Sania Mirza to partner Jie Zheng in US Open

Jie Zheng

New Delhi, July 22 (IANS) Indian tennis player Sania Mirza said here on Monday that she will partner China’s Jie Zheng for the final major of the year, the US Open.

“Me and Bethanie (Mattek-Sands) were playing very well last year. But she has had a lot of injuries in her career and now just wants to concentrate on her singles game. It is pretty unfortunate as we were No.5 in the race and probably were going to make it into the year ending (tournament),” said Sania, who along with American Mattek-Sands won the doubles title at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships in February.

“I am going to play with Jie Zheng for the US Open. We have played one tournament together and made the semis. We have four weeks to prepare for the tournament which is good enough,” Sania told reporters here at the Indian Badminton League (IBL) players auction.

The star has been roped in as the brand ambassador of the Delhi franchise, the Delhi Smashers.

“Jie’s strength is her net play where she is quite strong and her backhand. My strength lies in playing from the back of the court. She has won the Wimbledon and the Australian Open and knows how to perform at the big stage. I hope we gel well together,” added the 26-year-old.