Amritraj Tuesday joined the usually cricket-obsessed media in saluting the gutsy 18-year-old, who will storm into the top 35 when the new WTA rankings are announced next week after starting the year at 206.
"She is on her way," Amritraj said after watching Mirza's fairytale progress at the US Open which ended on Sunday night when she crashed to a 6-2, 6-1 defeat at the hands of top-seeded Maria Sharapova.
Asked if Mirza could win a Grand Slam title, Amritraj said: "I would hate to put that kind of pressure on her, but after what she did in New York she has come closest by a long shot in a long time.
"She is only 18. She is a great sponge for she can soak up everything. She has got great attitude and work ethic and she has made some great strides in the last eight months."
The Muslim girl, who sports dangling earrings, has taken India by storm since winning her first and only tour title in her home town of Hyderabad in February.
Newspapers relegated the cricketers to the back pages as they followed Mirza's campaign at the US Open with one writer describing her as a "provocative talent."
"Sania has made the world take note of her personality -- that carefree attitude and arrogance of youth -- as much as her talent," wrote the Hindustan Times.
"The incredible run this year is a statement of her ability to win when few expect her to. She is no longer a babe in the woods but a teenager for whom riding the learning curve will be easy."
The Hindu newspaper was equally ecstatic.
"Acclaim has been earned by this electric competitor, whose exuberant T-shirts and tightrope-walking-with-no-safety-net hitting style has gathered admirers on distant shores," the paper said.
"No sporting Indian has travelled so ferociously and far this year.
"Sania Mirza can be beaten, but is not easily bowed, her game occasionally droops but rarely her shoulders. She was scarcely disgraced against Maria Sharapova on Sunday.
"Mirza is a provocative talent, but her education has only just begun."
With Sourav Ganguly's Team India struggling on the cricket field, Sania mania has gripped India like never before.
She was ranked second behind cricketer Sachin Tendulkar is a magazine poll on India's youth icons and has been flooded with endorsement offers usually reserved for cricketers.
Mirza is scheduled to take part in a WTA event in sports-crazy Kolkata from September 19 in only her second appearance on Indian soil since winning at Hyderabad in February.
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