Sania Mirza's bid to grab her second doubles title on WTA tour this year was thwarted by top seeds Maria Elena Camerin and Gisela Dulko at the Cincinnati Open tennis tournament in Cincinnati.
The Indian, partnering Marta Domachowska of Poland, lost 4-6, 6-3, 2-6 to Italian Camerin and Argentine Dulko in the final of the Tier-III tournament on Sunday.
The third seeded Indo-Polish pair seemed determined when they came back from behind to level scores 1-1 but ran out of steam in the deciding set.
Sania, who last won a doubles title at home turf early this year, was making her fifth final appearance on the WTA Tour.
SANIA DROPS TO 42
Sania's first quarter-final appearance in singles this season could not help her much as she slipped two places to be 42nd in the latest WTA Tour rankings announced on Monday.
Sania had lost to top seed Patty Schnyder of Switzerland in the quarter-final of the Cincinnati Open.
US-based Indian Shikha Uberoi was placed 171st three places down from her last week's 168th position, but Delhi's Ankita Bhambri at 345th, after gaining three places, was the third highest ranked singles player from the country.
Sania's feat of reaching the doubles finals of the Cincinnati Open with Poland's Marta Domachowska, resulted in her career-best 31st rank in doubles. She was 33rd last week.
Uberoi slipped one place to 144th and seasoned Rushmi Chakravarthy maintained 358th spot. Ankita was placed 390th in the doubles.
On the men's chart, Harsh Mankad scaled a whopping 109 places to displace Rohan Bopanna as the top ranked Indian, being 287th. Bopanna and Karan Rastogi lost five places each to be 298th and 344th behind Mankad.
In the doubles, veterans Leander Paes was unmoved at 14th while his ex-partner Mahesh Bhupathi climbed up one place to be 23rd.
