Tennis: Sania Mirza makes her way into top-100 world rankings after 3 years

On Friday, Shuai Zhang entered the quarterfinals after defeating the pair of USA's Emina Bektas and UK's Tara Moore 6-7, 7-5, 10-7 in the Round of 16 encounter of women's doubles on Tuesday.

Sania Mirza will climb up the ranking ladder at the 98th position in women's doubles ranking, once the new rankings are released. She is now the highest-ranked Indian female tennis player ahead of Ankita Raina, who is ranked 101 in doubles.

Mirza, who had held the no. 1 position in the women's doubles ranking earlier had slipped below the top-100 rankings in 2018. She took a hiatus from the sport following her pregnancy and the birth of her son and came back to action again in 2020.

The six-time grand slam winner started the year competing in the Qatar Open, where she reached the semifinals. It was followed by a Round of 16 exits in the Dubai Championships. In Wimbledon, she reached the Round of 16 stages of the competition in the mixed doubles event. Her best performance so far this year has been the Cleveland Championships, where she reached the finals of the women's doubles event, pairing up with the USA's Christina McHale.

Sania and Zhang will be facing Lidziya Marozava and Anna Danilina in the quarterfinals of the Ostrava Open on Thursday. If she wins the tournament, Sania will be placed within the Top-60 rankings in women's doubles.