Sports India

India’s new tennis star Sania Mirza has jumped up by 34 points to move to a career-best 132 in the latest WTA Tour tennis rankings following her third round appearance in the Australian Open.

Mirza, 18, put up a brave fight before going down to eventual winner Serena Williams in the third round of the season-opening Grand Slam in Melbourne.

Before the championship, Sania was ranked 166.

But her compatriots have a lot of catching up to do with Rushmi Chakravarthi dropping to no. 349 from her previous ranking of no. 339.

Sisters Ankita and Saana Bhambri have also fared no better. While Ankita slided to no. 432 from 416, Saana did marginally better to move to 548 from 568.

The top honours among the women went to Lindsay Davenport who retained her number one position despite losing to Serena in the Australian open final.

Serena herself moved up five places from no. 7 to be perched on the second spot.

Roger Federer retained the no. 1 position in the men’s rankings, a loss in the semi-finals of the Australian Open notwithstanding, while Lleyton Hewitt overtook Andy Roddick for second place after reaching the final.

Russia’s newest Grand Slam champion, Marat Safin, retained fourth place in the men’s rankings after beating Hewitt in Sunday’s championship match.

President A P J Abdul Kalam has lauded the feat of woman tennis star Sania Mirza and wished her well in the years to come.

“She has done well. I have followed her game. She is a great tennis player who has a bright future ahead. Hope she continues to do well on the international tennis circuit,” he told newsmen in an informal chat at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on�Wednesday evening.

He was complimenting Sania on her brilliant performance in the Australian Open, where she went down fighting to Serena Williams in the third round.

President Kalam had invited home a large number of prominent citizens including Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and other dignitaries on the occasion of Republic Day.

He had met the 18-year-old Hyderabad tennis star�in Rashtrapati Bhavan last year.

According to Rashtrapati Bhavan sources, Kalam follows developments in the world of sports keenly and often makes inquiries about certain players if he does not get time to follow their achievements on day-to-day basis.

Indian sports’ new pin-up girl Sania Mirza�said she is keen to inspire a whole new generation of Indian players whom she wanted to take the tennis world by storm.

“There are lot of talented youngsters coming up in our country and I would like to inspire them to do well on the international scene,” Sania said on her arrival from the Australian Open in Melbourne.

Barring a handful of media personnel, there was less of the throng that normally greets the senior cricket team at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Terminal in Mumbai on Sunday.

The 18-year old, who became the first Indian woman to reach the third round of a Grand Slam, was received by her close relatives as her parents are yet to return from their pilgrimage to Mecca.

Thanking her family members, coaches and the fans for their support, Sania said she is revising her targets for the year.

“Before the Australian Open, my goal was to break into the top 100 in world rankings. But this performance has given me confidence and my aim would be to break into the top 50 before the end of the year,” Sania said.

The Hyderabadi girl put up a gutsy performance in her third round match against former world number one Serena Williams. Although she lost 6-1, 6-4, she captured the Australian public’s imagination with her fighting spirit in the second set.

Asked how she felt about the American superstar’s pre-match comments that she was an unknown quantity, Sania said, “I did not expect her to know me and I did not think much about her comments as my mind was on the match all the time.”

“However, I wanted to play well against her and give a proper reply by displaying my talent on the court and I think I performed quite well against her,” she said.

On the match itself, she said, “I was very nervous in the first set and was not at all hitting the ball well.

“However, in the second set I realised I could match her when I won the first game and started gaining in confidence. It was a fine feeling for me to hear Serena say a few good words after the match.”

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