Sania, Paes move one rung up in rankings

Nov 20:   Hyderabadi girl improves her singles and maintains her doubles rankings after being out of action for the last five weeks due to a stomach injury while Paes advances in doubles due to last week’s semifinal appearance in Masters Cup.

India tennis sensation Sania Mirza surprisingly moved one position up, 31st, in the latest WTA singles rankings despite being out of action for more than a month, while veteran Leander Paes also advanced one slot to be at 12th in the ATP doubles rankings.

The 20-year old Sania upheld her 18th position in the WTA doubles rankings to remain in top-20 bracket for the last five weeks. Sania had to cut short the final leg of her season due to injury.

The Indo-Czech pair of Leander Paes and Martin Damm Paes has 2870 points in the latest chart. The duo reached the semi-finals of the season-ending Masters Cup in Shanghai where they lost to Simon Aspelin and Julian Knowle.

Incidentally, Shanghai tournament was the last event together for Paes and Damm.

On the other hand, Paes former partner Mahesh Bhupathi clung to 21st place with 2210 points.

In the latest WTA release, Sania gained one position after accruing 921 points while Belgian Justine Henin extended her good run to lead the bunch with 6155 points. Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova is on second position with 3725 points.

Jelena Jankovic (3475) and Ana Ivanovic (3461) Serbia occupied the third and fourth position with Russian Maria Sharapova is at the fifth spot with 2956 points.

Meanwhile, Sania will be seen straightaway in action in the Hopman cup along with compatriot Rohan Bopanna, where she earned a direct entry. The tournament begins on December 30.

In the men’s section, Roger Federer topped for the fourth year in a row followed by Spaniard Rafael Nadal. Serbian Novak Djokovic is at third position.

Russian Davydenko Nikolay upheld his fourth place while David Ferrer of Spain moved one step to attain No. 5 position, getting past Andy Roddick of US, moving into top five bracket after his fine performance in the last week’s Masters Cup in Shanghai.