Sania Mirza in-action in her second round singles match at the 2011 French Open |
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| Country | India |
|---|---|
| Residence | Hyderabad, India |
| Born | 15 November 1986 Bombay, India (now Mumbai) |
| Height | 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) |
| Turned pro | 3 February 2003 |
| Retired | Active |
| Plays | Right-handed (two-handed backhand) |
| Career prize money | US$ 2,259,143 |
| Official web site | http://www.saniamirza.com/ |
| Singles | |
| Career record | W-L / 263–152 |
| Career titles | 1 WTA, 15 ITF |
| Highest ranking | No. 27 (27 August 2007) |
| Current ranking | No. 104 (26 December 2011) |
| Grand Slam results | |
| Australian Open | 3R (2005, 2007) |
| French Open | 2R (2007, 2009, 2011) |
| Wimbledon | 2R (2005, 2007, 2008, 2009) |
| US Open | 4R (2005) |
| Other tournaments | |
| Olympic Games | 1R (2008) |
| Doubles | |
| Career titles | 12 WTA, 4 ITF |
| Highest ranking | No. 10 (12 September 2011) |
| Current ranking | No. 11 (26 December 2011) |
| Grand Slam Doubles results | |
| Australian Open | 3R (2007, 2008, 2010) |
| French Open | F (2011) |
| Wimbledon | SF (2011) |
| US Open | QF (2007) |
| Other Doubles tournaments | |
| Olympic Games | 2R (2008) |
| Mixed Doubles | |
| Career titles | 1 |
| Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results | |
| Australian Open | W (2009) |
| French Open | 2R (2007) |
| Wimbledon | QF (2011) |
| US Open | QF (2007) |
| Last updated on: 20 November 2011. | |
| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Women's Tennis | ||
| Competitor for India | ||
| Afro-Asian Games | ||
| Gold | 2003 Hyderabad | Singles |
| Gold | 2003 Hyderabad | Women's Doubles |
| Gold | 2003 Hyderabad | Mixed Doubles |
| Gold | 2003 Hyderabad | Team |
| Asian Games | ||
| Gold | 2006 Doha | Mixed Doubles |
| Silver | 2006 Doha | Singles |
| Silver | 2006 Doha | Team |
| Silver | 2010 Guangzhou | Mixed Doubles |
| Bronze | 2010 Guangzhou | Singles |
| Bronze | 2002 Busan | Mixed Doubles |
| Commonwealth Games | ||
| Silver | 2010 Delhi | Singles |
| Bronze | 2010 Delhi | Women's Doubles |
Sania Mirza (Hindi: सानिया मिर्जा, Telugu: సానియా మీర్జా, Urdu: ثانیہ مرزا ) (born 15 November 1986, in Bombay) is a professional Indian tennis player. She began her tennis career in 2003 and is well known for her powerful forehand ground strokes. She is the first ever Indian to break into the top 30 WTA rankings. Sania has defeated many top players, including Svetlana Kuznetsova, Vera Zvonareva, Marion Bartoli and Martina Hingis.
Mirza has won one WTA singles title so far, at Hyderabad in 2005. She has also won the mixed doubles event at the 2009 Australian Open, and was the runner-up at the women's doubles event at Roland Garros, 2011.
In 2004 she was awarded the Arjuna award by the Indian Government. In 2006, Mirza was awarded a Padma Shri, India's fourth highest honour for her achievements as a tennis player.[1] In March 2010, The Economic Times named Mirza in the list of the "33 women who made India proud".[2] Sania was also the most searched sportsperson on Google in 2009 in India.
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Sania was born to Imran Mirza, a sports journalist, and his wife Nasima in Mumbai, Maharashtra. She was brought up in Hyderabad in a religious family.[3][4][5] Mirza began playing tennis at the age of six, turning professional in 2003. She was trained by her father. She attended NASR school in Hyderabad and later graduated from St. Mary's College. She is married to the Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik.[6][7]
Mirza received an honorary degree of Doctor of Letters from the MGR Educational and Research Institute University in Chennai on 2008-12-11.[8] Her niece, Sonia Baig Mirza, studies there.
