Sania Mirza’s first-round doubles win in the WTA Tour event in Brussels late on Tuesday helped the 25-year-old Indian notch up her 500th professional win (singles and doubles).
The Hyderabadi, who came into the tournament needing four victories to get to the 500-mark, won three singles matches in the qualifiers, then partnered American Bethanie Mattek-Sands for a 6-4, 6-2 win over Mervana Jugic-Salik and Sandra Klemenschits to round off her effort.
Sania, who has 270 singles wins – 21 of those coming in Grand Slams – and 230 strikes in doubles, said, she had enjoyed every bit of her journey as a professional athlete.
“The highs and lows, triumphs and struggles are a part of my life I would not exchange that for anything,” the glamorous ace said.
“When I first held a tennis racket 20 years ago, nobody thought a girl from our country could become a successful professional tennis player,” she added.
“When I started playing at the Grand Slam level, critics thought it was a fluke, but beating the odds fired me on,” Sania pointed out.
“500 wins wasn’t something I even dreamt about when I got on the road. It’s a decade since I played my first international women’s tournament and I still feel the excitement before every major tournament. That keeps me going.”
When asked to pick her best effort, Sania, who has one WTA singles title and 13 doubles crowns to her credit – which has given her $2,486,922 in prize money – said, “Martina Hingis was one of the greatest players when I was growing up and defeating her for the first time in South Korea (2007) and then again in Los Angeles were special moments. Beating the reigning US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in Dubai (2005) after being down 0-4, having twisted my ankle, must rank right up there.”
The India Fed Cupper’s doubles ranking, which is down to No. 11 this week, puts a question mark over her Olympic participation. She needs a top-10 doubles ranking to make the cut for women’s doubles and mixed-doubles in London.
“I’ve done everything I could to qualify. I even skipped the French Open qualifiers (singles) to play an additional tournament in Brussels this week to help me qualify for London,” Sania said.