Sania Mirza makes history, becomes first Indian woman to reach World No. 1 in doubles

Martina Hingis (L) and Sania Mirza

Sania Mirza has made a career of making Indians proud of her achievements, and today she has added perhaps the most glittering accomplishment of them all. Mirza is now the top-ranked female doubles player in the world, and what adds even more weight to the feat is that she is the first Indian woman to get to World No. 1 in any format of tennis.

Partnering with five-time Grand Slam champion Martina Hingis, Mirza clinched the Family Circle Cup in Charleston by defeating Casey Dellacqua and Darija Jurak 6-0, 6-4 in the final. This is the third title in a row for the Indo-Swiss pair, after winning the Indian Wells and Miami titles back-to-back. Mirza and Hingis are actually undefeated together so far; they have played three tournaments together, and have won all three.

The Indo-Swiss pair are now also the No. 1 ranked doubles team in the world, taking over the top spot from Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci.

While Hingis is no stranger to the No. 1 ranking, having occupied the singles throne for 80 weeks a decade ago, this is unfamiliar territory for Mirza. Before last year, the Indian had never even reached the top 5 in the women’s doubles rankings, and while she had had sporadic victories over the last decade, she could never quite put together a sustained run of success.

All that has changed in the last year though. Mirza has won as many as seven doubles titles in the last 12 months, with the icing on the cake coming in the form of the WTA finals which she won with Cara Black. And now, with Hingis, the Indian seems to have reached a whole new level.

"It's a dream for every kid to be No.1 one day," Mirza said at the presentation ceremony. "I can't think of a better person to do it with. When we came here we had one thing in mind, to get No.1, and she really helped me get there. She helped me through some tough moments this week. She's just a great person and a great player.”

"No tournament has been as special to me as the Family Circle Cup, and no tournament will ever be as special to me, because I became No.1 here," Mirza finished.