Sania is the highest ranked female tennis player ever from India, with a career high ranking of 27 in singles and 10 in doubles. She is the third Indian woman to be featuring at a Grand Slam tournament (the first one being Nirupama Vaidyanathan at the 1998 Australian Open and the second being Shikha Uberoi at the 2004 US Open.) She is the first Indian woman to be seeded in a Grand Slam tennis tournament and the first Indian woman to win a WTA title. She is the first Asian woman to win a Grand Slam title.
Mirza won 10 singles and 13 doubles titles in her Junior career. She also won the 2003 Wimbledon Championships Girls' Doubles title, partnering Alisa Kleybanova. She also reached the semifinals of the 2003 French Open Girls' Doubles, with Sanaa Bhambri, and the quarterfinals of the 2002 US Open Girls' Doubles, with Isha Lakhani.
On 16 April 2001, Mirza made her debut at an ITF $10,000 event in Chandigarh, as a wildcard receiver. She crushed Geeta Manohar, in the first round, 6–0, 6–1 before falling to Karen Paterson in the second round, 6–3, 6–4. The following week, She played at an another ITF $10,000 event in Pune, where she beat Kamini Murugaboopathy and Jyotsna Vasisht before falling to Sai-Jayalakshmy Jayaram 6–0, 6–4 in the quarterfinals.
On only her third (and her last event of 2001), Mirza reached the semifinals of a ITF $10,000 event in New Delhi without dropping a set, by defeating Radhika Mandke, Geeta Manohar and Isha Lakhani, before losing to eventual champion Rushmi Chakravarthi, 6–7(1), 6–2, 6–3.
In February 2002, Mirza played at an ITF $10,000 event in Mumbai but lost the First Round to eventual finalist American Sunitha Rao. Her next tournament was the qualifying draw of an ITF $25,000 event in New Delhi. She defeated Archana Venkataraman and Sai-Jayalakshmy Jayaram before falling to Chinese Liu Jing-Jing.
In February on only her fifth tournament, Mirza won her first ITF singles title at her hometown Hyderabad, beating Akgul Amanmuradova 6–1, 6–2 in the final of the $10,000 event.
In November, Mirza also won the titles of her next two tournaments in Manila, beating Wang I-Ting and Amanmuradova, respectively. Mirza also won the bronze medal at the 2002 Busan Asian Games in mixed doubles, partnering Leander Paes.
In December, Mirza played at a $25,000 event in Mumbai, falling to Dominika Luzarova. Next, at a $10,000 event in Pune, she lost to Jennifer Schmidt.
In February, Mirza was given a wildcard to play in her first WTA tournament, at the Hyderabad Open, in her hometown. She lost in the first round to Evie Dominikovic, 6–2, 1–6, 2–6. The following week, at the Qatar Ladies Open, she fell to Olga Blahotova in the first qualifying round. Next up, she won two $10,000 titles in Benin City, Nigeria, defeating Franziska Etzel and Anca Anastasiu in each final.
In April, Mirza played for the India Fed Cup team, winning all three singles matches.
In September, Mirza played at a $25,000 event in Peachtree City, United States, where she lost to Marta Domachowska in the second qualifying round. In October, Mirza won her sixth ITF singles title, defeating Rushmi Chakravarthi in the finals of a $10,000 event in Jakarta. She also reached the semifinals of a $10,000 event, also in Jakarta, with wins over Yuan Meng, Eny Sulistyowati and Wilawan Choptang, before losing to Montinee Tangphong.
In November, Mirza participated at a $25,000 event in Mumbai, where she reached the quarterfinals by defeating Liza Pereira and Sonal Phadke, before falling to Isha Lakhani.
Sania also picked up 4 gold medals at the 2003 Afro-Asian Games- in singles, women's doubles, mixed doubles and team.
At the 2004 Hyderabad Open, Mirza was a wildcard receiver. She put up a good fight against the fourth seed and eventual champion Nicole Pratt in round one, but lost 6–4, 3–6, 2–6. But she won her first WTA doubles title here, partnering Liezel Huber. She also got a wildcard to play at the Grand Prix SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem in Casablanca, Morocco, but suffered a first round deficit to eventual champion Émilie Loit. Mirza also won 6 ITF singles titles in 2004.
