Sania's world ranking plunges to 70

The US Open has brought lots of bad news and some cheers to the Indian fans, with Sania Mirza's world ranking taking a steep dive to 70 on the women's tour and Leander Paes returning to the top-10 in the ATP Doubles individual rankings.

It was a loss of 16 places for the 19-year old Hyderabadi lass from her previous ranking and it came after the second round loss at the year's final Grand Slam.

The Indian's best singles performance this season has come on the US hard courts with two quarterfinal appearances, at Cincinnati and Forest Hills.

The last of those two results came a week before the Open but Sania could not extend it to the courts of Flushing Meadows where she went down to Francesca Schiavone of Italy in straight sets.

Paes gained three places and was ranked ninth, thanks to his doubles triumph with Martin Damm of Czech Republic who was one rung below the Indian ace.

It was Paes' fourth crown, besides three mixed doubles titles, and his first without partnering Mahesh Bhupathi with whom he had won the French Open in 1999 and 2001, and the Wimbledon in 1999.

Paes was returning to the top-10 after 14 weeks, having gone out of the elite zone since the week of May 15. Bhupathi's own free fall continued as he slipped two places further to be 29th.