India’s Sania Mirza has finally cracked the world doubles top 10 after the latest rankings were released by the WTA on Monday.
Sania and partner Elena Vesnina reached the last 16 in New York, the points added being enough to move Sania from no. 11 to no. 10 in the rankings while Vesnina also moved up one spot to no. 11. Sania has 5355 points from 22 events this year.
Sania is the first Indian female tennis player to rank in the worlds top 10 in either singles or doubles. The Indo-Russian pair are currently fourth in the race to the year-end WTA Tour Championships in Istanbul where the top 4 teams of the year square off for the tag of year-end champions.
The Indo-Russian pair have 4788 points from 12 events, with Yaroslava Shvedova and Vania King with 4685 points and Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta with 4386 points chasing on their heels. But Sania has been advised to rest her injured knee for six weeks which has in all probability put an end to her Istanbul dreams. The WTA Championships begin on October 25th.
Meanwhile in singles, Sania drops from no. 64 to no. 81. Sania lost in the first round in New York this year while she had reached the second round in 2010.