Melbourne: Leander Paes and Martina Hingis beat French-Canadian pair of Kristina Mladenovic and Daniel Nestor 6-4, 6-3 to win the Australian Open mixed doubles title in Melbourne on Sunday. This is their 15th respective Grand Slam title victory.
The Indo-Swiss pair of Paes and Hingis started off in emphatic fashion, earning a break to gain an early lead in the first set. Mladenovic and Nestor, however, soon regained footing to bring the match back on level pegging at 3-3. The set went neck-to-neck till 4-4 before Paes and Hingis broke once again to take the first set 6-4.
In the second set, Mladenovic and Nestor earned an early break to make it 2-1 but that lead was wiped out immediately as Paes and Hingis were relentless in their chase for parity. They made it 2-2 to put the pressure back on their opponents and eventually won the set 6-3 to clinch the match.
Prior to this victory, the forty-one-year-old Paes had won eight men’s doubles and six mixed doubles title in his glittering career while the Swiss legend owned 14 Grand Slam titles, including five singles.
