Padma Sri Sania

Sania Mirza was conferred with the prestigious Padma Shri award for her contribution to tennis on the eve of the Republic Day on Wednesday. The 19-year-old was one of the six sportspersons who got the prestigious annual Padma awards from the Government of India.

Out in 2nd Round

Sania Mirza’s quest for 2006 Australian Open glory ended prematurely when she lost to Michaella Krajicek of Netherlands 6-3, 7-5 in the second round today.

Sania reached the third round in 2005 and then put up a creditatable performance against the eventual winner Serena Williams. Sania can still hope to salvage some pride when she teams up with her American partner Corina Morariu to face Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia and Amelie Mauresmo of France in the first round match of the doubles tournament to be played later today.

Australia Open: Round2

On Tuesday in Melbourne Sania Mirza moved into the second round of the Australian Open tennis tournament with a convincing 7-6, 6-2 victory over junior world champion Victoria Azarenka of Belarus. She faces Michaella Krajicek of the Netherlands in the second round. Sania, who has been seeded 32nd at the Australian Open - the first Indian woman to make the mark in a Grand Slam event - occupies the same spot on the WTA ranking released Monday. This takes her two places above the 34 she was ranked before the tournament began.

Another Loss

Sania Mirza pulled off a set before going down fighting against World No 17 Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia in the first round of the Medibank International Open in Sydney on Monday. Sania, playing in her first WTA Tour match of the season, went down 6-4 2-6 6-2 to US Open mixed doubles champion in a Centre Court match at the USD 600,000 event.
Sania is currently ranked 34 .