When Leander Paes, Martina Hingis ‘strangled’ their Australian Open rivals

Leander Paes and Swiss partner Martina Hingis lost to Australia’s Samantha Stosur and Sam Groth 3-6, 2-6 in the mixed doubles quarterfinal at the Australian Open, but not before having some fun.

Leander Paes and Swiss partner Martina Hingis lost to Australia’s Samantha Stosur and Sam Groth 3-6, 2-6 in the mixed doubles quarterfinal at the Australian Open in Melbourne on Thursday. Stosur-Groth will play Sania Mirza and Ivan Dodig in the semis.

Martina Hingis of Switzerland and Leander Paes were never in the match against Samantha Stosur and Sam Groth in the mixed doubles quarterfinal at the Australian Open. They lost but won hearts at the Margaret Court Arena with some on court light moments. (Getty Images)

But, even during the losing cause, Leander Paes and Martina Hingis found time to have some fun.

While the Aussies ran away with the match, Paes added a tinge of humour into the proceedings. During one of the breaks, Paes went across to where Stosur and Groth were seated and tried to strangle the latter. All in jest, of course, much to the amusement of the crowd at the Margaret Court Arena.

Stosur and Groth were always a notch ahead of Leander Paes and Hingis in the match that lasted just 55 minutes. The Indo-Swiss pair was broken twice in the first set, both on Paes’ serve. In the second set, the Aussies converted both their break points and won 27 points to 22 for Hingis-Paes.

The pair had the crowd in splits on another occasion when, Hingis gave Leander a quick ‘back rub’ standing on the Indian’s back.

It is evident from the video above that Hingis will ‘always have Leander’s back’. Guess that’s what partnership on court is all about.