Sania vaults to 34 in WTA rankings

Sania Mirza was rewarded for making it to the last 16 at the US Open as she propelled herself to a career-high 34 in the latest WTA rankings.

The teenager from Hyderabad jumped eight places after she added 134 points at Flushing Meadows, which took her aggregate to 888.75 WTA points.

Russian Maria Sharapova returned to the top of the rankings following the list released on Monday, after surrendering her world number one position to America's Lindsay Davenport for a week.

Sania, the only Indian woman to enter the fourth round of a Grand Slam event, is now just two places behind the top Asian player Japan's Ai Suigyami (908) in 32nd with Peng Shuai (898).

The tennis star went down 2-6, 1-6 to the 2004 Wimbledon champion Sharapova at the Arthur Ashe Stadium after she reached the fourth round beating Mashona Washington, Maria Elena Camerin and Marion Bartoli.

The new rankings placed Sania at 148th in doubles after she and her Australian partner Bryanne Stewart lost their first round match to 11th seeds Amilie Loit and Nicole Pratt.

US-based Shikha Uberoi is the next Indian, after Sania, in the singles ranking. Shikha, who made her Fed Cup debut for India this year fell from her previous ranking of 122 to 151.