Sania started her year off as a wildcard receiver at the Moorilla Hobart International in Hobart. She fell to Cara Black in the second qualifying round.
Mirza received a wildcard to play at the Australian Open. She defeated Cindy Watson and Petra Mandula before losing to eventual champion Serena Williams.
In February, Mirza became the first ever Indian women to win a WTA title, by winning her hometown event Hyderabad Open, defeating ninth seeded Ukrainian Alona Bondarenko in the final, 6–4, 5–7, 6–3.
Her good-form continued at the Dubai Tennis Championships, where she was a wildcard. Mirza, ranked No.94 then, defeated Jelena Kostanić in the first round. In the second round, Mirza upset 4th seed, reigning US Open champion and the Australian Open quarterfinalist Svetlana Kuznetsova, in straight sets. Mirza was down 0–4 in the first set, but won 6 straight games and the second set to win 6–4, 6–2. This raised her ranking to No.78.
Next she lost in the first round of the Roland Garros to Gisela Dulko. At Wimbledon, she defeated Akiko Morigami to reach the second round, where she lost to Kuznetsova.
In August, she reached the third round at the Acura Classic, falling to Morigami. Next Mirza reached the final of the Forest Hills Tennis Classic, beating Shahar Pe'er, Roberta Vinci and Alexa Glatch, before falling to Lucie Šafářová in the final.
Sania became the first Indian woman to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament at the U.S. Open, defeating Mashona Washington, Maria Elena Camerin and Marion Bartoli.
At the Japan Open, Mirza reached the semifinals with successful wins over Vilmarie Castellvi, Aiko Nakamura and Vera Zvonareva. She lost to Tatiana Golovin in the semis.
Mirza reached the second round of the Australian Open, falling to Michaëlla Krajicek. Next she fell to Camille Pin at the Bangalore Open, but won the doubles title partnering Huber.
She played at the Dubai Tennis Championships but lost to Martina Hingis.
At the Indian Wells Masters, she reached the third round but lost to Elena Dementieva. She also lost in the first round of the French Open Grand Slam to Anastasia Myskina.
Her next tournament was the DFS Classic, where she defeated Alona Bondarenko and Shenay Perry to reach the third round, where she was overpowered by Meilen Tu. She also reached the quarterfinals of the Cincinnati Masters and the third round of the Acura Classic, falling to Patty Schnyder and Elena Dementieva, respectively.
She reached the second round of the US Open, losing to Francesca Schiavone. In September, she reached the semifinals of the Sunfeast Open, losing to eventual champion and top seed Martina Hingis. She also won the doubles title there partnering Huber. Mirza made the quarterfinals of the Hansol Korea Open and the Tashkent Open.
In December, Mirza picked up three medals at the 2006 Doha Asian Games- Gold, in mixed doubles and Silver in women's singles and team
As of September 2006, Sania has notched up three top ten wins- against Svetlana Kuznetsova, Nadia Petrova and Martina Hingis.
Mirza started 2007 strongly, making it to the semifinals of Hobart, the second round of the Australian Open, semifinals in Pattaya, and the quarterfinals in Bangalore.
At the French Open, Mirza lost to the battle against Ana Ivanović in the second round. She also fell in the second round at the Wimbledon Championships to Nadia Petrova.
Mirza had had the best results of her career during the 2007 summer hardcourt season, finishing eighth in the 2007 U.S. Open Series standings. She reached the semifinals at Cincinnati. She also reached the final of the Bank of the West Classic and won the doubles event with Shahar Pe'er, and reached the quarterfinals of the Tier 1 Acura Classic.
At the 2007 U.S. Open, she reached the third round before losing to Anna Chakvetadze for the third time in recent weeks. She fared much better in the doubles, reaching the quarterfinals in mixed with her partner Mahesh Bhupathi and the quarterfinals in the women's doubles with Bethanie Mattek, including a win over number two seeds Lisa Raymond and Samantha Stosur. She won four doubles titles in 2007.
