Leander Paes equalled the record for most Grand Slam title triumphs by an Indian as the veteran and his Zimbabwean partner Cara Black clinched the Australian Open mixed doubles Championship with a straight-set win here on Sunday. Top seeds and favourites, the 36-year-old Paes and the 30-year-old Black beat 10th seeds Ekaterina Makarova of Russia and Jaroslav Levinsky of Czechoslovakia 7-5 6-3 in just about one and a half hour.
The triumph gave the Indian his 11th overall and fifth mixed doubles title. With this, Paes has equalled one-time doubles’ partner Mahesh Bhupathi’s tally. The last couple of times they reached a Grand Slam final, Paes and Black ended up on the losing side and eager to make amends for that, they were dominant from the word go.
They broke their rivals as early as in the third game and save for a couple of breaks lost on Black’s serve, the Indo-Zimbabwean pair seemed hardly troubled by Makarova and Levinsky, who committed far too many unforced errors. Black, whose net game and serve were the weak links for the top seeds, raised her game when it mattered after getting some pep talk from Paes.
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Above picture source: Topnews
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Indian tennis ace Leander Paes and Zimbabwe’s Cara Black won the mixed doubles crown at the season-ending Grand Slam on Thursday. The fifth seeded Indo-Zimbabwean pair beat the American-British pairing of Liezel Huber and Jamie Murray 7-6, 6-4 in the final.
The triumph increased Paes’s tally of Grand Slam crowns to eight. In 1999, Paes had partnered Mahesh Bhupathi and Lisa Raymond to win the men’s doubles and mixed doubles crowns at Wimbledon.
American brothers Bob and Mike Bryan won their seventh Grand Slam men’s doubles crown Friday, defeating India’s Leander Paes and Czech Lukas Dlouhy 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (12/10) to take the US Open title. The Bryans, who ran through the tournament without losing a set, previously won Slam crowns at Roland Garros in 2003, the US Open in 2005, Wimbledon in 2006 and the Australian Open in 2006 and 2007.
The defeat denied Paes a chance at a US Open doubles double, having already claimed the mixed crown with Zimbabwe’s Cara Black. Paes had claimed such doubles in 1999 at Wimbledon and the French Open, partnered with American Lisa Raymond in mixed and compatriot Mahesh Bhupathi in the men’s doubles.
The victory enables the Bryans to move back into the world number one ranking from second.
News and pictures courtesy: AFP, Daijiworld
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Leander Paes & Lukas Dlouhy
Some great news in tennis for India. Leander Paes has reached the finals of both the men’s doubles and mixed doubles at the US Open.
Paes and his Czech partner Lukas Dlouhy sprinted into the men’s doubles final by pulverising Argentine duo Maximo Gonzalez and Juan Monaco 6-2, 6-0 in just 46 minutes. (Lines courtesy: Rediff)
Cara Black
Meanwhile in the mixed doubles, Paes and his partner Cara Black of Zimbabwe beat Nadia Petrova and Jonas Bjorkman 6-4, 6-4 to reach the finals.
The last time Leander Paes achieved such a result was in the 1999 Wimbledon. Will he be able to repeat this feat at the last Grand Slam of the year ?
Above pictures courtesy: Getty Images & Wikipedia
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