Web Quotableonline.com Frasescelebres.org Greatbookscollection.org

Sania Mirza (born November 15, 1986, Mumbai, India
resides in Hyderabad, India) is a professional
female tennis player from India. Coached by her
father, Imran Mirza, Sania began playing tennis at
age six. She turned professional in 2003. She
became the first and only Indian woman to reach
the 4th round of a Grand Slam tournament at the
2005 US Open. She is now the highest ranked female
tennis player ever from India (She had a rank of
42, her highest ever, by end of August 2005). Her
original goal was to enter the top 100 by the end
of 2005, but she revised it to entering the top 50
after good performances at the beginning of the
year. (She may have also been helped by the fact
that she has very few points to defend for this
year and thus, it has been an upward journey in
rankings.) As of July 2005, she ranked 5th among
Asian women. Her year-end rank in 2004 was 206.

"My mother took me to a coach, who initially
refused to coach me because I was too small," said
Mirza. "After a month, he called my parents to say
he'd never seen a player that good at such a young
age."
http://www.wtatour.com/newsroom/stories/NewsArticl
e_7721_rx.asp From WTATour interview She is 5 ft.
7 in. tall.

She has earned a large fan following in India as
she is one of the very few young women from the
country to have done well at the highest levels of
sport. In 2005, she was awarded the Arjuna award
in tennis for the year 2004. She has defeated two
top 10 players, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Nadia
Petrova. She is a devout Muslim, who began playing
tennis at the age of six.

Sania won the Wimbledon Championships Girls'
Doubles title in 2003, teaming up with Alisa
Kleybanova of Russia. 
She got a wild card entry to the 2005 Australian
Open and created history by becoming the first
Indian woman to enter the third round of a Grand
Slam in tennis|Grand Slam tournament. She lost in
the 3rd round to eventual champion Serena
Williams. On February 12, 2005, she became the
first Indian woman to win a WTA singles title
defeating Alyona Bondarenko of Ukraine in the
Hyderabad Open Finals. 

In her Wimbledon Championships debut, Mirza won
her first match at the 2005 event, defeating Akiko
Morigami of Japan in three very tight sets, 6-3,
3-6, 8-6. However, she was narrowly defeated in
the second round by Svetlana Kuznetsova (a player
whom she had defeated earlier in the year for her
first top ten victory) 4-6, 7-6, 4-6.

Watching her performance in Acura Classics,
legendary Pancho Segura, Ecuador-born American
player who roamed the courts in the 1940s and 50s,
felt that Sania's hard-hitting game resembles that
of Romanian tennis legend Nastase. Segura said
that Sania has a natural way of hitting the ball
and she hits it hard. These qualities remind him
of Ilie Nastase. 

==Career Highlights==
* 2005 US Open: reaches 4th round by defeating
Marion Bartoli of France in straight sets (7-6(4),
6-4); Voted Best Player of the day on the 3rd day
for winning her 2nd round match despite bleeding
toes.
* 2005 Forest Hills Women's Tennis Classic, New
York: reaches her second WTA final but fails to
win
* 2005 Acura Classic: upsets Nadia Petrova in 2nd
round but loses in the third round to Akiko
Morigami of Japan (2-6,6-4,4-6). By beating the
8th-ranked Petrova, she breaks into top 50 in
world rankings for the first time ever.
*2005 Dubai Tennis Championships: Upset reigning
US Open Champion Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4, 6-2 in
2nd round to reach the quarter-finals
*2005 Hyderabad Open singles: Won the tournament
defeating Alyona Bondarenko of Ukraine 6-4, 5-7,
6-3 in the final and became the first Indian woman
to capture a WTA singles title. 
*2005 Australian Open singles: 3rd round: Became
first Indian woman to reach the 3rd round of a
Grand Slam tournament.
*2004 Hyderabad Open doubles: Won the tournament
(partnering with Liezel Huber) to become the
youngest Indian to win a Women's Tennis
Association|WTA or Association of Tennis
Professionals|ATP tour title and the first Indian
woman to capture a WTA tour title.
*2003 Wimbledon Championships Juniors doubles: Won
the tournament (partnering with Alisa Kleybanova)
to become the youngest Indian and the first Indian
woman to win a junior Grand Slam title.

