Tennis star Sania Mirza has called off her engagement with her childhood friend Sohrab Mirza.

According to reports, Sania’s father Imran has called off her engagement to Sohrab Mirza.

The tennis star was engaged to longtime friend Sohrab last July amidst much fanfare and media spotlight.

“We were friends for half a decade, but found ourselves incompatible during our engagement period. I wish Sohrab the best in life,” Sania has been quoted as saying in a report.

Inclusion of mixed doubles event in the London Olympics has come as fresh motivation for Sania Mirza to continue playing and the Indian tennis ace feels it would be best opportunity for India to win a medal.

The International Olympic Committee had recently given its nod to the mixed doubles event for the 2012 Summer Games.

Sania Mirza will team up with Virginia Ruano Pascual of Spain for the Australian Open commencing next month. Sania had a highly successful season this year with her doubles partners Francesca Schiavone and Chia Jung Chuang. The former doubles number one Pascual has to her credit 11 Grand Slams which includes 10 in doubles.

Sania said,”I will be playing with Virginia Ruano Pascual in the Australian Open and if we do well, we’ll continue to play together.”

Sania, who had won the 2009 Australian Open mixed doubles title with her partner Mahesh Bhupathi

Somdev Devvarman and Sania Mirza posted first-round victories on opening day of the U.S. Open to become the first man and woman from India to reach the second round of the same grand slam event.

Mirza defeated Olga Govortsova of Belarus 6-2 3-6 6-3, and qualifier Devvarman beat Portugal’s Frederico Gil 6-3 6-4 6-3.

Sania Mirza bowed out of the BNP Paribas Open with a straight set loss to World No. 15 Italian Flavia Pennetta in the second round here.

Ms. Sania, who was given a wildcard for the $4.5 million tournament, went down 3-6, 4-6 against the 12th seed in an hour and 17 minutes here Saturday. The Indian is already out of the doubles competition.

India’s Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza beat Israel’s Andy Ram and Nathalia Dechy of France to lift the Australian Open mixed doubles title here on Sunday. This was their second consecutive year in the finals, and followed a rather lacklustre year for Ms. Mirza. Their opponents were unseeded, and the match was won handily by the duo. This is the seventh Grand Slam title for Mahesh and the first for Sania. He lost the Men’s Doubles finals

Mirza, 22, had already achieved a series of firsts for Indian women tennis players, including the highest ranking of 18.

She became the first Indian female to capture any grand slam title when she partnered Russia’s Alisa Kleybanova to win the 2003 Wimbledon junior doubles then in 2005 she became the first Indian woman to win a WTA event when she won at Hyderabad.

She is enormously popular in India but has been dogged by controversy.

She almost quit the sport last year after being accused of showing disrespect to the Indian flag and facing mounting criticism from religious groups for playing in normal tennis attire.

Educational institutions have been conferring doctorates or felicitating eminent sportsmen in recent times. Since the Beijing Olympics, a spate of stars from Abhinav Bindra and Vijender Singh to Virender Sehwag had visited various institutions.

On Thursday, at the Dr MGR Educational and Research University, India’s No.1 women’s tennis player Sania Mirza was conferred an honorary doctorate in letters.

She was conferred with the Doctor of Letters (Honoris Causa) by University Chancellor A C Shanmugham in the presence of Additional Director General of Police Sarabjith Singh at the University premises.

Ms Sania was earlier scheduled to have been conferred the Honorary Degree during the 17th convocation of the University on December six along with Chandrayaan-1 Project Director Mayilsamy Annadurai.

However, she could not attend the function due to security reasons on that day which was observed as the Babri Masjid Demolition anniversary.

Originally slated to receive the doctorate on December 6, Sania’s training camp in Bangalore deferred the event, though she accepted the doctorate through a video conference. However, she kept her word on Thursday though her flight was delayed for an hour. Understandably delighted, Sania said it was a dream to earn a doctorate.

Sania Mirza has slipped seven places to 70th position in the Women Tennis Association (WTA) singles rankings.

Sania is suffering from chronic wrist injury and has pulled out of the ongoing US Open.
Mirza, who had surgery on her wrist in April, retired from her first-round singles match in Beijing.
“It’s very disappointing for me to miss the U.S. Open, I’ve always done well in this tournament,” said the 21-year-old Mirza, who reached the fourth round in 2005.

Sania Mirza needs to prove that she is more than czarina of foofaraw when the tennis aces begin their campaign in the Beijing Olympic Games .
Sania will open her campaign at Beijing against Czech Republic’s Ivita Benesova and despite her indifferent form the Indian is confident that she can deliver a quality performance at the Games.

A very optimistic yet rational Sania Mirza said, “You know it is very different. Grand Slam happens about 30, 40, 50 times in your life. Olympics happen maybe just once in your life time and if you are lucky twice. I want to just do my best. I don’t want to put any additional pressure on myself and say right I’m not going to go back without a medal. But yes, that’s the goal. I really can’t compare a grand slam title to a gold medal because I think they are two very big feats in two very different ways so that’s something if I had to pick I would pick both.”

But Sania faces a tough challenge in her Olympic campaign. She takes on Iveta Benesova of Czech Republic in the 1st round and if she manages to overcome her she’d run into Venus Williams. Not a very exciting prospect for Sania whose Olympic preparations were hampered by a thigh injury but she’s hoping that Beijing brings the smile on her face after an indifferent year.

Sania Mirza will play her singles against Iveta Benesova of Czechoslovakia.

In women’s doubles Sania and Sunitha Rao will begin their medal hunt against France. Weather permitting the two will play Tatiana Golovin and Paulin Permentier in their first round on Monday.

It has been raining incessantly and only nine matches were completed on Sunday, first day of tennis competition.

The 2008 Wimbledon got underway on Monday (June 23), with most of the seeds coming through convincingly in the Royal slam. However, the big game for Indian fans will be followed on Tuesday (June 24) is Sania Mirza, as she opens her campaign against lesser ranked Columbian Catalina Castano.

Sania Mirza starts her Wimbledon 2008 campaign on Tuesday when she takes on 146th ranked Catalina Castano of Colombia.

Sania, seeded 32nd in the tournament, returns to the courts after a three-month injury lay-off.

Leading to the premier grass court tournament Sania lost out in the second round at Birmingham and the Ordina Open.

But the 21-year-old has never gone past the second round at the third Grand Slam of the year in three previous attempts and faces a possible challenge against Venus Williams in the third round.

The tournament began on Monday with Roger Federer and new women’s No. 1 Ana Ivanovic winning their first round match in straight sets.

Fourth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova and sixth seed Serena Williams also won their first round matches easily on Monday.

Sania who lost out in the second round at Birmingham and the Ordina Open should have it easy against the 146th ranked Columbian in today’s first round. But the Indian, who has never gone past the 2nd round at Wimbledon in three previous attempts, faces a possible challenge against Venus Williams in the third round.

The Hyderabadi girl, who is recovering from a wrist injury, has been seeded 32nd at the Wimbledon and handed an easy opening round match.

She takes on Colombian Catalino Castano in the first round.

In the ATP doubles charts, Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi, who reached the finals of last week’s Ordina Open coming together after four years of a bitter split, were non-movers.

While Bhupathi hung on to the 13th position with 2940 points, Paes continued to be 23rd with 2050 points.