Serena’s Grand Slam bid ends after Roberta Vinci shocker
New York: Leander Paes created history by winning the US Open mixed doubles title with Swiss partner Martina Hingis as the veteran Indian now has the highest number of mixed doubles titles in 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.
42-year-old Paes now has won nine Grand Slam mixed doubles titles, surpassing compatriot and former partner Mahesh Bhupathi’s record of eight titles.
He is now behind only legendary Martina Navratilova, who won 10 mixed doubles trophies.
Of those 10, two came with Paes only when they won Australian Open and Wimbledon in 2003.
With this win, Paes and Hingis, who also won Australian Open and 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 the contention in the Women’s Doubles with Sania Mirza with whom she won Wimbledon earlier this year.
They are up against Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan and Casey Dellacqua of Australia. Paes and Hingis broke Mattek-Sands at love to take a 2-1 lead in the opening set as the Swiss miss hit a forehand passing shot to secure the break.
That bit of momentum 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 points on Hingis’ serve to grab the first mini-break.
But Hingis and Paes took the minibreak 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.
Meanwhile, Serena Williams’ bid for a rare calendar-year Grand Slam came to a shuddering halt at the US Open on Friday when the three-times defending champion suffered a stunning 2-6 6-4 6-4 loss to unseeded Italian Roberta Vinci.
For world number one Williams, who was bidding to become only the fourth woman to win all four majors in the same year, it marked the first time she lost to Vinci in five career meetings. Coach Patrick Mouratogloua admitted that the pressure of pursuing the calendar Grand Slam was “enormous” after the American slumped to Roberta Vinci. (Agencies)