Paes-Black pair win Australian Open mixed doubles title

Leander Paes and his Zimbabwean partner Cara Black clinched the Australian Open mixed doubles Championship with a straight-set win at Melbourne on Sunday. Leander equalled the record for most Grand Slam title triumphs by an Indian. With this, Paes has equalled one-time doubles' partner Mahesh Bhupathi's tally.

Top seeds and favourites, the 36-year-old Paes and the 30-year-old Black beat 10th seeds Ekaterina Makarova of Russia and Jaroslav Levinsky of Czechoslovakia 7-5 6-3 in just about one and a half hour.

The triumph gave the Indian his 11th overall and fifth mixed doubles title.

The last couple of times they reached a Grand Slam final, Paes and Black ended up on the losing side and eager to make amends for that, they were dominant from the word go on Sunday.

They broke their rivals as early as in the third game and save for a couple of breaks lost on Black's serve, the Indo-Zimbabwean pair seemed hardly troubled by Makarova and Levinsky, who committed far too many unforced errors.

This is Paes and Black's second title together, the first being the 2008 US Open.

Paes has been a former mixed doubles' champions at Melbourne Park and that triumph came in 2003 when he was partnering American legend Martina Navratilova

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Paes-Black in final of Australian Open mixed doubles

Leander Paes earned a chance to equal the record for most Grand Slam title wins by an Indian after reaching the final of the Australian Open mixed doubles event with partner Cara Black, following a hard fought semifinal win in Melbourne on Friday.

Paes has so far won 10 Grand Slam titles, including six men's doubles trophies.

Paes' estranged partner Mahesh Bhupathi has won the highest number of Grand Slam of titles -- 11 -- for India with seven mixed doubles and four men's doubles trophies.

The top seeded Indo-Zimbawean pair came from behind to edge past seventh seeds Lisa Raymond and Wesley Moodie 6-7 7-6 (5) 10-7 at Melbourne Park.

American Raymond and South African Davis Cupper Moody pushed the top seeds to limit but could not stop them from going into the title clash.

Paes and Black will take on 10th seeds Ekaterina Makarova of Russia and Jaroslav Levinsky of Czechoslovakia, who beat seventh seeds Flavia Pennetta of Italy and Marcelo Melo of Brazil 6-0 4-6 10-8 in their semifinal match.

Paes won the mixed doubles title at the Australian Open in 2003 with Czech-American legend Martina Navratilova and finished runner-up the following year.

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