July 2012, Sania and her partner Bethanie Mattek-Sands were ousted in the first round of WTA Premier event in USA .
Mirza, partnering Rushmi Chakravarthy in the Women's doubles competition at Olympics, bowed out, losing to Chinese Taipei in a tight match. She also lost in quarterfinals of mixed doubles with Leander Paes to Belarus in a tough encounter. At the Premier Mandatory events Montréal and Cincinnati, partnering Mattek-Sands, Mirza reached the quarterfinals and lost in round one of doubles, respectively.
In October 2012 the prize purse for female winners of the "Fenesta Open National Tennis Championship" was increased to be equal to that of male winners at Mirza's suggestion to All India Tennis Association president Anil Khanna. Khanna also announced that "From now on we will see to it that all national tournaments have the same prize money for both categories women and men."
In her singles career, Mirza has notable wins over Svetlana Kuznetsova, Vera Zvonareva and Marion Bartoli; as well as formerworld No. 1s Martina Hingis, Dinara Safina, and Victoria Azarenka. She is the highest-ranked female player ever from India, peaking at world No. 27 in singles in mid-2007; however, a major wrist injury forced her to give up her singles career and focus on the doubles circuit, where she is currently ranked No. 1. She has achieved a number of firsts for her native country, including surpassing US$1 million in career earnings (now over $5 million), winning a Pro-level title, and winning five major titles (two in women's doubles and three in mixed doubles), as well as qualifying for (and eventually winning) the WTA Finals in 2014 alongsideCara Black, defending the title the following year partnering with Martina Hingis.
In addition, she is the third Indian woman in the Open Era to feature and win a round at a Grand Slam tournament (going as far as the last 16). She has also won a total of 14 medals (including 6 Gold) at three major multi-sport events, namely the Asian Games, the Commonwealth Games and the Afro-Asian Games.
Mirza was named one of the "50 heroes of Asia" by Time in October 2005.[9] In March 2010, The Economic Times named Mirza in the list of the "33 women who made India proud". She was appointed as the UN Women's Goodwill Ambassador for South Asia during the event held to mark the International Day To End Violence Against Women on 25 November
Sania Mirza was born in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India on 15 November 1986, to Imran Mirza, a builder, and his wife Naseema, who worked in a printing business. Shortly after her birth, her family moved to Hyderabad where she and younger sister Anam were raised in a religious family. She is the distant relative of former cricket captains Ghulam Ahmed of India, and Asif Iqbal of Pakistan. She took up tennis at the age of six. She has been coached by her father and also Roger Anderson.
She attended Nasr School in Hyderabad and later graduated from St. Mary's College. Mirza received an honorary degree ofDoctor of Letters from the MGR Educational and Research Institute University in Chennai on 11 December 2008. She is also a very good swimmer.
2001–2003: Success on the Junior ITF circuit
Sania Mirza began playing tennis at the age of six, turning professional in 2003. She was trained by her father. Mirza won 10 singles and 13 doubles titles as a junior player. She won the 2003 Wimbledon Championships Girls' Doubles title, partnering Alisa Kleybanova. She also reached the semifinals of the 2003 US Open Girls' Doubles, with Sanaa Bhambri, and the quarterfinals of the 2002 US Open Girls' Doubles. On the senior circuit, Mirza started to show early success as she made her debut in April 2001 on the ITF Circuit as a 15-year-old. Her highlights of 2001 include a quarterfinals showing in Pune and a semifinal finish in New Delhi. As the 2002 season began, she turned around a season of early losses to winning three straight titles; her first in her hometown Hyderabad and the other two in Manila, Philippines.
In February 2003, Mirza was given a wildcard to play in her first ever WTA tournament, at the AP Tourism Hyderabad Open, in her hometown. She lost the tough first round encounter to Australia's Evie Dominikovic, 6–2, 1–6, 2–6. The following week, at the Qatar Ladies Open, she fell to Czech Olga Blahotová in the first qualifying round. She had a good result representing India on the Fed Cup, winning three straight matches. She helped India win a bronze medal in the mixed doubles event of the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, partnering Leander Paes. In addition, Mirza picked up 4 gold medals at the 2003 Afro-Asian Games in Hyderabad.
