Sania Mirza (born November 15, 1986) is an Indian tennis player. She was born in Mumbai, brought up in Hyderabad. Coached by her father, Imran Mirza, she began playing tennis at the age of six, turning professional in 2003. She is the highest ranked female tennis player ever from India, with a career high ranking of 27 in singles and 18 in doubles. She was ranked 31st in the singles category and 18th in the doubles category in the WTA rankings of January 7, 2008,
Sania Mirza holds the distinction of being the first Indian woman to be seeded in a Grand Slam tennis tournament when she was seeded 26th in the 2007 U.S. Open. Earlier in 2005, she had become the first Indian woman to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament at the 2005 U.S. Open, defeating Mashona Washington, Maria Elena Camerin and Marion Bartoli. In 2004, she finished runner up at the Asian Tennis Championship. In 2005, Mirza reached the third round of the Australian Open, losing 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.
Mirza won the 2003 Wimbledon Championships Girls' Doubles title, teaming up with Alisa Kleybanova of Russia. Mirza does not enjoy clay court. Her best performance in French Open singles has been a second round appearance in 2007.
As of September 2006, Mirza has notched up three top 10 wins against Svetlana Kuznetsova, Nadia Petrova and Martina Hingis.
At the 2006 Doha Asian Games, Mirza won the silver in the women's singles category and the gold in the mixed doubles partnering Leander Paes.
