Sania Mirza retains the world no.1 doubles ranking
Indian tennis star Sania Mirza ended the season as world no.1 doubles player, for the second consecutive year. She achieved this feat despite failing to defend the WTA Finals title. "Finishing the year as No.1 is amazing - it's a dream come true and gives me motivation and inspiration to come out and work even harder next year," Sania remarked.
Sania Mirza: Debut and early career
Sania Mirza was born on 15 November 1986. She took to tennis at the age of 6 and has been coached by her father. Sania played her first WTA event in 2003 where she lost in the first round. The same year she won 4 gold medals at the Afro-Asian Games. In 2005 she won her first WTA title beating Bondarenko in the final.
Best results playing Singles
Sania's best and only single WTA title win was the 2005 Hyderabad Open victory against Bondarenko. In Grand Slam Singles, her best result was when she reached the fourth round of the 2005 US Open. She also won 14 ITF (International Tennis Federation) Singles tournaments between 2002 to 2010. In 2007, Sania reached her career high Singles ranking of world no. 27.
Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results
Sania Mirza won three Grand Slams in the mixed doubles categories. This includes: 2009 Australian Open with Mahesh Bhupathi, 2012 French Open with Mahesh Bhupathi, and 2014 US Open with Brazil's Bruno Soares. She was runner-up in three Grand Slams - 2008 Australian Open with Mahesh Bhupathi, 2014 Australian Open with Romania's Horia Tecau, and 2016 French Open with Ivan Dodig.
Retirement from Singles
In March 2013, Sania Mirza retired from Singles owing to her recurrent injuries and focused her entire attention to play doubles in a bid to prolong her tennis career.
The 'Santina' Grand Slam run
In 2015, Sania teamed up with legendary Swiss star Martina Hingis, to play doubles. The pair popularly called 'Santina' had a great run together and went on to win three back-to-back Grand Slams - 2015 Wimbledon, 2015 US Open and 2016 Australian Open. The pair split in August 2016, barring the year end WTA Finals where they last played together.
Sania becomes World No.1 doubles player
After winning the WTA Family Circle Cup, Charleston, with Martina Hingis in April 2015, Sania clinched the world No.1 doubles ranking. She created history by becoming the first Indian woman to do so.
Two WTA Finals doubles titles
Sania won two year end WTA Finals - Doubles titles in 2014 and 2015 pairing with Cara Black and Martina Hingis respectively.