At her hometown event, the 2004 AP Tourism Hyderabad Open, Mirza was a wildcard entrant. 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. She won her first WTA doubles title at the same event, partnering Liezel Huber. She then received a wildcard to compete at the Grand Prix SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem inCasablanca, Morocco, but suffered a first round deficit to eventual champion Émilie Loit.
On the ITF Circuit, Mirza had a runner-up showing at the Palm Beach Gardens Challenger, where she fell to Sesil Karatantcheva. Mirza won 6 ITF singles titles in 2004. Going into the 2005 Australian Open, Sania defeated Cindy Watson and Petra Mandula in the first and second rounds, respectively, to reach the third round where she was beaten in straight sets by eventual champion Serena Williams. In February, Mirza became the first ever Indian woman to win a WTA title, by winning her hometown event, the 2005 AP Tourism Hyderabad Open, defeating ninth seeded Alona Bondarenko in the final, 6–4, 5–7, 6–3. Her good-form continued at the2005 Dubai Tennis Championships, where in round two she upset 4th seed and reigning US Open champion to reach the second round of 2005 Wimbledon Championships, where she lost to Svetlana Kuznetsova in a tight three setter.
In August, she reached the third round at the Acura Classic, falling to Morigami. Mirza reached her second WTA final at the 2005 Forest Hills Tennis Classic, falling to Lucie Šafářová. Mirza became 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, before losing to top seed Maria Sharapova in the Round of 16. At the Japan Open, Mirza reached the semifinals with wins over Vilmarie Castellvi, Aiko Nakamura and Vera Zvonareva, before being overpowered by Tatiana Golovin. Thanks to a successful 2005 season, Mirza was named the WTA Newcomer of the Year.
Mirza was seeded at the 2006 Australian Open (the first female Indian to be seeded in a grand slam event), only 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 2006 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 2006 US Open, losing toFrancesca Schiavone. In September, she reached the semifinals of the Sunfeast Open, losing to eventual champion and top seednMartina Hingis. She also won the doubles title there partnering Huber. Mirza made the quarterfinals of the Hansol Korea Open(defeating top seed Hingis en route) and the Tashkent Open. In December, Mirza picked up three medals at the Doha Asian Games– Gold, in mixed doubles and Silver in women's singles and team.
In 2006, Mirza notched up three top ten wins- against Svetlana Kuznetsova, Nadia Petrova and Martina Hingis. Mirza started 2007 strongly, making it to the semifinals of Hobart, the second round of the 2007 Australian Open, semifinals in Pattaya, and the quarterfinals in Bangalore. At the 2007 French Open, Mirza lost the battle against Ana Ivanovic in the second round. She also fell in the second round at the 2007 Wimbledon Championships to Nadia Petrova. Mirza had the best results of her career during the 2007 summer hardcourt season, finishing eighth in the 2007 U.S. Open Series standings and reaching her highest singles ranking of world No. 27.
She reached the quarterfinals in San Diego, the semifinals at Cincinnati, and made it to the final at Stanford. She also won the doubles event in Cincinnati with Shahar Pe'er. At the 2007 US 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.
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 2008 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 Bhupathiwhere they lost 7–6(4), 6–4 to Sun Tiantian and Nenad Zimonjić.
She had to withdraw from the PTT Pattaya Open because of a left abductor strain. She reached round four at Indian Wells as the No. 21 seed, defeating No.9 seed Shahar Pe'eren route, but lost to No.5 seed Daniela Hantuchová. On Grass, Mirza was crushed in the second round of Birmingham by Marina Erakovic. At 2008 Wimbledon Championships, as the 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 represented India at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. She was eliminated from singles 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 Russia. Throughout 2008, Mirza was plagued by a slew of wrist injuries, requiring her to withdraw from several matches including those of the 2008 French Open and 2008 US Open Grand Slams.
Sania Mirza at an exhibition match atBangalore.
