Next Sensation

New tennis sensation Sania Mirza came home to a rousing welcome today as hundreds came on to the streets to congratulate her for making it to the third round of a grandslam, the first-ever by an Indian woman.

Although her historic run at the Australian Open was ended by former world number one Serena Williams, the 18-year-old has won hearts of millions back home, who prayed for her as she beat Australian Cindy Watson and Petra Mandula of Hungary to reach the third round, an effort she admitted was well beyond her expectations.

Mirza, who won the junior doubles title at Wimbledon in 2003, now plans to improve her ranking to 50.

"I dont want to play, I want to beat Serena. (laughing). Well, when I am going to play more big games, big players, more tournaments, I hope the results are more on my side. I wanted to play the doubles. But my ranking is 170 and it is not really good enough for the grand slams," Mirza said.

The young star was later also felicitated by the Andhra Pradesh state governor Sushil Kumar Shinde.

Born in Mumbai but raised in Hyderabad, Mirza began playing tennis aged six and quickly rose through the ranks, winning 12 titles on the ITF Women's Circuit, including five in 2004.

With around a billion compatriots keeping tabs on her efforts, Mirza said she expected tennis to really take off in India over the next few years.(ANI)             

 PHOTOS >>