Internet Desk: The latest WTA rankings sees Sania Mirza slipping out of the top 10 since March 2014 as the latest ATP and WTA charts were issued today. In the men’s ATP doubles rankings Divij Sharan was rewarded for his consistency as he broke into the top-50 for the first time.
The left-handed Sharan reached the final of the last three tournaments he participated in, winning the ATP 250 European Open while ending runner-up at Challenger events in Brest and Tashkent with different partners.
Mahesh Bhupathi (15) tops the Indians in the doubles list. Purav Raja (62), Leander Paes (70) and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (97) are the other top-100 Indian players.
The 31-year-old Delhi Sharan did not let his split with long-time partner Purav Raja affect him as he consistently did well on the Tour despite not having a stable partnership.
“I made my first ATP point in 2003. It’s been a long and exciting journey since then. There has been a lot of hard- work, sacrifices, experiences, travel, decisions, ups and downs but most importantly I am grateful for the opportunity to do what I love doing the most which is playing tennis,” Sharan told PTI from Bratislava in Slovakia.
Sharan said his next biggest goal is to make the top 30 so that he can play the ATP 1000s, the Master series events.
“It’s good motivation and encouragement,” Sharan, who reached pre-quarterfinals of the French Open this year, said.
Also making good progress in the doubles is Vishnu Vardhan, who jumped 16 places to touch his career-best ranking of 118. Vardhan and his partner N Sriram Balaji (139) had won the Shenzhen Challenger on Saturday to earn 90 ranking points each.
In the singles, Yuki Bhambri (140) continues to lead the chart and is followed by Ramkumar Ramanathan (148), Prajnesh Gunneswaran (255), Sumit Nagal (331) and Balaji (350).
In the WTA charts, Ankita Raina is India’s top-ranked player at number 281 and is followed by Karman Kaur Thandi (307) and Pranjala Yadlapalli (483).