Mirza reached the quarter-finals at Hobart as No. 6 seed. She lost to Flavia Pennetta in three sets. She reached the third round at the Australian Open as No.31 seed, where she lost to No.8 seed Venus Williams 7–6(0) 6–4, having led 5–3 in the first set. She was runner-up in the Australian Open mixed doubles partnering Mahesh Bhupathi where they lost 7–6(4), 6–4 to Sun Tiantian and Nenad Zimonjić.
She withdrew from the Pattaya Open because of a left adductor strain.
Mirza reached the 4r at Indian Wells as No.21 seed, defeating No.9 seed Shahar Pe'er en route, but lost to No.5 seed Daniela Hantuchová.
At the 2008 Wimbledon Championships, as No.32 seed, Mirza was defeated by qualifier María José Martínez Sánchez, 6–0, 4–6, 9–7, having had several match points.
Mirza was eliminated in the first round of the 2008 Beijing Olympics when she retired in her match against Iveta Benešová because of a right wrist injury. She got a walkover through the first round at Women's Doubles in Beijing with Sunitha Rao, but lost in the second round to Svetlana Kuznetsova and Dinara Safina. Throughout 2008, Mirza was plagued by a slew of wrist injuries, requiring her to withdraw from several matches including those of the Roland Garros and US Open Grand Slams.
Mirza started her year by playing at the Moorilla Hobart International doubles only. Partnering Francesca Schiavone, they reached the quarterfinals. At 2009 Australian Open she won her first round match against Marta Domachowska, next she fell against 10th seed Nadia Petrova. In doubles she lost in first round partnering Vania King. But in mixed doubles Sania picked up her first Grand Slam title at the 2009 Australian Open. Partnering with Mahesh Bhupathi, they beat Nathalie Dechy & Andy Ram 6–3, 6–1 in the final.
She then entered the Pattaya Women's Open Tournament in Bangkok where she reached the finals after a string of good performances. She lost the finals to Vera Zvonareva 7–5, 6–1. She made the semis in doubles in the same tournament.
Mirza then competed in the BNP Paribas Open where she lost in the second round to Flavia Pennetta. She then participated in the Miami Masters and lost to Mathilde Johansson of France in the first round. Mirza and her doubles partner Chia-jung Chuang of Chinese Taipei made the semifinals of the doubles event. Mirza lost in the first round of the MPS Group Championships but won the doubles title with Chuang. She lost in the first round at Roland Garros, losing to Kazakhstan's Galina Voskoboeva. She also lost in the second round of the doubles (with Chuang) and mixed doubles (with Mahesh Bhupathi). She participated in the 2009 AEGON Classic and reached the semifinals, losing to Magdaléna Rybáriková of Slovakia 3–6,6–0,6–3, who eventually won the title.
Mirza defeated Anna-Lena Grönefeld in the first round of the 2009 Wimbledon Championships. She then fell to No.28 Sorana Cîrstea in the second round. Next she went to Lexington to compete in Fifth Third Bank Tennis Championships. Mirza won the title, by defeating top seed Julie Coin in straight sets in the final.
Playing in the U.S Open, she defeated Olga Govortsova in the first round but lost 6–0, 6–0 to 10th seed Flavia Pennetta of Italy. She also lost in the second round of the doubles event (partnering Francesca Schiavone) to Shahar Pe'er and Gisela Dulko.
Mirza successfully qualified for the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo but lost in the first round to Zheng Jie. Mirza won the first set but could not hold the lead, eventually losing to the Chinese player 7–5, 2–6, 3–6.
At Osaka, Mirza won her first round match against 5th seed Shahar Pe'er 3–6, 6–3, 6–4. Mirza then defeated Viktoriya Kutuzova 6–4, 6–3 and in the quarterfinal she defeated 2nd seed Marion Bartoli 6–4, 2–0 by retirement. Bartoli conceded her match and Mirza moved on to the semifinal to meet 4th seed Francesca Schiavone of Italy.
