Melbourne: A second title eluded Leander Paes at this year’s Australian Open as he and Elena Vesnina ended runners-up in the mixed doubles event after being outplayed by Horia Tecau and Bethanie Mattek-Sands in the summit clash here on Sunday.
The fifth seeded Indo-Russian pair lost 3-6 7-5 (3-10) to eighth seeded Romanian-American combination in one hour and 48 minutes at the Rod Laver Arena.
Paes was chasing a rare feat of winning two Grand Slam titles in the same tournament for the second time in his career but fell at the final hurdle.
In the 1999 Wimbledon, he had won both the men’s doubles (with Mahesh Bhupathi) and mixed doubles (Lisa Raymond) titles.
On Saturday, Paes had won the men’s doubles title with Czech Radek Stepanek to complete a career Grand Slam.
It was Paes’ fourth Australian Open mixed doubles final, having won two and lost two. Overall, Paes has six mixed doubles titles with the French Open trophy missing from his Slam cabinet.
The combination of Tecau’s strong serve and Mattek’s stunning and powerful ground strokes, proved too hot to handle for Paes and Vesnina.
Paes praised his partner Elena Vesnina for reaching up to the summit clash.
Congratulating Tecau and Mattek for winning the title, Paes said, “I would like to congratulate our opponents for some tennis lessons. The forehand winner Mattek hit in the tie breaker was just awesome. You guys did a great job.”Praising the crowd at the Rod Laver Arena, Paes said, “India and Australia have Republic Day in the same month — January. There is a great relationship between the two countries. It’s real pleasure to come to the Australian Open.
“Jai Hind,” Paes concluded. (PTI)