The long lull in her activity at the WTA tour circuit eventually reflected on Sania Mirza's rankings as she slipped three rungs down to 38th in the list announced on Monday.

The Indian, who was out of action since playing in the Fed Cup in Seoul, will be back on the circuit this week to shape up for the French Open Grand Slam tennis beginning on May 29.

Sania will begin as fifth seed in the USD 200,000 Tier III WTA Tour event at Istanbul, Turkey.

The Hyderabadi will play local hope Ipek Senoglu, a wild card entrant in the first round.

Among the other Indian girls within top 500, Shikha Uberoi, an Indian of American origin, maintained her 179th position while Delhi's Bhambri sisters -- Ankita and Sanaa -- had steep fall sliding to 343rd and 475th respectively from their previous 332 and 451 ranks.

Isha Lakhani moved two places up to 365 and Rushmi Chakravarthi advanced six places to 440.

Among the men, Leander Paes moved one place up to 13th while Mahesh Bhupathi went down from 28th to 29th in the doubles rankings.