Sania Mirza and Mahesh Bhupathi captured Roland Garros’ Mixed Doubles crown – Tennis Special
Seventh seeded Indians, Sania Mirza and Mahesh Bhupathi, conquered the Polish-Mexican pair, Klaudia Jans-Ignacik and Santiago Gonzalez, with a breadstick at the mixed doubles event of the French Open 2012 on Thursday. They nudged up a 7-6(3), 6-1 victory
against their rivals to lift the crystalware at this second of the four Grand Slam event held in France.
The high flying Indian junction displayed top notch to grab their second mixed doubles title together. Bhupathi now has shelved all four major trophies twice and he was also the first Indian to claim a Grand Slam.
"It was our third final and second Slam. We're very happy to win it," Mirza said. "We have been playing for a while now and have had consistent results."
"We play dangerous kind of tennis," Bhupathi said. "When we're playing well, it's kind of hard to beat us. And we always play well together. We played well the whole two weeks here in Paris, so I think we deserved to win."
Mirza and Bhupathi made a sloppy start at the Court Philippe Chatrier and lost their serve early on. However, they capitalised on one out of six break chances and got back in action. The set went to the tie-breaker where the Indians dominated, eventually
sealing the set with a 7-6(3) win.
The Indian tandem went berserk in the following set as they swiftly plucked their entire serves without facing any trouble. They cashed in three out of eight break opportunities and subsequently pulled out the set with a breadstick.
Summing up the seeds’ performance, Mirza and Bhupathi clobbered a slightly lower first serve share of 64 per cent as compared to their opponents’ 65 per cent but spectacularly marked 27 out of 34 points on it. They hammered zero winners but spilled fewer
unforced errors, ultimately finishing the deal with 70 points.
The winning collaboration of Mirza and Bhupathi stunned second seeds, Kveta Peschke and Mike Bryan, en route to the final showdown. Mustering their performance further, the Indian duo conquered their entire rivals without losing a set.
Bhupathi conquered his first Grand Slam title fifteen years ago with Japan’s Rika Hiraki on his birthday at this major clay court tournament. He was celebrating his 38th birthday on Thursday when he triumph the tournament with her fellow citizen.
"What more can a guy ask for on his birthday?" Bhupathi said. "That's an amazing day to play a Grand Slam final on your birthday - it's happened twice for me, both wins, and both here in Paris."
The in-form Mexican on the other hand was competing at his first Grand Slam title-round appearance. However, he secured a final berth at the Wimbledon juniors’ doubles event with Bruno Echagaray.
Jans-Ignacik and Gonzalez started their tournament in style, upsetting sixth seeded Nadia Petrova and Daniel Nestor, in the opening round. They also shocked the fifth seeded junction, Russia’s Elena Vesnina and India’s Leander Paes, in their journey to the
finals.
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