Mirza began her year at the ASB Classic in Auckland. She won her first round match against Stefanie Vögele in three sets, but was crushed by 4th seed Francesca Schiavone in the second round. Mirza then suffered two first-round losses at the Moorilla Hobart International and the Australian Open.
In February, Sania competed in the 2010 PTT Pattaya Open as the 6th seed, but lost to Tatjana Malek 6–3, 4–6, 3–6. She then played in the Dubai Tennis Championships but suffered a first round defeat to Anabel Medina Garrigues. Sania was forced to withdraw from the Sony Ericcson Open and BNP Paribas Open due to a right wrist injury. This injury also caused her to pull out of the French Open.
She returned at the AEGON Classic, where she lost in the second round to Thailand's Tamarine Tanasugarn in the three sets. Mirza then fell in the qualifying at Eastbourne and lost in the first round of Wimbledon.
Her bad form continued, as she lost in the qualifying rounds of both the Cincinnati Masters and the Rogers Cup.
She then competed at the 2010 US Open – Women's Singles Qualifying where she won three straight matches. She defeated Ksenia Lykina, Elena Bovina, Catalina Castano to qualify for the main draw. In main draw she defeated qualifier Michelle Larcher De Brito 6–3, 6–2. In next round she went down to 20th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6–2, 6–4.
In September Sania competed in the 2010 Guangzhou International Women's Open. In the first round she defeated Katie Obrien 6–3, 1–6, 6–2. Next she defeated 3rd seed Akgul Amanmuradova 6–4, 6–3 to reach the quarterfinals, where she lost fighting to Zhang Shuai 6–4, 1–6, 6–4. At the 2010 Guangzhou International Women's Open she won the doubles title partnering with Edina Gallovits.
In the 2010 Tashkent Open she lost in first round to Ekaterina Bychkova.
In October, she represented India at the 2010 Commonwealth Games as the 2nd seed. She defeated Brittany Teei (Cook Islands), Marina Erakovic (New Zealand), and Olivia Rogowska (Australia) before losing to Australia's Anastasia Rodionova in the final. In doubles, she partnered with fellow Indian Rushmi Chakravarthi, losing in the semifinals to Australians Anastasia Rodionova and Sally Peers. Mirza and Chakravarthi beat fellow Indians Poojashree Venkatesha and Nirupama Sanjeev to win the bronze medal.
Next, Mirza lost in the qualifying round of 2010 BGL Luxembourg Open.
In November, she represented India at the 2010 Asian Games. The unseeded Indian defeated Chan Venise Wing-yau in first round. Next she defeated 6th seed Zhang Shuai in straight sets 6–2, 6–2 to enter into quarterfinal. In quarterfinal Mirza won against 2nd seed Tamarine Tanasugarn 6–2,6–3 to move in semi final, where she went down fighting to 3rd seed Akgul Amanmuradova 7–6(7), 3–6, 4–6 and won Bronze Medal in singles. In Mixed Doubles she partnered with India's Vishnu Vardhan losing in the finals to Chan Yung-jan and Yang Tsung-hua and won Silver Medal.
In December, she went to Dubai to compete at the Al Habtoor Tennis Challenge. Coming unseeded, she won the tournament, defeating 6th seed Ksenia Pervak, top seed Julia Görges & 8th seed Evgeniya Rodina en route, and 2nd seed Bojana Jovanovski in the final.
Ranked at no.141, Sania kicked-off her year with the ASB Classic in Auckland. She needed one more win to qualify for the tournament, but lost in three sets against Sabine Lisicki. In doubles, she partnered Renata Voráčová of Czech Republic and reached the semifinals, but lost to Katarina Srebotnik and Květa Peschke.
She then competed at the 2011 Australian Open – Women's Singles Qualifying where she won three straight matches to qualify for the main draw. In the first round she went down fighting to former world no. 1 Justine Henin 5–7,6–3,6–1. She partnerd Voracova for doubles but lost in the first round also.
She received a wildcard to play in the Dubai Tennis Championships. She defeated Akgul Amanmuradova 6–3, 6–1 in the first round. She lost to qualifier Ayumi Morita in the second. In doubles, she has partnered with Russian Elena Vesnina. They beat Timea Bacsinszky and Iveta Benešová in the opener. Next, they beat Alexandra Dulgheru and Selima Sfar before going down to Victoria Azarenka and Maria Kirilenko in the quarterfinals.
