Swiss ace Martina Hingis and Indian doubles legend Leander Paes added fifteenth career slam to their tally.
Hingis, who started as a precocious 16-year old here in 1995 and was three-time singles champion here in 1997, 98 and 99 .. exclaimed after the win that the Rod Laver arena was one for her 'fondest memories' and she was happy to return from her injury layoff since 2013, with a victory here. Hingis last won here in 2006 mixed doubles, partnering Mahesh Bhupathi, who was Paes' former doubles partner.
"After 20 years being back on the court ... who would have thought," Hingis said. "It's more than I could ever dream of."
Paes for his part, heaped praise on his partner. He claimed he was 'too shy' to ask a 'legend' like Hingis to team up with him. It was only after another legend, her namesake and idol Martina Navratilova suggested his name, that she approached the Indian. Hingis claims she was a little awed by the Indian's doubles reputation as well, but found him easy to gel with.
Paes, 41 and HIngis, 34 were clearly having a lot of fun and complemented each other with excellent understanding. It showed, as they made short work of much younger opponents throughout the tournament without dropping a set!
Match Report: The game began in excellent style for the Indo-Swiss pair as Leander held his serve and Hingis scorched some great returns to make it 1-0. Their opponents - Kristina Mladenovic of France and Daniel Nestor of Canada, who shattered the all-Indian face-off dream by defeating top seed pair of Sania Mirza and Bruno Soares, were rattled early here. Hingis showed off her famous court coverage to put them under cosh, wresting an early break. However, they opened their account at 3-1 and broke back to make it 3-3. At 4-4, Paes-Hingis again kicked it up a notch, to break the French-Canadian pair. This time, they held their serve to close out the first set 6-4.
Their opponents weren't ready to throw in the towel yet, breaking the Indian's serve this time, to go up 2-1 in the second set. But Paes had his own back with his quicksilver work at the net, to get it even at 2-2. From there on, Hingis shot some flowing returns to double up the pressure, making it 4-2 with their second break. In the end, they breezed to yet another straight set victory with 6-3
Mladenovic paid her tributes to the victors during the presentation "Winners, you played great today, you deserved to win.", while her partner Nestor claimed this was the 'friendliest slam' event.
Asked whether they would team up again in the future, Paes responded with a cheeky smile, "If she lets me. I don't know if she will."
Hingis laughed enthusiastically: "Of course!"