Melbourne, Jan 31 (Inditop.com) India’s Leander Paes and Cara Black of Zimbabwe overwhelmed Ekaterina Makarova of Russia and Czech Jaroslav Levinsky 7-5, 6-3 to clinch the Australian Open mixed doubles title at the Melbourne Park here Sunday.
It was top seeded Paes and Black’s second title together as they broke free of their back-to-back losses in the Wimbledon and the US Open last year. The pair had won the 2008 US Open in their first major as a team.
It was the 11th Grand Slam title for Paes, who now has six doubles and five mixed-doubles majors. It was also Paes’ second Australian Open mixed doubles title having won his first in 2003 with Martina Navratilova.
The win puts him at par with compatriot Mahesh Bhupathi’s 11 Grand Slam doubles. Incidentally, Bhupathi and Sania Mirza were the defending champions this year but had to pull out due to Bhupathi’s injured calf muscle.
It was Black’s ninth Grand Slam title. She with Liezel Huber also made the women’s doubles final, where they lost in straight sets to Williams sisters – Venus and Serena.
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.
rounak