Sania Mirza’s most recent showing, at the Rogers Cup in Montreal, Canada, was less than spectacular. However, her 2-6, 6-1, 6-2 defeat to Italy’s Alberta Brianti did not make this plucky teenager fall in the WTA rankings, where she maintains her standing at number 44 worldwide.

Her doubles ranking, meanwhile, actually climbed a spot to place her at 28th. This ascent is a slight surprise only because Sania and her partner, the Polish Marta Domachowska, also lost in the first round of the tournament. These losses eliminated her from further participation in the tournament, one which is generally viewed as a tune-up to the US Open.

Sania will continue to gear up for the Open, however, at the Forest Hills Women’s Tennis Classic, facing American Alexa Glatch. She was a finalist at this tournament last year, and all can hope that this environment of former success will help boost her on the way to the US Open, which begins on August 28th.

After all, Mirza’s ability to remain in 44th place was the comparative bright spot in Indian women’s tennis last week, after Shikha Oberoi dropped from 188th to 193rd, Ankita Bhambri slipped down four places to 363rd, Rumshi Chakravarthi nine places to 454th, and Sanaa Bhambri plummeted from 593rd to 619th.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 23rd, 2006 at 3:18 pm and is filed under Sania Mirza. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.