Mirza received a wildcard to play at the Qatar Ladies Open. She made quick work of Serbian qualifier Bojana Jovanovski 6–2, 7–5. She was crushed by 5th seed Jelena Janković 6–0, 6–1 in the second round. In doubles, Mirza paired with Vesnina of Russia and won her first Primary Mandatory event of WTA tour after defeating American pair of Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Meghann Shaughnessy in the final of Indian Wells.
Mirza competed at the 2011 Sony Ericsson Open – Women's Singles Qualifying, where she won against Han Xinyun of China and Voracova in first and second round respectively, thus qualified for the main draw. In the first round she defeated world no. 62 Arantxa Parra Santonja of Spain by 6–2, 6–4. In the next round Mirza lost to Maria Kirilenko of Russia 5–7,6–3,6–0. Mirza paired with Vesnina and defeated 5th seed Zheng Jie (China) and Chan Yung-jan (Chinese Taipei) by 6–2, 4(10)-6(7), but went down to pair of Daniela Hantuchová (Slovakia) and Agnieszka Radwańska (Poland) by 6–4, 6–3 in second round.
Mirza participated at the Premier-level Family Circle Cup in Charleston. In singles, she qualified for it by defeating Johanna Konta and Olga Savchuk. In the main draw, she defeated Alison Riske (Round 1), Vania King (Round 2) and Sabine Lisicki (Round 3), but went down in the Quarter finals in 3 sets fighting against Peng Shuai.
In doubles, Mirza reached the finals along with Vesnina and defeated Liezel Huber & Lisa Raymond (Round 1), Alla Kudryavtseva & Anastasia Rodionova (Round 2) and Peng Shuai & Zheng Jie (Semi finals). The pair beat Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Meghann Shaughnessy for the second time this season in finals 6–4, 6–4. Mirza won her 11 WTA Tour Doubles Title and second of the year.
Next, she competed at the 2011 Madrid Masters, where she won two matches to qualify, but lost in the first round of the main draw against Elena Vesnina. In doubles, she patnered Elena Vesnina, and together they defeated Vera Dushevina & Tatiana Poutchek (Round 1) and Nadia Petrova and Anastasia Rodionova (Round 2), before goind down to Katarina Srebotnik & Květa Peschke in Round 3.
Mirza took part in the Strasbourg Open, but suffered a first round lost to home-favourite Alize Cornet.
Mirza breezed through the first round of 2011 French Open where she beat Kristina Barrois of Germany in straight sets, 6–3,6–3. Then in Round 2, she lost to 12th seed Agnieszka Radwańska of Poland, 2–6, 4–6.
For doubles for the French Open, she has partnered Elena Vesnina and faced Russians Vera Dushevina and Ekaterina Makarova. The pair easily defeated them 7–6(2), 6–2. They faced Kristina Barrois (Germany) and Johanna Larsson (Sweden) in Round 2, and won 7–6(4), 6–3. Next they beat Spanish pair of María José Martínez Sánchez and Anabel Medina Garrigues, 6–0, 6–4 in Round 3. They faced no.1 seeds Gisela Dulko (Argentina) and Flavia Pennetta (Italy) in the quarterfinals, and won 6–0, 7–5. Next they beat American duo containing Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond and upset them in 3 sets in the semifinals. In the finals, they lost to Andrea Hlaváčková and Lucie Hradecká, 3–6, 4–6. This performance gave Mirza her career high doubles ranking of no.14.
For the mixed doubles, she partnered fellow Indian Rohan Bopanna and the pair faced Chuang Chia-jung (Chinese Taipei) and Marcin Matkowski (Poland) in the first round, and they lost 7–6(4), 7–6(2).
Her next tournament was the AEGON Classic in Birmingham, where she suffered a first round deficit by Tamira Paszek.
Then Mirza participated at qualifying draw of the 2011 AEGON International tournament where she beat Renata Voráčová and Anna Tatishvili before falling to Tamira Paszek.
