Melbourne: Top seed Leander Paes levelled with Mahesh Bhupathi’s 11 Grand Slam titles when he, partnering Cara Black, outplayed Russia’s Ekaterina Makarova and Czech Jaroslav Levinsky 7-5, 6-3 to clinch the Australian Open mixed doubles title at Melbourne Park here Sunday.
It was Paes and Black’s second major together after losing in back-to-back finals at the Wimbledon and the US Open last year. Their only title had come in US Open in 2008, their first outing as a team.
The win gave 36-year-old Paes his 11th Grand Slam title, bringing him level with compatriot Bhupathi, also his one-time doubles partner. Incidentally, Bhupathi and Sania Mirza were the defending champions this year but had to pull out due to Bhupathi’s injured calf muscle.
Paes now has six doubles and five mixed-doubles titles. It was also his second Australian Open mixed doubles title having won his first in 2003 with Martina Navratilova. For Black, it was her ninth Grand Slam title. She also reached the women’s doubles final here with Liezel Huber where they lost to Venus and Serena Williams.
“Winning Grand Slams is obviously fantastic in a partnership,” said Paes.
“Our experience came handy. I love playing with Cara. What I really respect about Cara is that, in particular, she is a very sensitive human being.”
“She is intelligent and hard working. Every time I step on the court with her I know she’s going to put everything out there.”
“My family has been a great motivating factor for me all these years,” Paes said.
Black said Paes had promised her that they would win at Melbourne.
“We talked about it last year. He promised me we were going to get this one. He’s good at keeping his promises,” Black said.
The Indo-Zimbabwean pair proved too strong for the unseeded Levinsky and Makarova, who were playing their first Grand Slam final.
Paes led the charge with his strong net play and nimble footwork as the top seeds wrapped the contest in one hour and eight minutes under a closed roof on Rod Laver Arena.
Paes and Black served solid, with 79 per cent of their first serve in while Makarova and Levinsky could manage just 53 per cent.
Makarova and Levinsky fought hard to break twice in the first set, but were broken back five times in the match.
The first set saw five breaks as both pairs made tentative starts.
After trading breaks twice, Paes and Black broke Makarova’s serve to go 6-5 ahead and then closed out the set with a solid game in 36 minutes.
The Indo-Zimbabwean pair cruised to a 2-0 lead in the second set. Paes’s swift winners at the net and Black’s solid serve kept them ahead and when they broke again at 5-3, they won the the championship.
IANS