Sania Mirza, the teenage sensation from Hyderabad has shot to fame and success in a very short time. This player from India currently stands at the 31st position in the WTA(8th august 2007). In February 2005, she became the first Indian woman to win a WTA singles title defeating Alyona Bondarenko of Ukraine in the Hyderabad Open Finals. Sania Mirza has been honoured with the Arjuna award by the Indian government for the year 2004. The 18-year-old tennis player hit to fame when she competed with Serena Williams in the third round of the Australian Open, in which she went down fighting. Sania is the sports icon of South Asia and has a large fan following. She became the brand ambassador of Lotto Sports Italia, the sports apparel and footwear company, and will also launch a signature line series. Besides wearing bold clothes, Sania is a devout Muslim and follows her religion closely.

In December she competed at 2010 ITF event in Dubai. In first round she defeated 6th seed Ksenia Pervak 6-2,6-3. Then she eaisly defeated Korina Perkovic 6-1,6-2 to move into quarterfinal. In quarterfinal she face Top seed Julia Goerges of Germany. She beat her in straight sets 6-1,7-6(8) and in semi final she won against 8th seed Evgeniya Rodina 6-3,4-6,6-4 to reach final. In final match she beat 5th seed Bojana Jovanovski 4-6,6-3,6-0 to clinch singles title.

2011

Mirza started her year with the ASB Classic Open in Auckland. She needed one more win to qualify for the tournament, but lost in three sets against Germany's Sabine Lisicki. 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

Personal Life

In 2009, Sania Mirza got engaged with a childhood friend Sohrab Mirza, however this engagement did not last long. Mirza married Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik on April 12, 2010. The wedding was held in Hyderabad, India while the walima reception was held in Sialkot, Pakistan. The online attention the wedding generated made Mirza the most searched woman tennis player in 2010 according to Google Trends. The couple planned to settle down in Dubai.