Indian tennis icon from Hyderabad Sania Mirza added another feather to her crowm by breaking into the top 30 in world rankings on August 6, 2007. She also won the West Bank Classic Tournament doubles in the USA in July 2007. Earlier she earned the distinction of being the first Indian Woman to win a WTA title when she beat Aloyna Bandarenko (Ukraine) 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 in the final of Hyderabad Open Women Tennis tournament on February 12, 2005.
Sania Mirza is the first Indian girl to have won a Grand Slam title in July 2003. She also became the first Indian to enter the third round of Australian Open 2005 Tennis Tournament and the fourth round of any Grand Slam when she entered the fourth round of the US Open 2005.
Sania has achieved the distinction of being the first Indian sports woman to feature on the cover of TIME magazine and was included in New Statesman periodical’s ‘List of 10 People Who Will Change The World’. Sania won her first Grand Slam in Mixed Doubles in Australian Open 2009 pairing with Mahesh Bhupathi. With this, the duo became the first Indian pair to win a Grand Slam Mixed Doubles Title. In 2010, Sania Mirza was married to Pakisthani cricketer Shoaib Malik.