Sania Mirza gets Wimbledon
girls' singles entry

Shailesh Soni

Young Indian tennis star Sania Mirza has received a direct entry into the girls' singles draw at the ongoing All England Championships at Wimbledon. The Hyderabad-based lass, who trains at the Sinette Tennis Academy, will face Julia Smith of Britain in the first round, which gets under way on Saturday.

Sania is the youngest entry in the girls' draw at just 14 years and 7 months, and is ranked 62 on the ITF juniors listing.

Julia, who turns 18 next month, is a wildcard entry. She is ranked 409, though she was ranked just inside the top-100 early last year. The decline in her ranking is because she has been mostly playing in pro-Satellite tournaments lately as she will be moving out of the juniors' circuit.

Sania, who will be making her first Grand Slam appearance, is placed in the lower half of the draw. Though not much is expected of her, as Smith is well-experienced, her potential second round opponent could be seventh seed Gisela Dulko of Argentina.

It will be the first meeting between both players.