Sania officially becomes No.1

Charleston, April 13: Sania Mirza was elevated to the No.1 spot in the women’s doubles rankings, according to the latest Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) list released on Monday.

Sania leapfrogged to the top spot after winning her third consecutive WTA title - Family Circle Cup - with new partner Marti Hingis here on Sunday.

According to the latest rankings, Sania has 7,660 points to claim the summit spot, closely followed by Italian doubles pair of Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci, both with 7,640 points.

Sania’s doubles partner Swiss Marti Hingis occupied the fourth spot with 6,465 points.

Zimbabwen Cara Black was at the fifth position with 5,990 points.

Sania Mirza and Marti Hingis won their third successive doubles title together, securing the Family Circle Cup tennis title on Sunday, ebling the Indian to create history by becoming the first woman from her country to become the World No.1 in the doubles ranking.

The No.1-seeded Swiss-Indian duo beat Casey Dellacqua and Darija Jurak in straight sets for the title, 6-0, 6-4, missing two match points at 5-3 in the second set but closing it out a game later.

Sania is the first Indian woman to reach No.1 in tennis, in either singles or doubles, and just the fourth Asian woman to do it, after Japan’s Ai Sugiyama, Chi’s Peng Shuai and Chinese Taipei’s Hsieh Su-Wei.

Sania and Marti are already No.1 on the doubles leaderboard for the season-ending Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) fils to be held in Singapore from October 25 to November 1. IANS