Tuesday, August 29 2006 10:52 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Sania Mirza's fortunes hit a new low Monday (28 Aug, 2006) as she drops out of the top-50 in world rankings for the first time in more than a year. The 19-year old Indian goes down 10 places to be 54th in the latest WTA rankings.

The Hyderabadi girl becomes the first Indian woman to break into top-50 on August 8 last year following a splendid run in the US hard courts seasons prior to the US Open Grand slam.

Sania is ranked as high as 31 on October 10 before ending the year at 34. That is a jump of 172 places from her 2004 year-end ranking of 206.

The current season, her second year on the seniors' circuit, however has been a tough reality check for India's 'Fraulein Forehand'.

Her best performance in singles this year so far has been two quarterfinal appearances, at the USD 175,000 event in Cincinnati in July and at the USD 75,000 Forest Hills event last week.

Meanwhile, Sania is set to launch her US Open singles campaign with her first round match against Croatia's Karolina Sprem later Monday (28 Aug, 2006).