Mahindra Scorpio TOISA: Sania Mirza scoops second Tennis Player of the Year Award

MUMBAI: Indian tennis queen Sania Mirza has won the TOISA Tennis Player of the Year for the second edition running, beating Leander Paes and Saketh Myneni to take home the prize at the Mahindra Scorpio Times of India Awards in Mumbai.
This is the 30-year-old's second TOISA win after she won the Jury's Choice Award in 2015.
In 2016, the year in which TOISA based its criteria for performances on, Sania started off by claiming her sixth Grand Slam when she won the Australian Open Doubles title with Martina Hingis, beating seventh-seeded Czech combination of Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka 7-6, 6-3.Sania and Hingis stretched their unbeaten winning streak to 41 matches before losing in the quarter-finals of the Qatar Open in February.
During the Rio Olympics, the mixed doubles' team of Sania and Rohan Bopanna finished second-best next to the Czech Republic's Lucie Hradecka and Radek Stepanek 6-1, 7-5 in the bronze medal play-off match. Later that month, Sania took sole possession of the WTA doubles No 1 ranking when she teamed up with Barbora Strycova to beat Hingis and Coco Vandeweghe in the Cincinnati Open final. To remain No 1 in the WTA doubles rankings for 84 consecutive weeks added to her excellent 2016.
In the same year, Paes partnered Hingis to the Roland Garros mixed doubles title, rallying to win 4-6, 6-4, 10-8 against No 2 seeds Martina Hingis and Ivan Dodig. The Indian tennis legend thus became the third player in the Open Era to win a career Grand Slam in both men's and mixed doubles.
"It is very hard to look beyond Leander's Grand Slam, yet Sania was more consistent, and of course you have to consider Olympic performances," said chairman of the TOISA jury Zafar Iqbal, who was captain of the last Indian hockey team to win an Olympic gold medal.
Added former India football captain Bhaichung Bhutia, part of the five-member jury that selected the best of Indian sport in 2016: "Different partners, big results … that is what set Sania apart in 2016, and factor in that record stretch at the top of the women's doubles rankings, and you can see what she achieved."
The third nominee was 29-year-old Myneni, who last year won the singles and doubles title at the ITF Futures tournament in Bhimravan and later advanced to the main draw of the US Open after he defeated Pedja Krstin in straight sets 6-3, 6-0 in the third round of qualifying.