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| Sania Mirza |
Sania Mirza was born to Imran Mirza, a sports journalist, and his wife Nasima in Mumbai, Maharashtra. She was brought up in Hyderabad in a religious family. Sania Mirza began playing tennis at the age of six, turning professional in 2003. She was trained by her father. She attended nursery school in Hyderabad and later graduated from St. Mary's College.
Sania Mirza started her 2011 ranked World no. 141.
Sania 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 Sabine Lisicki. In doubles, she partnered Renata Voracova of Czech Republic and reached the semifinals, but lost to Katarina Srebotnik and Kveta Peschke.
Sania Mirza 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. She partnerd Voracova for doubles but lost in the first round also.
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| Sania Mirza |
Sania Mirza received a wildcard to play at the Qatar Ladies Open. She made quick work of Serbian qualifier Bojana Jovanovski 6–2, 7–5. She was crushed by 5th seed Jelena Jankovic 6–0, 6–1 in the second round. In doubles, Sania Mirza paired with Vesnina of Russia and won her first Primary Mandatory event of WTA tour after defeating American pair of Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Meghann Shaughnessy in the final of Indian Wells.
Sania Mirza competed at the 2011 Sony Ericsson Open – Women's Singles Qualifying, where she won against Han Xinyun of China and Voracova in first and second round respectively, thus qualified for the main draw. In the first round she defeated world no. 62 Arantxa Parra Santonja of Spain by 6–2, 6–4. In the next round Mirza lost to Maria Kirilenko of Russia 5–7,6–3,6–0. Mirza paired with Vesnina and defeated 5th seed Zheng Jie (China) and Chan Yung-jan (Chinese Taipei) by 6–2, 4(10)-6(7), but went down to pair of Daniela Hantuchová (Slovakia) and Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland) by 6–4, 6–3 in second round.
Sania Mirza participated at the Premier-level Family Circle Cup in Charleston. In singles, she qualified for it by defeating Johanna Konta and Olga Savchuk. In the main draw, she defeated Alison Riske (Round 1), Vania King (Round 2) and Sabine Lisicki (Round 3), but went down in the Quarter finals in 3 sets fighting against Peng Shuai.
In doubles, Sania Mirza reached the finals along with Vesnina and defeated Liezel Huber & Lisa Raymond (Round 1), Alla Kudryavtseva & Anastasia Rodionova (Round 2) and Peng Shuai & Zheng Jie (Semi finals). The pair beat Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Meghann Shaughnessy for the second time this season in finals 6–4, 6–4. Mirza won her 11 WTA Tour Doubles Title and second of the year.
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| Sania Mirza |
Sania Mirza took part in the Strasbourg Open, but suffered a first round lost to home-favourite Alize Cornet.
Sania Mirza breezed through the first round of 2011 French Open where she beat Kristina Barrois of Germany in straight sets, 6–3,6–3. Then in Round 2, she lost to 12th seed Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland, 2–6, 4–6.
For doubles for the French Open, she has partnered Elena Vesnina and faced Russians Vera Dushevina and Ekaterina Makarova. The pair easily defeated them 7–6(2), 6–2. They faced Kristina Barrois (Germany) and Johanna Larsson (Sweden) in Round 2, and won 7–6(4), 6–3. Next they beat Spanish pair of María José Martínez Sánchez and Anabel Medina Garrigues, 6–0, 6–4 in Round 3. They faced no.1 seeds Gisela Dulko (Argentina) and Flavia Pennetta (Italy) in the quarterfinals, and won 6–0, 7–5. Next they beat American duo containing Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond and upset them in 3 sets in the semifinals. In the finals, they lost to Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka, 3–6, 4–6. This performance gave Sania Mirza her career high doubles ranking of no.14.
For the mixed doubles, she partnered fellow Indian Rohan Bopanna and the pair faced Chuang Chia-jung (Chinese Taipei) and Marcin Matkowski (Poland) in the first round, and they lost 7–6(4), 7–6(2).
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| Sania Mirza |
Then Sania Mirza participated at qualifying draw of the 2011 AEGON International tournament where she beat Renata Voracova and Anna Tatishvili before falling to Tamira Paszek.
At the 2011 Wimbledon Championships, she lost in the first round to Virginie Razzano of France, 6–7,6–2,3–6.
For the doubles for the Wimbledon Championships, Sania Mirza along with Elena Vesnina played the first round against Anna Chakvetadze (Russia) and Melanie Oudin (United States) and won 6-0, 7-6(4). Next they beat Renata Voracova (Czech Republic) and Galina Voskoboeva (Kazakhstan) in round-2, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4.
Personal life
In 2009, Sania Mirza got engaged to childhood friend Sohrab Mirza. However the engagement was called off shortly after. Mirza married Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik on 12 April 2010. The wedding was held in Hyderabad, India. The online attention the wedding received made Sania Mirza the most searched woman tennis player in 2010 according to Google Trends. The couple planned to settle down in Dubai. The wedding was even more controversial because Shoaib Malik was accused by another girl of already being married to him and hence he could not marry Sania without first divorcing her. Initially for many days, Shoiab Malik refused to grant the divorce claiming he was never married. This resulted in a huge media drama leading to so much online attention as stated earlier. Finally, having no other option, Shoaib divorced the girl paving the way for his next marriage to Sania.
