Top seeds win mixed doubles Open title

India's Leander Paes claimed his 11th grand slam title and Zimbabwe's Cara Black her
ninth as the doubles specialists powered to Australian Open mixed doubles victory on
Sunday.
Top seeds Paes and Black beat Jaroslav Levinsky of the Czech Republic and Russian
Ekaterina Makarova 7-5 6-3 in one hour, eight minutes on Rod Laver Arena.
Despite their standing as two of the world's greatest doubles players, it was only
the second triumph as a team for Paes and Black.
Aside from their matches at Melbourne Park, their men's and women's doubles
commitments have meant their pre-match practice as a combination consisted of just a
45-minute hitout on Sunday morning.
"Our instincts are well suited together," Paes said.
"We were a bit all over the place early in the match but we managed to work out our
strategy by keeping it simple."
The combinations traded breaks throughout the first set, until Paes' brilliance at
the net helped bring about the match's turning point as he proved impassable while
Black served for the set.
Then Black produced a stunning lob to break the European pair in the opening game of
the second - an advantage they held to the finish.
Black and Paes previously teamed to win the 2008 US Open mixed doubles title, and
both are keen to play together at the year's remaining grand slam tournaments.
"He's a great partner ... he makes you feel like gold," Black said of Paes.
"Playing together, it's been a goal of ours and he made me a promise we were going
to win this one."