New Delhi, Mar 17: An "inspired" Sania Mirza is happy that she has been successful in retaining her focus and form despite landing in several off-court controversies.

"Personally, this is a good achievement to be playing the way I am playing and to be beating these players who are at the top, because I'm dealing with a lot of things off the court, which a lot of people are not dealing with," Sania said.

Sania earned a hard fought 6-7 (7) 7-5 6-3 victory over Shahar Peer in the third round of the Pacific Open last night at Indian Wells, California.

The 21-year-old Hyderabadi has found herself entangled in one or the other controversy and ultimately decided not to play any event in India this year.

In the latest incident, a lawsuit was filed against her for showing disrespect to the national flag during the Hopman Cup in Perth. The suit however was dropped later.

"You know, I'm fine. We all go through ups and downs. Sometimes you feel like 'why do you want to do this? and sometimes you feel like 'Oh, I'm going to show everyone and oppose all the odds and come out of this.'"

The 21st seeded Indian said she had to inspire herself to beat a tough opponent in peer.

"We always play tough matches, but it's about finding the way to win. I was a bit irritated with myself, because I was fighting, fighting, the whole time, coming back all the time levelling up and then not going up or finishing it.

"Finally, I did go up one point and one set point, and I sprayed the ball off my backhand. You have to inspire yourself to fight all over again, because you've done everything right except win that set," she said after the match.