New Delhi: Sania Mirza bowed out of international tennis after she and her American partner Madison Keys lost 4-6, 0-6 to the Russian pair of Veronika Kudermetova and Liudmila Samsonova at the WTA Dubai event on Tuesday.

Last month, playing in her last Grand Slam tournament at the Australian Open, she had ended as the runner-up in the mixed doubles event along with compatriot Rohan Bopanna.

In a glittering career that spanned 20 years, where she won 43 WTA doubles titles and one singles trophy, Sania was seen a a trailblazer for women in sport. She recently added another chapter to that book by donning the hat of mentor to the Royal Challengers Bangalore franchise in the Women’s Premier League.

The 36-year-old, who turned professional in 2003, has six Grand Slam titles to her credit, including three women’s doubles with Swiss legend Martina Hingis. She also won two of her three mixed doubles titles with compatriot Mahesh Bhupathi and rounded off her trophy cabinet with a US Open title with Bruno Soares.

Here is a look at some of the most incredible records she set during her career:

First Indian woman to win a WTA title

As a 17-year-old, she became the first Indian woman to win a WTA title of any kind. At a tournament in Hyderabad in 2004, she paired up with Liezel Huber to win the women’s doubles title. It wasn’t long before she repeated that feat in singles as well. Aged 18, she shrugged off her world ranking of 134 and her status as a wild card to claim the singles title, the first by an Indian woman at a WTA tournament.

First Indian woman to be in WTA’s top 50

In her heady career, Sania has ascended to a career high of World No 27 in doubles. But two years before achieved that feat in 2007, she had become the first Indian woman tennis player to reach the Top 50 on the WTA rankings.

First Indian woman to reach $1million in prize money

It took Sania just five years after turning professional in 2008 to become the first Indian woman to go past $1million earned in career prize money. Ahead of the Dubai tournament, which was her last, as per WTA’s estimates, she had earned $7,261,296 as prize money in her two-decade-long career.

First Indian woman to win a Grand Slam

It was in 2009 that Sania won a doubles Grand Slam title, the first time an Indian woman had been victorious at a Major. She partnered with Mahesh Bhupathi to claim the mixed doubles title at the season-opening Slam, the Australian Open. By 2015, Sania had played in her last singles event to switch solely to doubles. That same year, she won a women’s doubles title at Wimbledon, arguably the most prestigious event in world tennis.

First Indian woman to be World No 1

Sania’s history-making career reached its pinnacle when she became the first Indian woman to reach No. 1 in either singles or doubles rankings in the WTA charts. The feat came right on the heels of her winning a doubles title at Charleston, in April 2015. It’s a spot she has spent 91 career weeks in. She is also the only Indian woman tennis player to ever ascend to the No 1 spot. Her 91 weeks as World No 1 put her eighth in doubles rankings history. Martina Navratilova (who spent 237 weeks as World No 1), Huber (199), Cara Black (163), Lisa Raymond (137), Natasha Zvereva (124), Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario (111) and Roberta Vinci (110) are ahead of Sania.

Agencies

KR Desk