Sania to be fourth seed at Sunfeast

With Sania Mirza's ranking nose-diving to 70, it means the Indian ace will be seeded only fourth at the WTA Tier III Sunfeast Open that gets underway here this Monday. Former World No 1 Martina Hingis featuring just inside the Top-10 on the WTA list, at 9, will lead the seedings in the 32-player draw.

Sania who was seeded No 3 at the inaugural edition of the tournament last year, will now be seeded behind the Swiss miss, Croatian Karolina Sprem (ranked 50) and Ukrainian Yuliana Fedak (64). Sania's conqueror last September Hungarian Melinda Czink (84) will be seeded eighth.

The Hyderabadi's second round exit last year acted as a dampener with fans wanting to see more of their home favourite. This time though they would be hoping to catch Sania and Hingis in a riveting duel on September 24.