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In a country where cricket is a religion, Sania Mirza’s crazy fan following speaks volumes about her stature. Her meteoric rise to stardom has made her an inspiration for a lot of sports enthusiasts in India. Sania began playing when she was six years old and was motivated by her family to take up tennis seriously.She is someone who has given India a lot of ‘firsts’ in women’s tennis – first Indian woman to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam, first Indian woman to win a Grand Slam title, first Indian woman to win WTA titles and a lot more. For more reasons that one, the Indian tennis star has been in limelight for many years now. May it be her clothes, her style statement with the nose ring, her marriage to the Pakistani cricket star Shoaib Malik, people questioning her ‘indianness’, or her multiple big wins. Sania has been the talk of the town. Tennis is big in India now and one reason has definitely been Sania . Here is a list of her greatest career wins :
#12 Sania-Hingis pair tastes first success at Indian Wells
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Coming into 2015, Sania Mirza was in top form, having continued her upward surge in the doubles circuit throughout 2014. Before the commencement of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, it was announced that Sania would be pairing up with Swiss legend Martina Hingis.
The pair enjoyed instant success, beating the second-seeded pair of Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina 6-3, 6-4 in the final. The Indo – Swiss pair did not drop a single set en route to their maiden title triumph at Indian wells, a feat they would emulate at the Miami Open, where the Makarova-Vesnina pair had to once again bear the brunt of the pair’s destructive form.
The win in the final of the Family Circle Cup at Charleston, USA takes the winning streak that the duo has enjoyed to 14.
#11 Dubai Open 2005 Sania Mirza beats Svetlana Kuznetsova
Buoyed by her success at the 2005 Australian Open where she had created history, becoming the first Indian woman to reach the third round of a Singles’ Grand Slam event, Sania Mirza rode the crest of the wave to win her first WTA title, in front of an ecstatic home crowd at Hyderabad.
But, it was at the Dubai Open that she went on to register her biggest win (Biggest at that juncture). Up against then reigning US Open Champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in the fourth round at the Dubai Open, Sania caused a massive upset taking out the Russian 6-4, 6-2.
However, Sania failed to get the better of Kuznetsova later that year when she met the latter across the net in the second round at Wimbledon. Sania fought hard to force the match into a third set, but Kuznetsova had the last laugh.
#10 WTA Tour Finals 2014
The biggest win for Sania in womens doubleswas at the WTA Tour Finals this year. TheIndian tennis ace went on to bag the the year-end trophy by partnering Zimbabwian Cara Black. The duo beat the defending champions Hsieh Su-wei (Chinese Taipei) and Peng Shuai (China) 6-1, 6-0 to win their maiden WTA Tour Finals title. 2014 was also a special year for Sania as she broke into the top-5 womens doubles ranking this year, the best in her career so far.
#9 2014 US Open
In the 2014 US Open, Sania and her mixed doubles partner, Brazils Bruno Soares, ware seeded one in the mixed doubles draw. At the culmination of the tournament, she was seen squealing and jumping into the arms of her partner Bruno, when this duo clinched the US Open mixed doubles title by defeating Abigail Spears of America and Mexicos Santiago Gonzalez.
#8 2014 Australian Open
Sania began the year with a runner-up trophy at the mixed doubles event in Australian Open. Sania and her Romanian Partner Horia Tecau lost to the French Canadian combination of Kristina Mladenovic and Daniel Nestor in straight sets36, 26 in the summit clash.
#7 2012 French Open
The next big title came in 2012 when the dazzling pair of Sania and Bhupathi again won the Grand Slam mixed doubles finals by defeating the Polish and Mexican pair ofKlaudia Jans-IgnacikandSantiago Gonzlez,76(73), 61 in a nail-biting thriller. Saniaby now was a household name in India and with her emerging victorious in some of the most prestigious tennis tournaments in the world, tennis was gaining popularity in India.
Sania had also been through a lot in her personal life with her marriage with childhood friend Sohrab Mirza being called off at the time. But she did not let it affect her career and this French Open Winners trophy proved the same.
#6 2011- French Open
Sania was partneredRussian Elena Vesnina and thereached finals of the French Open where they lost 46, 36 to the Czech Republican pair ofAndrea HlavkovandLucie Hradeck.Saniaand Vesninawere one of the most successful doubles pairin the year 2012 by winning two Premiere leaguetitles, reaching theFrench Open Finals, theWimbledon Semisand many other quarterfinals and semifinals.
#5 2009- Australian Open
Sania won the mixed doubles title at the Australian Open in 2009 with Mahesh Bhupathi. They beat the French and Israelian pair ofNathalie DechyandAndy Ram, 6-3, 6-1.
#4 2008- Australian Open
Mirza, partnering Mahesh Bhupathi, reached the mixed doubles finals of the 2008Australian Open. The Indian pair lost to the Chinese and Serbian pair ofSun TiantianandNenad Zimonji,67(47), 46.
Sania was growing in stature and Bhupathi helped her tremendously.
#3 2006 - Asian Games, Doha
2006 was the year when there was no stopping Sania. Sania, pairing with the Indian star Leander Paes, won the mixed doubles gold medal at the Asian Games at Doha. They won the coveted title by defeating the Japanese pair ofSatoshi Iwabuchi andAkiko Morigami,75, 57, 62.
#2 2006- Sunfeast Open, Kolkata
2006 was a big year for the tennis star as she reached the semi-final of the WTA Sunfeast Open in the Singles category, where she lost to the eventual champion Martina Hingis. But in the same tournament, she won the doubles title with Liezel Huber of South Africa. They defeated the Ukranian doubles pair ofYuliya BeygelzimerandYuliana Fedak, 6-4, 6-0.
This WTA title came in her homeland, India!
2006 was a big year for her as she defeated three top-10 players Svetlana Kuznetsova,Nadia Petrovaand Hingis.
#1 2005 - Hyderabad Open
After winning six ITF singles titles in 2004, the biggest win of her careercame in 2005.This was Mirzas first WTA Singles titles and the title was even more special as she won it in her hometown, Hyderabad. With this win, she also became the first Indian woman to win a WTA title where she beat ninth seeded Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine in the final, 6-4, 5-7, 6-3.
