Sania regains 31st spot in WTO rankings

Sania Mirza's meteoric rise in international tennis continued as she reached a career-high 31st in the latest WTA rankings despite being out of action for the last three weeks.

The Indian tennis ace moved up three places in the women's singles rankings with 929.75 points.

Sania, recovering from a back injury that forced her to concede her second round match at the $200,000 Thailand Open last month, moved ahead at the expense of Pen Shuai of China and Russian Vera Zvonareva while Italian Silvia Farina Elia retired from the circuit.

Vera Zvonareva, who was defeated by Sania at the Japan Open, slipped 13 places and is currently ranked 40th. Peng Shuai lost four places to reach 33.

Al Sugiyama of Japan (994.50 points) is still the highest ranking Asian on the circuit at number 30.

Lindsay Davenport continued atop the singles rankings ahead of Kim Clijsters and Maria Sharapova.

In the men's doubles ranking, Mahesh Bhupathi slipped three spots to 19th place while Leander Paes held on to 12th spot despite his first round loss at the Paris Masters.

American Bob Bryan continues to be the top doubles player in the world