Sania Mirza would have found life remarkably more straightforward had she been born in an era when women players wore nothing less than an ankle-length dress, bustle, tie, hat and gloves.

But when the Indian goes on court today in a thigh-length skirt – hardly unusual amid a generation of scantily clad players – it can be construed as a message of defiance.

In September 2005 a group of Muslim clerics issued a fatwa demanding that Mirza, a devout Muslim, cover up during matches, and soon after that the then 18-year-old bowed to the pressure and swapped her skirt for shorts. Haseeb-ul-Hasan Siddiqui of the Sunni Ulema Board said her outfits left “nothing to the imagination,” and that “for an entire nation of young Muslim girls she will be a corrupting influence”.

He claimed that her skirts and T-shirts – “Well Behaved Women Rarely Make History” reads one, “I’m Cute, No Shit” another and “You Can Either Agree With Me Or Be Wrong” a third – were “un-Islamic”.

But at this year’s French Open Mirza started wearing a skirt again. “How I dress is a very personal thing, so give me a break,” she said. “I’m just trying to have some fun. If I have something to say I can speak, can’t I? I don’t have to speak through what I wear.”

For most of her compatriots, Mirza is an idol. She was the first Indian woman to break into the top 50 of the WTA Tour rankings, the first to reach the fourth round of a grand slam, the US Open in 2005, and the first to win a tour title, in her home city of Hyderabad, which according to some reports caused a mini-stampede.

Such is the interest in Mirza’s life that she says she often used to find intruders in her house and was forced to employ two guards to man it day and night. The world No44’s image adorns billboards all over India and her endorsement fees match those of the cricketer Rahul Dravid.

“Sania mania” peaked in August 2005 when she destroyed Nadia Petrova 6-2, 6-1 in the third round in San Diego. That year Petrova had already reached the French Open semi-finals and the Wimbledon quarters and attained a career-high ranking of world No3. The pair meet again for the first time this afternoon in the second round of a tournament which already has a special place in Mirza’s career.

In 2003 she won the junior doubles title here with Alisa Kleybanova to become the youngest Indian – and first Indian woman – to win a junior grand slam. At that point hardcourts were her favourite surface but after taking the then reigning US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova to three sets on Centre Court in 2005 she realised that her game was best suited to grass.

“This is a very special tournament for me, a great place to come back to,” said Mirza, who beat Yaroslava Shvedova 6-0, 6-3 in the first round on Tuesday. “There are a lot of Indian people here and a lot of support.”

Indian tennis starlet Sania Mirza blasted her way into the second round at Wimbledon on Tuesday, easing past Russia’s Yaroslava Shvedova in straight sets.

Mirza, 20, wasted no time on Court 6 as she demolished the 19-year-old Muscovite 6-0, 6-3 in 55 minutes.

However, Mirza was frustrated by her opponent at 5-2 up in the final set, being pegged at deuce before world number 80 Shvedova finally won the game.

And she lost two match points in the final game before finally sealing it as the Russian misfired.

Mirza, who signed autographs for the Indian fans in the crowd as she left, now faces Russian 11th seed Nadia Petrova in the second round.

World number 44 Mirza’s best Wimbledon performance was reaching the second round in 2005, while her best Grand Slam outing was at the US Open in the same year, when she reached the fourth round.

Star Indian tennis player Sania Mirza will start her Wimbledon campaign on a high after she climbed two spots in the WTA singles rankings to No. 44.

Sania, in fact, also improved her individual doubles rankings by two positions to No. 40.

The 20-year-old, though, has had a poor run in the singles circuit since her comeback from an injury lay-off. After losing in the second round of the French Open, she crashed out of the Ordina Open in the first round.

Sania takes on 80th ranked Russian Yaroslava Shvedova in her first round encounter at the All England Club. Shvedova, however, holds an edge over the Indian after having beaten her in their only previous encounter at the WTA Bangalore Open last year.

In the women’s doubles, Sania opens her campaign with Israel’s Shahar Peer, while she teams up with compatriot Mahesh Bhupathi in the mixed doubles event.

India’s doubles ace Leander Paes, however, dropped one spot in the individual rankings to No. 9, while Bhupathi, Paes’s former partner, remained a non-mover on No. 20.

Paes will only take part in the doubles edition of the Wimbledon with Czech partner Martin Damm, while Bhupathi will take the doubles court with another Czech, Radek Stepanek.

Unseeded Sania Mirza carved out a fine 6-3 6-3 victory against Maria Elena Camrin of Italy in the singles first round of the $200,000 DFS Classic tennis tournament in Birmingham.

Sania did not have an ideal start to her first match on grass after playing on Roland Garros clay in Paris as she trailed 1-3 in the first set against the world number 66 in the tier III event on Monday.

“You have to expect that, coming off clay and playing on a new surface,” said the Indian star after her one-hour 28-minute contest.

“It was my first match and it wasn’t one of the easier matches I could have got in the first round. She’s a seasoned player. I knew she was going to be tough and there’s always a little anxiety when you go on the court on a new surface for the first time,” she said.

The world number 42 said she was satisfied that she played important points well.

“In the circumstances I played an alright match. It’s not one of the better matches I’ve played but at the end of the day it’s how you play the important points and I think that’s what I did better today.”

Sania also said she had completely recovered from the knee injury she was nursing for over three months.

“I think that’s one of the reasons I was a little tight in the start of the match – thinking about my knee slightly.

“It’s hard after three-and-a-half months playing without tape and psychologically you don’t have the confidence to know how your knee is going to handle it and whether you’ll injure it again.

“Touch wood, I finished the whole match and I don’t feel anything in my knee. It feels like: what knee?”

Mirza is next pitted against eight seed Mara Santangelo, also of Italy.

“I’m playing a seed and she’s coming off a fresh win at the French Open where she won the doubles,” said Mirza.

“I played her a couple of months ago, just before I got injured in Thailand. She’s a great friend of mine and it’s going to be a fun match.”

In the doubles, she will team up with Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia and the fourth seeded pair will open their campaign against Tiantian Sun of China and Meilen Tu of United States.