Mirza under a microscope in tennis, world

India's Sania Mirza (right) paired with Poland's Marta Domachowska in doubles competition at the Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open Monday.

MASON - The pressure of an entire nation is with Sania Mirza no matter where she travels these days. The Indian teen sensation was midway through her climb to superstardom in her country last year when the then-70th ranked player on the WTA Tour finished as a quarterfinalist at the Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open.

Her fourth round U.S. Open showing and subsequent career-high No. 31 ranking last fall only added to her list of firsts for an Indian female tennis player. It also solidified her role as one of the most popular athletes in her country - an athlete who feels support and scrutiny from Paris to London to Mason this year.

"I have them even at Cincinnati. I have a billion people watching my every step, living a tennis match with me," Mirza said. "It is amazing, in a way, that people care so much about just a tennis match, and it can make such a difference to their lives and their moods. But the support is great, and I think I take it to my benefit and need to say I should feel lucky that I have a billion fans every time I step on the court."

Mirza, 19, began play at the W&S Open Monday by teaming with Poland's Marta Domachowska to win a doubles match over Natalie Grandin and Milagros Sequera. She'll begin singles play today against American Alexandra Stevenson in a late-afternoon match at Center Court.

She enters the tournament ranked No. 40 in singles and a career-high No. 33 in doubles. She's seen significant doubles success this year, but some injuries and a couple "unlucky" draws in recent tournaments have kept her from duplicating the singles success she achieved in her first full year on the Tour, when she was 2005 Newcomer of the Year.

Mirza lost to 10th seed Anastasia Myskina in the first round of the French Open and seventh seed Elena Dementieva in the first round of Wimbledon. She avoided another tough first round match this week against fifth-seeded Jelena Jankovic when the draw was shuffled because of injury withdrawals.

"It's good we don't play in the first round," Mirza said with a laugh.

But a couple first-round exits haven't deterred Mirza's fan following or press coverage. She recently was featured in a three-page spread in ESPN The Magazine, detailing her rise to fame, which is also growing in the U.S.-based Indian community, she said.

"It's getting more and more by the day (in India) because I'm playing more and more tournaments and people are following tennis more," Mirza said. "I think people are just excited that there's another sports person besides a cricketer who is playing at the international level on a daily basis, not just a flash in the pan. ... A lot more people know about tennis in India. They are very excited, but with that comes a lot of pressure and expectations."

Aside from tennis, much has been made of Mirza's religious views. As a Muslim, she has drawn criticism throughout her rise to stardom from conservative Islamic groups about issues from her tennis T-shirts and shorts to her views on safe sex. Mirza approached those criticisms Monday with the same confidence with which she carries the weight of a nation.

"I'm really not worried about what people are saying because everyone is entitled to their own opinion," Mirza said. "I'm just here to play tennis, and five or six years from now, maybe I won't be there anymore, and then they'll all forget who Sania Mirza is. So we'll see."