Mirza started her year by playing at the doubles event of the Moorilla Hobart International. Partnering Francesca Schiavone, they reached the quarterfinals. At 2009 Australian Open, she won her first round match against Marta Domachowska, but she fell against 10th seed Nadia Petrova in round two. 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 in the first round. Mirza and her doubles partner Chuang Chia-jung 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 also lost in the first round at 2009 French Open, Galina Voskoboeva. On grass, Mirza participated at the 2009 Aegon Classic and reached the semifinals, losing to Magdaléna Rybáriková. At 2009 Wimbledon Championships, Mirza defeated Anna-Lena Grönefeld in the first round. She then fell to No.28 seed 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, where she won the title after a few good wins. Sania'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 Stéphanie Dubois. But at the Rogers Cup, she fell to Heidi El Tabakh in the second qualifying round.
Playing in the U.S Open, she defeated Olga Govortsova in the first round but was double-bagled by 10th seed Flavia Pennetta. She also lost in the second round of the doubles event (partnering Francesca Schiavone) to Shahar Pe'er and Gisela Dulko. Mirza then went to Japan where she qualified for the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo but lost in the first round to Zheng Jie. At Osaka, Mirza won against 5th seed Shahar Pe'er and Viktoriya Kutuzova and in the quarterfinal she defeated 2nd seed Marion Bartoli 6–4, 2–0 by retirement. Mirza moved on to the semifinal, where she lost to Francesca Schiavone.
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, 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 the2010 Australian Open. In February, Mirza competed in the 2010 PTT Pattaya Open as the 6th seed, but was upset by 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, the BNP Paribas Open and the Family Circle Cup due to a right wrist injury. This injury also caused her to pull out of the 2010 French Open.
She returned at the 2010 Aegon Classic, where she lost in the second round to Tamarine Tanasugarn in three sets. Mirza then fell in the qualifying at Eastbourne and also lost in the first round of Wimbledon; however, she did manage to finish runner-up at the Aegon GB Pro-Series Wrexham. 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. Mirza won her first round match against Michelle Larcher de Brito at the 2010 US Open, but she went down against 20th seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the second round.
In September, Mirza competed in the 2010 Guangzhou International Women's Open where she made her first quarterfinal of the season. She then lost in the first round of the Tashkent Open, the qualifying draw of the BGL Luxembourg Open, and the first round of the OEC Taipei Ladies Open. In doubles, Mirza won in Guangzhou (with Edina Gallovits) and finished as a runner-up in Taipei (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 toAustralia's Anastasia Rodionova in the final. In doubles, she partnered with fellow Indian, Rushmi Chakravarthi, losing in the semifinals to Australians Anastasia Rodionova andSally Peers. Mirza and Chakravarthi compatriots 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 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 was defeated by 3rd seedAkgul 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 andYang 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.
Sania Mirza at the 2011 French Open. She reached the finals in Doubles alongside Vesnina
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 toKatarina Srebotnik and Květa Peschke. Going into the 2011 Australian Open, Mirza lost in the first round against Belgium's former world No. 1 Justine Henin in a tight three-setter, having won the first set 5–7 she went down 6–3, 6–1 in the next two. She continued her partnership with Voráčová for doubles but lost in the first round as well.
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 atIndian 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 Krunić due to a back injury. Next she played at the 2011 Internationaux de Strasbourg, but suffered a first round lost Alizé 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 Radwańska, 2–6, 4–6. In doubles, Mirza had what was probably the greatest highlight of her career- reaching the finals of a Grand Slam and she ended up runner-up with Vesnina losing out to Andrea Hlaváčková and Lucie Hradecká.
During the grass-court season Sania lost in the first rounds of the singles and doubles competition at the 2011 Aegon International. Playing at the All England Lawn Tennis Clubshe came up with her personal best performance by reaching her first semifinals at The Championships alongside Vesnina losing out to Květa Peschke Katarina Srebotnik 3–6, 1–6. En route they beat 13th seeds Daniela Hantuchová and Agnieszka Radwańska 6–4, 6–3 in the round of 16 and the Spanish duo of Nuria Llagostera Vives and Arantxa Parra Santonja 3–6, 6–4, 7–5 in the quarter final clash. In Singles she lost in the first round to Virginie Razzano in a close three-setter 7–6(4), 2–6, 6–3.