At the 2011 Wimbledon Championships, she lost in the first round to Virginie Razzano of France, 6–7,6–2,3–6.
For the doubles for the Wimbledon Championships, Mirza along with Elena Vesnina played the first round against Anna Chakvetadze (Russia) and Melanie Oudin (United States) and won 6–0, 7–6(4). Next they beat Renata Voráčová (Czech Republic) and Galina Voskoboeva (Kazakhstan) in round-two, 6–3, 5–7, 6–4. Then came Daniela Hantuchová and Agnieszka Radwańska in the third round and Mirza + Vesnina beat them 6–3, 6–4, in the quarterfinals they beat the Spanish duo of Nuria Llagostera Vives and Arantxa Parra Santonja 3–6, 6–4, 7–5 to enter the semifinals. The pair suffered a 3–6, 1–6 loss to Květa Peschke and Katarina Srebotnik in the semifinals.
For mixed doubles, Mirza and Rohan Bopanna reached the quarterfinals where they lost to Paul Hanley and Hsieh Su-wei.
Mirza's next tournament was the 2011 Citi Open where she lost a very close game to Stephanie Dubois. She partnered Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan for doubles and won her 12th WTA Doubles Title of her career and 3rd of the year, beating Olga Govortsova and Alla Kudryavtseva in the final.
Then came the Mercury Insurance Open where Mirza lost fighting to Sara Errani.
Mirza is participated at the Rogers Cup Open in Toronto where she defeated Heidi El Tabakh in the First Qualifying Round. She played Kathrin Worle in the Qualifying Round but lost 7–6, 5–7, 3–6 to the German player.
Mirza's next tournament would be the Cincinnati Masters, where she beat Vania King in the First Qualifying Round but lost in the Final to Alexa Glatch. She then played at the Texas Open where she lost to Sabine Lisicki in Round 1.
At the US Open, Mirza lost an extremely tight match to Shahar Pe'er in the first round. She partnered Mahesh Bhupathi in mixed-doubles but lost in R1 also. In doubles, Mirza and Vesnina reached the third round. A knee injury forced Mirza to stop playing for the rest of the season. She ended the year raneked 104th in singles and 11th in doubles.
Mirza kicked-off her 2012 season ranked 104th at the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand. She lost a tough 6–1, 5–7, 3–6 first qualifying match against Coco Vandeweghe. As for doubles, she partnered Elena Vesnina and is scheduled to play Sabine Lisicki and Peng Shuai in the quarterfinals.
In 2009, Sania Mirza got engaged to childhood friend Sohrab Mirza. However the engagement was called off shortly after. Then she dated Faizan Udyawar, who is a multimillionaire businessman, for six months. Since she wanted to marry a sportsperson, She started seeing Shoaib Malik.[9] Mirza married Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik on 12 April 2010.[10][11] The wedding was held in Hyderabad, India. The online attention the wedding received made Mirza the most searched woman tennis player in 2010 according to Google Trends.[12] The couple planned to settle down in Dubai. The wedding was even more controversial because Shoaib Malik was accused by another girl of already being married to him and hence he could not marry Sania without first divorcing her. Initially for many days, Shoiab Malik refused to grant the divorce claiming he was never married. This resulted in a huge media drama leading to so much online attention as stated earlier. Finally, having no other option, Shoaib divorced the girl paving the way for his next marriage to Sania.[13]
The short tennis clothes she has to wear in the court has drawn criticism from some Muslim religious group.[5] According to one report published 8 September 2005, an unnamed Muslim scholar had issued a ruling, saying that women's tennis attire is not suited to Islam.[14] Jamiat-ulema-e-Hind rejected rumours about disrupting her game saying that they do not stop anyone from playing, although they found female tennis players' dress code objectionable. Nevertheless, Calcutta police tightened security measures to protect her.[15]
After Mirza spoke at a conference on safe sex in November 2005, some groups said she was detached from Islam and that she was a "corrupting influence on the youth." Mirza clarified her stance by saying that she was opposed to pre-marital sex.[16]
In 2006, some newspapers reported that Mirza declined to play doubles with Israeli tennis player Shahar Pe'er for fear of protests from India's Muslim community.[16] However, when she teamed up with Pe'er for the 2007 WTA Tour of Stanford, California, there was no reaction.
