Paes-Hingis win Australian Open mixed doubles title

Melbourne, Feb 1:

Indian tennis star Leander Paes and his Swiss partner Martina Hingis beat third seeds Kristina Mladenovic and Daniel Nestor to win the Australian Open mixed doubles title here Sunday.

Paes and Hingis, seeded seventh, beat the French-Canadian pair 6-4, 6-3 in an hour and two minutes to win the first Grand Slam of the year.

With this win, India’s 41-year-old veteran tennis star won his 15th Grand Slam title.

Paes and Hingis were in control throughout and took just 29 minutes to take the first set 6-4.

The third seeds came back strongly and broke the Indian-Swiss team early to take a 2-1 lead in second set.

However, it was all downhill from thereon for Mladenovic and Nestor as Paes and Hingis broke their serves twice in a row to establish a 4-2 lead.

The French-Canadian team did manage to win another game but it proved to be a mere consolation as Paes and Hingis finished the set 6-3 in 33 minutes to take home the first Grand Slam title of the year.

This was Paes’ seventh mixed doubles Grand Slam title – his first with Hingis, a former World No.1 in women’s singles.

Hingis, 34, won her first Grand Slam title since 2006. Incidentally, that was also a mixed doubles title here with another Indian, Mahesh Bhupathi.
(IANS)