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Leander Paes, Martina Hingis win US Open mixed doubles title of 2015
Veteran Indian tennis star Leander Paes scripted history by notching up the US Open mixed doubles title with Swiss partner Martina Hingis to become the format's most successful male player in the Open era.
Veteran Indian tennis star Leander Paes scripted history by notching up the US Open mixed doubles title with Swiss partner Martina Hingis to become the format's most successful male player in the Open era.
The fourth seeded Indo-Swiss pair edged past unseeded Americans Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sam Querrey 6-4, 3-6, 10-7 in a tricky final to win their third Major title together this season.
The 42-year-old Paes has now won nine Grand Slam mixed doubles titles, surpassing compatriot and former partner Mahesh Bhupathi's record of eight titles.
He is now behind only the legendary Martina Navratilova, who won 10 mixed doubles trophies. Of those 10, two came with Paes when they won Australian Open and Wimbledon in 2003.
With this win, the Paes-Hingis duo, which also won the Australian Open and the Wimbledon titles early this season, have become the first mixed doubles team since 1969 to win three Grand Slam mixed doubles titles in the same year.
It was Paes' 17th Grand Slam title overall and Hingis' 19th. Hingis has won four Grand Slam titles and all of them have come with Indians.
She won her first mixed doubles trophy with Mahesh Bhupathi when they won 2006 Australian Open.
Hingis is also in contention in women's doubles, where she is partnering Sania Mirza. The two had earlier won the Wimbledon this year.
They are up against Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan and Casey Dellacqua of Australia in the summit clash.
Paes and Hingis broke Mattek-Sands at love to take a 2-1 lead in the opening set as the Swiss hit a forehand passing shot to secure the break. That break was all they needed, as Paes easily closed the set out at 5-4 when Hingis hit a volley winner.
A lone break of serve also decided the second set, as Mattek-Sands hit two straight winners to break Hingis' serve as the Americans led 3-1.
Hingis saved three set points on her serve at 2-5, but Querrey easily held in the next game to send the contest into a deciding super tiebreak.
The unseeded Americans were cruising as they created a 4-1 cushion when they won both the points on Hingis' serve to grab the first mini-break. But Hingis and Paes took the mini-break back on Mattek-Sands' serve at the next opportunity.
The crucial point of the match came at 7-7, when Paes blocked Querrey's serve for a clean passing-shot winner. He then won both points on his serve to close out the match, hitting an overhead winner on their first match point and then lifting Hingis in celebration.
