India’s tennis sensation Sania Mirza, ranked sixth in Asia, will be eying the Doha Asian Games to end the year on a high note.

The Indian, currently ranked 66th in the world, started the year with a career high rank of 31st that she achieved in October last year. She also defeated Martina Hingis in the second round of the Korea Open in September, but after that a string of poor performances resulted in her downslide.

But winning the inaugural Asian Hopman Cup Sunday will really boost Mirza’s confidence for the Asian Games, where she will come across stiff competition from other top players from Asia in the singles event especially China. She will also pair with ace Indian player Leander Paes for the doubles event.

Nine out of top 10 Asian female tennis players are set to star in the Asian Games starting Friday. The only absentee till now is Asia’s No. 2 Ai Sugiyama of Japan.

Chinese Li Na, ranked 21st in the world, has toppled Japanese veteran Ai Sugiyama to be the Asian No.1. She has notched many impressive wins over the world top 10 players en route to the best 20th ranking in August this season, including her imperious run to the last eight at Wimbledon this year.

China’s hopes of claiming the women’s singles title were further boosted as the top favourite was strengthened by fellow Chinese Zheng Jie, a specialist in doubles but also among the best singles players in Asia.

Ranked 33rd in the world, Zheng partnered another Chinese Yan Zi to win six tournaments this year including the Australian Open and Wimbledon, becoming the first Chinese Grand Slam champions in tennis history.

Having failed to win any of the seven tennis titles at the 14th Asian Games in Busan, South Korea four years ago, China is determined to put the record straight through the women’s events.