Sania climbs to 31 in rankings

Sania Mirza has jumped six places to climb to a career-best 31 in the latest WTA rankings after her semi-final appearance at the Japan Open last week.

Sania, who picked 311 points last week in the USD 170,000 Japan Open, has a total of 966.50 WTA points to her credit.

The 18-year-old had vanquished higher ranked opponents including top seed Vera Zvonareva in the Tier III Championship but ran out of steam in the semifinals, losing to France's Tatiana Golovin 2-6, 4-6.

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The only Indian Woman to win a WTA event, Sania had slipped three places after her lacklustre performance at the Sunfeast Open in Kolkata but she more than made up for it by her show in Japan.

Sania's climb up the ladder continued in the doubles also where she moved 14 places to reach 114.

Paired with Israel's Sahar Peer, Sania had made it to the semifinal of the Japan Open, which saw her WTA points go up to 343.50.

In men's singles tennis, Harsh Mankad moved seven places to reach 227 and remained the highest ranked Indian.

In doubles, Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes fell one place each to lie in 13 and 15 places respectively.