Mirza was pictured resting her feet and showing the soles of her bare feet as she watched compatriot Rohan Bopanna play in the 2008 Hopman Cup, with an Indian flag in front.[17] She faced possible prosecution under the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act after a private citizen complained. Mirza protested, "I love my country, I wouldn't be playing Hopman Cup otherwise."
On 4 February 2008, Mirza said that she would stop appearing in tennis tournaments held in India, starting with the 2008 Bangalore Open the following month, citing the series of controversies and upon advice by her manager.[18]
But Mirza chose to participate at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi. This time, she faced no controversies, but instead the public were happy that she has started to play at major tournaments in India.
| Outcome | Year | Championship | Surface | Partner | Opponents in Final | Score in Final |
| Runner-up | 2011 | French Open | Clay | Elena Vesnina | Andrea Hlaváčková Lucie Hradecká |
3–6, 4–10 |
| Outcome | Year | Championship | Surface | Partner | Opponents in Final | Score in Final |
| Runner-up | 2008 | Australian Open | Hard | Mahesh Bhupathi | Sun Tiantian Nenad Zimonjić |
6–7(4), 4–6 |
| Winner | 2009 | Australian Open | Hard | Mahesh Bhupathi | Nathalie Dechy Andy Ram |
6–3, 6–1 |
| Tournament | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | w-l |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australian Open | 3R | 2R | 3R | 2R | 2R | 1R | 1R | 10–7 |
| French Open | 1R | 1R | 2R | – | 2R | – | 2R | 3–5 |
| Wimbledon | 2R | 1R | 2R | 2R | 2R | 1R | 1R | 4–7 |
| U.S. Open | 4R | 2R | 3R | – | 2R | 2R | 1R | 11–5 |
| win-loss | 6–4 | 2–4 | 6–4 | 2–2 | 4–4 | 1–3 | 1–3 | 22–23 |
| Year End Ranking | 31 | 66 | 32 | 99 | 58 | 166 | 88 | N/A |
| Tournament | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | win-loss | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australian Open | – | 1R | 3R | 3R | 1R | 3R | 1R | 6–6 | ||||||||||
| French Open | 2R | 3R | 1R | 2R | – | – | F | 9–5 | ||||||||||
| Wimbledon | 1R | 2R | 3R | QF | 2R | 2R | SF | 12–7 | ||||||||||
| U.S. Open | 1R | 3R | QF | – | 2R | 1R | 3R | 7–5 | ||||||||||
| win-loss | 1–2 | 5–4 | 7–4 | 6–3 | 2–3 | 4–3 | 8–3 | 34–22 | ||||||||||
| Year-End Championship | ||||||||||||||||||
| WTA Tour Championships | A | A | A | A | A | A | 0–0 | |||||||||||
| WTA Premier Mandatory Tournaments | ||||||||||||||||||
| Indian Wells | – | QF | – | SF | 1R | – | W | 10–3 | ||||||||||
| Key Biscayne | – | QF | – | 1R | SF | – | 2R | 6–3 | ||||||||||
| Madrid | Not Held | SF | – | QF | 5–2 | |||||||||||||
| Beijing | Not Held | Not Tier 1 | 1R | – | 0–1 | |||||||||||||
| WTA Premier 5 Tournaments | ||||||||||||||||||
| Dubai | Not Held | 1R | 1R | QF | 2–3 | |||||||||||||
| Rome | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 0–0 | ||||||||||
| Cincinnati | Not Held | Not Tier I | – | – | 0–0 | |||||||||||||
| Montreal / Toronto | – | 1R- | – | – | – | – | 0–1 | |||||||||||
| Tokyo | – | – | – | – | – | – | 0–0 | |||||||||||
| Preceded by Tatiana Golovin |
WTA Newcomer of the Year 2005 |
Succeeded by Agnieszka Radwańska |
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