Sania Mirza during her first round match with Virginie Razzano at Wimbledon.
She then could not cross the first round hurdles in her next five attempts in singles including the U S Open where she lost yet another tight three setter 6–7(5), 6–3, 6–1 to Israel's 23rd seed Shahar Peer. On two occasions Sania scored 2 wins in qualifying rounds, defeated Heidi El Tabakh 6–0, 4–6, 6–0 at Rogers Cup and Vania King 7–6(4), 2–6, 7–6(5) at Cincinnati. She however continued her good run in doubles competition as she won the title at D.C. partnering Yaroslava Shvedova defeating the 2nd seeded Olga Govortsova and Alla Kudryavtseva pair of 6–2, 6–3 in the finals.
Partnering Vesnina Sania entered Southern California Open but the duo had to withdraw from their first round match against Elena Bovina and Zheng Jie while leading 5–2 in the first set. Playing at 2011 Rogers Cup the pair lost to future world no. 1s Italian duo ofSara Errani and Roberta Vinci in three sets 2–6, 6–0, 10–7.
At the Flushing Meadows Sania and Vesnina lost in the pre-quarters to the Czech duo of Iveta Melzer and Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová 7–6(4), 7–6(5) having beaten Samantha Crawford and Madison Keys , Vitalia Diatchenko and Olga Savchuk in straigh stes in their previous encounters. After playing on the singles circuit regularly throughout the year Sania also re-entered the top 60 in singles ranking in 2011.
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 toJulia 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, partneringElena 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 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 the 2011 French Open – 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 Hsieh Su-wei. In doubles with Australian Anastasia Rodionova she won her 13th WTA title: they defeated the Taiwanese sisters Chan Hao-ching and Chan Yung-jan 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 Elena 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.
Mirza at the 2012 Aegon International.
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 the2012 Estoril Open, where she was the semifinalist in doubles (with Anastasia Rodionova). She lost in round 2 of doubles in Madrid and also inRome. 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 her. She also won the doubles of the same event with Bethanie Mattek-Sands.
She then participated in the French Open in the Women's doubles (with Mattek-Sands) and the French Open mixed doubles (with Bhupathi). In the doubles she suffered a first round shock defeat but found great success in the French Open mixed doubles where she and Bhupathi won the crown by defeating Santiago González of Mexico and Klaudia Jans-Ignacik of Poland 7–6 (7/3), 6–1 in the final on 7 June 2012.
Sania her parter Yaroslava Shvedova crashed out of the 2012 Aegon Classic with a straight-set defeat against Iveta Benešová and Alla Kudryavtseva. Mirza then would go on to falling in the qualifying singles and first round doubles at the 2012 Aegon International.
Sania and her American partner Mattek-Sands advanced to the third round of the women's doubles competition at the 2012 Wimbledon Championships, where they fell to the Williams sisters. On 26 June 2012, Sania Mirza was awarded a wild card entry hence confirming her participation in women's doubles event of the London Olympics. On 17 July 2012, Sania and her partner Bethanie Mattek-Sands were ousted in the first round of WTA Premier event in USA .
Mirza, partnering Rushmi Chakravarthy in the Women's doubles competition at Olympics, bowed out, losing to Chinese Taipei in a tight match. She also lost in quarterfinals of mixed doubles with Leander Paes to Belarus in a tough encounter. At the Premier Mandatory events Montréal and Cincinnati, partnering Mattek-Sands, Mirza reached the quarterfinals and lost in round one of doubles, respectively.
In October 2012 the prize purse for female winners of the "Fenesta Open National Tennis Championship" was increased to be equal to that of male winners at Mirza's suggestion to All India Tennis Association president Anil Khanna. Khanna also announced that "From now on we will see to it that all national tournaments have the same prize money for both categories women and men."
No comments:
Post a Comment