Sania Mirza Shocked Hingis

Sania Mirza, Indian tennis ace is back in to her winning form. The season has been rewarding for her with finals in Stanford, quarters in San Diego and semis in Cincinnati. She beat former world no.1 Martina Hingis in round 2 of East West Bank Classic Tennis Tournament on Tuesday.

World number 30 Sania toppled current world number 12 Hingis 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 in second round match of tournament on Tuesday night in Los Angeles. This was Sania’s second win on Swiss player along with continuing her win on American hard court circuit. In the $600,000 tour event Sania beat the tournament’s number 7 seed in an hour and 38 minutes.

Mirza took the opening set in 25 minutes by broking Hingis twice. In the second set Hingis leveled set scores but in decider Sania broke her in fifth game taking a 5-3 lead.

In the latest WTA ranking Sania reached top 30 on Monday followed by her good performance at San Diego and Cincinnati. After her Los Angeles credits she may even rise higher.

At the beginning of this year, Sania ranked 66 and her last week attempt to quarter finals at 1.3 million dollar Acura Classic Women’s Tennis Event in San Diego took her to rank 30. She is the second Indian to be placed in top 30 after Ramesh Krishnan who was ranked 23 in 1987. To be in top 20 Mirza requires 340 more points.

Sania was overwhelmed to win over one of the quickest player and says she feels more confident and stronger now. Sania said she was nervous playing against one of the world’s best player in a huge stadium, in big tournament but she kept control on herself and was determined to win. On being asked, Hingis said that in the third set she was getting physically and mentally tired while Sania got fresher. She is surprised with the incredible angle hits Sania made.

The 20 year old pretty tennis player has five top 20 victims in last month. Doubles specialist Mahesh Bhupati is not surprised by Sania win and says she is much more capable than this. He said Sania can climb greater heights and has a lot of potential.

Sania, mixture of glamour and talent from Hyderabad will be put against some of the biggest names as Maria Krilenko, Danilela Hantuchova and Marion Bartolli at Sunfeast Open in Kolkata starting from September, 17.

Sania attributes her jump from 66 to 30 in few months to her hard work, luck and faith in God. Over the past few months she has been working to overcome her weaknesses and playing on her favorite surface to boost herself. Playing in finals of a Tier II tournament at Stanford has been the most satisfied moment for her.

Sania is all set to face the winner of Shahar Peer and Virgine Razzano match and will most probably meet Nadia Pertova in quarters and Maria Sharapova in semifinals.