SANIA MIRZA "A INDIAN TENNIS STAR".

Sania Mirza
born 15 November 1986, is an Indian tennis player. She started her tennis career in 2003. In 2004 she was awarded the Arjuna award by the Indian Government .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).

Early life

Mirza was born to a sports journalist, Imran Mirza and her mother Nasima in Mumbai. She was brought up in Hyderabad in a religious Muslim family. Mirza began playing tennis at the age of six, turning professional in 2003. She was trained by her father, as well as her other family members. She went to Nasr school in Hyderabad and later graduated from St. Mary's College.

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.

Career

In April 2003, Mirza made her debut in the India Fed Cup team, winning all three singles matches. Mirza won the 2003 Wimbledon Championships Girls' Doubles title, teaming up with Alisa Kleybanova of Russia.

She is the highest ranked female tennis player ever from India - ranked 31 in singles and 109 in doubles by mid-October 2005. Her original goal had been to enter the top 100 by the end of 2005, but she revised this to entering the top 50 after good performances at the beginning of the year. As of October 2005, she also ranked 2nd among Asian women. She became the first Indian woman to reach the 4th round of a Grand Slam tournament at the 2005 US Open, defeating Mashona Washington, Maria Elena Camerin and Marion Bartoli. Having secured a wild card entry to the 2005 Australian Open Mirza reached the third round, losing to eventual champion Serena Williams.


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