Sania climbs one rung to 29th in singles WTA rankings

New Delhi, Aug 13 (UNI) Sania Mirza continues to scale new highs in her short career as the Indian ace jumped to her career-best 29th rankings in the latest WTA chart issued today.

The 20-year-old Hyderabadi broke into top 30 last week after her phenomenal three-week run in the US hard court which saw her upset five top 20 players in Cincinnati, Stanford and San Diego.

Her latest victim was former world number one Martina Hingis whom Sania defeated in the second round of East West Bank Classic in Los Angeles last week. Sania though lost to Frenchwoman Virginia Razzano in pre-quarters.

Sania will not be in action this week and she will play in the Tier II Pilot Pen tournament in New Havens starting August 20.

In doubles also, Sania moved up one place to 25th with 1321 points. She and Bethanie Mattek of United States reached quarterfinal at East West Bank Classic in Los Angeles.

Sunitha Rao (222nd), downed four places, remains the second highest-ranked Indian in WTA rankings ahead of Shikha Uberoi (330th).

In the ATP doubles rankings, Mahesh Bhupathi's title win with Czech Republic's Pavel Vizner yesterday in Rogers Masters in Montreal propelled the Indian two places up to 19th.

Leander Paes, who lost to Bhupathi-Vizner in the quarter-final in Montreal, lost one place but continued to be in the top 10 as he is now placed at ninth.

Rohan Bopanna also moved up to 89th after gaining three places.

Last week, after claiming a hat-trick of titles in ATP Challenger doubles with Aisam-ul-Qureshi, Bopanna had become the third Indian after Paes and Bhupathi to break into the top-100 in doubles rankings.

In singles, Bopanna remained the top ranked Indian though he slipped one place for the 223rd. Prakash Amritraj also slided two places to 270th while Karan Rastogi gained one place to 339th.

UNI