Indian tennis star Sania Mirza has become engaged to 23-year-old Sohrab Mirza, a business scholar from her hometown of Hyderabad.

The 22-year-old Sania, now ranked only 95th in the world, is not planning to stop playing competitive tennis, just as her fiancé wants to pursue higher studies. Their marriage will therefore not take place in the near future.

Sania is a youth icon in her country after she became the first Indian to win a WTA title and break into the world's Top 50 in 2005. (source: Reuters, photo: Ralf Reinecke)

Top seed Vera Zvonareva defeated Sania Mirza 7-5 6-1 in the final of the PTT Pattaya Open to win her eighth career title.

The Russian world No.5 was tested in a long first set, but showed her class in the second when she finished off the error-prone Indian.

The world No.126 Mirza was making her fourth career Tour final appearance and first since 2007 Stanford, where she lost to Anna Chakvetadze, while Zvonareva had lost her three previous finals, all in 2008. (source: Reuters)

Hi everyone,

Women’s Tennis Blog is back from our four-day break. While we were inhaling the fresh mountain air, the tennis world wasn’t sleeping, and here’s what we’ve missed to report while relaxing in the Bosnian snow.

Serena Williams reached a landmark 10th Grand Slam singles title crushing Dinara Safina 6-0 6-3 in the Australian Open final. I watched the match and Dinara really "was just a ballboy on the court". Don’t forget that Serena’s achievement is even better than reaching her fourth Australian Open title, as she won women’s doubles with her sister Venus too. And even more, Serena has climbed back to the No.1 spot in the rankings.

Sania Mirza has become India's third – and first female – Grand Slam tennis champion by winning the mixed doubles title at the Australian Open paired with Mahesh Bhupathi.

In her latest diary entry Ana Ivanovic is defending the Australian Open – its location, facilities and its position in the tennis calendar. As for modeling, more photos for Ana's sponsor Rolex are out. If it hadn’t been published on her official website, I probably wouldn’t have recognized her.

Also, there are rumors that Dave Rineberg might become Ana's new coach.

You’ve probably heard about Jelena’s World, the documentary movie about Jelena Jankovic. Now you can watch it on YouTube. Here you can see all the parts of the movie, which is mostly in Serbian though.

Dinara Safina has a new official website, with everything you need including a section where fans can e-mail her.

And last but not least, Maria Sharapova, who has slipped to No.17 in the rankings, might be continuing to skip tournaments. Supposedly, she’ll miss Paris and Dubai. Remember, she has been expected to make a comeback at the GDF Suez Open? Unfortunately, I wouldn’t be surprised if the rumors proved to be true. However, if she really pulls out of those events, than her claims that she simply hasn’t trained enough seem unreliable.

If I’ve missed something in this overview, feel free to mention it in the comments below.

Glad to be back,

Marija

Sania Mirza of India retired in her first-round match at the Olympic tennis event. The world No.65 was trailing Czech Iveta Benesova 6-2 2-1 when painful right wrist forced her to retire.

"It was hurting before I even came to Beijing but it's the Olympics so you have to try and give it your best shot," said Mirza who recently had wrist surgery.

The 21-year-old Mirza may still play doubles with Sunitha Rao.

Too many women's tennis players have withdrawn from the Olympics so far: Maria Sharapova didn’t even come to Beijing because of a shoulder injury, Lindsay Davenport pulled out of singles, top seed Ana Ivanovic withdrew because of a thumb injury, Tatiana Golovin also can't play due to a back injury. Injured Jelena Jankovic will play, but who knows how long she'll stay in the competition. (source: Reuters, photo: Getty Images)

Women’s tennis players dressed up and looked beautiful at pre-Wimbledon party held at the Kensington Roof Gardens and hosted by Sir Richard Branson.

Some of the tennis stars present: Venus and Serena Williams, Ana Ivanovic, Jelena Jankovic, Maria Sharapova, Daniela Hantuchova and Sania Mirza. Read more »

American Lindsay Davenport and Indian Sania Mirza have withdrawn from the 2008 French Open which starts May 25 in Paris.

Davenport cited personal reasons, while Mirza withdrew because she has not yet recovered from her wrist surgery.

Tatiana Golovin, Na Li and Eleni Daniilidou had withdrawn earlier because of injuries and surgeries, and world No.10 Daniela Hantuchova will probably withdraw due to her foot injury.

The claycourt Grand Slam will be missing so many top players: Golovin is currently ranked 21st, Davenport 26th, Mirza 32nd, Daniilidou 35th, and Li 36th. Plus No.10 Hantuchova may be added to the list. And not to mention four-times French Open champion Justine Henin who retired from professional tennis just before her favorite Grand Slam. (photos: Getty Images)

Twice champion and holder Daniela Hantuchova reached the quarterfinals of the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells by beating India’s Sania Mirza 6-1 7-6.

Fifth-seeded Hantuchova took the first set in 39 minutes, breaking Mirza in the second and fourth games. In the second set both players made two breaks so there was a tiebreak which world No.8 Hantuchova won 7-4.

Last year the Slovakian won the Indian Wells title with a victory over Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final. (source: Reuters, photo: Getty Images)

On day two of the Qatar Total Open in Doha, Marion Bartoli lost in the second round (in the first round she had a bye), while Agnes Szavay and Sania Mirza left the tournament in the first round.

France’s Marion Bartoli still hasn't managed to replay her fantastic performance from Wimbledon where she was the runner-up. At the Qatar Total Open, the eighth seed lost in straight sets 6-2 6-3 to 17-year-old Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark, who is seriously making her way to the top. Wozniacki is one of the young players to watch. Taking into account her attractiveness, her fruitful tennis career is likely to be accompanied with marketing success. Actually, Wozniacki already did a commercial for Sony Ericsson. Fellow blogger Juan has a nice little article about Wozniacki’s achievements and future career prospects. Read more »

India’s Sania Mirza has been dragged into a series of controversies at home so she decided to boycott all Indian tournaments, including March’s Bangalore Open.

Firstly the 21-year-old Mirza was criticized for her tennis clothes which were termed un-Islamic by religious Muslim groups (of course, Mirza was wearing regular tennis outfits, not those like Bethanie Mattek’s). Then, she had to apologize to mosque officials in her hometown for shooting an advert on its premises after a complaint of trespass was filed against her to the police. The most recent problem Mirza faced, and the one that even made her consider retiring from tennis, happened in January, when she was allegedly showing disrespect to the Indian flag (see the photo). Because of this last incident, Mirza may even end up in jail.

The tournaments are definitely at loss because India's youth icon Mirza will bypass them. But who can blame her, she went through a lot! However, I must notice she seems surprisingly strong, especially if we take into account she’s only 21. She dealt with all the incidents very well. (source: Reuters, photo via Freedom Express)

World No.31 Sania Mirza gets sued for this act!

The Indian player allegedly dishonored her country’s flag by putting her feet right in front of it while watching a match at the Hopman Cup in Perth. A lawyer in Madhya Pradesh has filed a case against the darling of Indian sports. If she is found guilty, she could receive a sentence of up to three years in prison, plus a fine. Read more »