Staying in top-40 tough enough: Sania Mirza

New Delhi, April 26: Feeling the heat of playing top flight tennis this year, Sania Mirza on Wednesday said her fans should not expect her to shoot up in world rankings as she did on her debut season on the professional circuit.

“I have always said that the second year was going to be tougher than the first. You cannot jump from top-40 to top-20 in two months,” Sania said.

“Staying in top-40 is tough enough. When you are at that level, you play the top girls day in and day out. There has not been a lot of semi-finals (appearances) because the competition is deep. Every week you will be playing five-six top-10 players,” the 19-year-old from Hyderabad said on the sidelines of a promotional event.

Sania has had a tough few weeks on the pro circuit this year.

Source: http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=66716

Others not getting enough support as Sania Mirza: Ankita

New Delhi: Promising young tennis player Ankita Bhambri has a grievance to make.

The Delhi girl thinks that other woman tennis players in the country are not getting as much support as Sania Mirza has been able to get to make an impact at the international level.

Ankita, who is making her presence felt in the country's tennis circle by her impressive performances, said Sania got a lot of support from the Andhra Pradesh government which helped her to shape her career while other talented players were deprived of such facilities.

"Sania has been lucky. The way she got support from the government was not given to others. The Andhra Pradesh Government has helped her financially and otherwise which is not seen in case of other governments," she said while reasoning out why India is not producing another player like the world no 37.

The 17-year-old said that if other players in the conutry are given that kind of support they too can shine in the international scene like Sania.

"When so much of support is given to a player, then the result is bound to come," she said on the sidelines of a felicitation function here last night.

Source: http://www.newkerala.com/news2.php?action=fullnews&id=40782

Sania Mirza climbs back to 37 in world rankings

Sania Mirza gained two places to be 37th in the latest rankings despite making a first round exit at a Tier II WTA tour event at Amelia Islands in USA.

Mirza bowed out of the $600,000 Bausch and Lomb Championships following her 6-3 6-4 loss to Lisa Raymond of the US at the hard court event.

The 19-year-old, however, reached the finals with Liezel Huber of South Africa in the doubles event.

Sania Mirza crashes out of Bausch & Lomb Championship

Armelia Island (Florida), April 5 (UNI): Sania Mirza suffered another first round exit as she bowed out of the USD 600,000 Bausch and Lomb Championships in Florida, on Tuesday.

The Hyderabadi teenager, who is now ranked 39th, could not match her rival's better service and lost the first set in 24 minutes.

She came back strongly in the second set, but unforced errors did her in as the American wrapped up the set in 39 minutes.

Sania has had a string of poor performances of late and she had not been able to move beyond second round in any tournament so far in this season.

Sania moves up two places to 39th in singles, 7 places up in doubles

New Delhi, April 4. (UNI): Despite her early exit from the Nasdaq-100 Open, Sania Mirza moved up two places to 39th in singles, while her quarterfinal appearance in the same tournament pushes her seven places up the ladder in doubles in the latest WTA rankings.

Sania now have 516.75 points to her credit in the singles rankings headed by Amelie Mauresmo of France, according to information received here today.

The Hyderabadi teenager was knocked out of the first round of the singles competition of the Nasdaq-100 Open in Miami by a 16-year-old Georgian wildcard entrant Anna Tatishvili 6-7, 6-1, 6-7.

In the doubles rankings, her good run in the Miami event reaching upto quaterfinals, pairing with Serbian Ana Ivanovic ensured she moved up to 45th from previous 52nd position.

The Indo-Serbian pair lost to eighth seeded Japanese-Slovenian pair of Shinobu Asagoe and Katarina Srebotnik 5-7, 0-6 in the quarterfinals.

Other Indians have also a rewarding week as all of them moved up the ladder in singles rankings.

Shikha Uberoi remained the second highest ranking Indian woman pro moving three places up to 175th, while Ankita Bhambri moved up three places to 357th.

Rushmi Chakravarthi, Isha Lakhani and Sanaa Bhambri made huge jumps. While Rushmi moved up 12 places to finish at 369th, Isha Lakhani is now at 370th up 16 places and Sanaa Bhambri (461st) moved up 13 places.

Source: http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/007200604041512.htm