==Titles==

===Singles(1)===
{| bgcolor="#f7f8ff" cellpadding="3"
cellspacing="0" border="1" style="font-size: 95%;
border: gray solid 1px; border-collapse:
collapse;"
|- bgcolor="#efefef"
|No.
|Date
|Tournament
|Opponent in the final
|Score
|-
| 1.
| Feb 12, 2005                
| Hyderabad
| Alyona Bondarenko (Ukraine)
| 6-4 5-7 6-3
|}

===Performance Timeline===
{| bgcolor="#f7f8ff" cellpadding="3"
cellspacing="0" border="1" style="font-size: 95%;
border: gray solid 1px; border-collapse:
collapse;" 

|- bgcolor="#efefef" 
! Tournament !! 2005 !! 2004 !! 2003 !! 2002 !!
2001 

|- align="center"
| align="left" | Australian Open || 3 Rnd || - ||
- || - || - 

|- align="center"
| align="left" | Roland Garros || 1 Rnd || - || -
|| - || -

|- align="center"
| align="left" | Wimbledon Championships|Wimbledon
|| 2 Rnd || - || - || - || -

|- align="center"
| align="left" | US Open || 4 Rnd || - || - || -
|| -

|- align="center"
| align="left" | WTA Tour Championships || - || -
|| - || - || -

|- bgcolor="#efefef" align="center"
| align="left" | WTA Finals reached || 2 || - || -
|| - || - 

|- bgcolor="#efefef" align="center"
| align="left" | WTA Tournaments Won || 1 || - ||
- || - || -

|- bgcolor="#efefef" align="center"
| align="left" | International Tennis Federation |
ITF Tournaments Won || - || 6 || 3 || 3 || -

|- bgcolor="#efefef" align="center"
| align="left" | Win-Loss (including ITF) || 8-2
|| 50-8 || 20-5 || 20-4 || 6-3

|- bgcolor="#efefef" align="center"
| align="left" | Year End Ranking || - || 206 ||
399 || 837 || 987
|}

==Wardrobe==

Her T-shirt|t-shirts with their attitude
statements have drawn their attention as well. Her
t-shirt in the post-match conference of 2nd round
match of 2005 US Open had the question, "I'm
Cute?" The t-shirt she wore in the post-match
conference of 2nd round match of 2005 Wimbledon
Championships where she lost to Svetlana
Kuznetsova had a declaration akin to a feminist
manifesto: "Well-behaved women rarely make
history." Questioned about her t-shirt statements,
she is reported to have sounded exasperated and
said that she herself can make a statement without
taking recourse to a t-shirt. A nose ring and
several ear rings complete her wardrobe.

==See also==
* List of Wimbledon champions
* List of female tennis players

==External links==
*wta|id=310112|name=Sania Mirza
*http://www.sania-mirza.net Sania Mirza Unofficial
Fansite with Photo Gallery
*http://www.itftennis.com/juniors/players/player.a
sp?player=35014435 ITF Junior Profile
*http://www.funonthenet.in/index.php?set_albumName
=Sania-Mirza&option=com_gallery&Itemid=51&include=
view_album.php Sania Mirza Pictures
*http://saniamirza.blogdrive.com/ Sania Mirza
*http://www.sania-mirza.in/ Sania Mirza fan site
*http://www.desifans.com/blogs/category/sports-cel
ebrities/sania-mirza Sania Mirza News
*http://www.saniamirza.net Sania's Unofficial Fans
Club
*http://saniam.blogspot.com Mirza fanblog
*http://www.desifans.com/blogs/?cat=10 Fans of
Sania
*http://mirzamania.blogspot.com Picture Collection
of Sania