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"It's like a fairytale," the 28-year-old told TOI, "It's like someone scripted this amazing story for me. A few weeks ago, I was over 2000 points from No. 1 and I was telling myself it would be great that if at some point in the year I could get to No. 1, perhaps with a strong run in the Slams. Then Martina and I had this superb run in Indian Wells and Miami. We changed our plans, decided to include Charleston in our schedule when we thought we could get to No. 1 here.
"Now I leave here for Hyderabad, where I play the Fed Cup (I am India's playing captain) in my home town, competing in Hyderabad for the first time in almost a decade. It's really special to be playing at home immediately after taking over as No. 1."
Sania's triumph partnering Swiss legend Martina Hingis in the Family Circle Cup, her third successive title in as many tournaments, gave her the No.1 ranking, making her the first Indian woman and the fourth Asian after Japan's Ai Sugiyama, China's Peng Shuai and Taipei's Hsieh Su-Wei to claim the top spot. Earlier last week, the Indo-Swiss combine took over the No.1 ranking as a team. Sania now tops the WTA individual rankings with 7660 points, 20 points ahead of the joint-second placed Italians Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci.
"It took a while for it to sink in," an exhausted Sania said. "We went into the city after we were done at the courts and walked around, allowing it to sink. I'm not sure if it still has.
"I made the decision to chase No. 1, not just sit there and let it come to me. That's not me, that's not how I was raised, I went there and got it. We came into the tournament with one clear objective - it was no secret. We knew No. 1 was something we could achieve in the coming weeks, but we coming weeks, but we wanted it right here and we pushed each other along. Even if we had lost, we'd have felt better for trying."
The emotional Hyderabadi, who was cheered on by her father Imran during the American swing, also had constant support from her mother Nasima and younger sister Anam, who were home in Hyderabad. "No one can take this away from me. I'm always going to be No. 1 in the world. Even 50 years from now, I'll go down as the former world No. 1, and that's something very, very special. To come through all that after all these years, for my family and the sacrifices we put in, it all seems worth it today."
For more reasons than one, Sania said the Charleston title was the toughest to put away. "We had to adjust to a new surface - green clay - in a day. We were tested in all our matches, everybody was playing loose against us, we were the hunted," the Indian said. "Martina was really good, she's not just a great champion but also a very nice person. She helped me through the tight situations. That's just us, we back each other and push each other along." India's playing captain will arrive in Hyderabad late on Tuesday and hit the courts on Wednesday for India's Asia-Oceania Group II Fed Cup campaign. She then leaves for Stuttgart on Sunday night. "It's a brutal schedule," Sania said.
"But that is how it is and you've got to make the best of it."
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