By Jilawatan

On the back of her semi-final run at the Aegon Classic in Birmingham, Sania Mirza has jumped 20 places in the WTA singles rankings.

Mirza, who has spent the better part of this year languishing near the 100 mark, and has needed to go through qualifying rounds and apply for wildcard spots for entry into key tournaments might just have turned the corner, climbing back up to 78 in the rankings.

Also making her way up the ranking charts is Maria Sharapova. The former Wimbledon champion who returned to action last month following a 9-month injury lay-off is back up to no. 59 in the world.

There is no change at the top of women’s rankings with Dinara Safina holding on to no. 1 spot with a comfortable lead of 1650 points over Serena Williams. Serena’s older sister Venus is ranked third.