Monday, July 4 2005 17:53 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Sania Mirza climbed back to her career-high singles ranking of 70, thanks to her splendid show at the Wimbledon Grand Slam over the fortnight.

Sania, who reached the second round of the ladies' singles where she lost to US Open champion and World number six Svetlana Kuznetsova, jumped five places to get back to her best ever ranking which she had also achieved in the last week of May.

The Hyderabadi's ranking had slipped marginally to 75 following a couple of early losses in the clay court season, including the French Open, when she was returning from an eight-week injury lay-off.

At the Wimbledon, however, Sania was at her best as she defeated Japan's Akiko Morigami, then ranked 71, in the first round before threatening to give Kuznetsova a run for her money in the second round.

The 18-year-old is at present back in Hyderabad and after more than a week's practice, will leave for the USA on a seven-week sojourn culminating in the US Open Grand Slam starting August 29.

Her North American hard courts season schedule includes WTA Tour events as follows:

• July 18: Cincinnati (prize money of $170,000, Tier 3)
• July 25: Stanford ($585,000, Tier 2)
• Aug 1: San Diego ($1.3 million -Tier 1)
• Aug 8: Los Angeles ($585,000)
• Aug 15: Toronto - Canada ($1.3 million).