Hingis won the women’s doubles with Sania Mirza on Saturday
Leander Paes and Switzerland's Martina Hingis celebrate winning the Wimbledon mixed doubles title at the All England Club in London on Sunday.(Photo: AFP)
London: Martina Hingis won her second Wimbledon title in two days when she and veteran Leander Paes took the mixed doubles with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Alexander Peya and Timea Babos, and promptly said she felt a “quarter Indian”.
“With Leander, played TeamTennis (in the United States) for the last two years. Since then it’s been a great ride for me. I feel already like quarter Indian,” said Hingis, whose last Wimbledon title before this weekend was back in 1998 in the women’s doubles.
Hingis won the women’s doubles with Sania Mirza on Saturday before coming back on Sunday to secure a 40-minute triumph. Paes and Hingis had also clinched the Australian Open mixed doubles in January. It was 42-year-old Paes’s eighth Grand Slam mixed title and a third for Swiss legend Hingis.
“Been to India four times. I’m meeting the Prime Minister and everything. It was incredible today, the chemistry between myself and Leander.” For Paes, who played his first Wimbledon in 1993, it was a 16th Grand Slam doubles title.
“Australia was something brand new, something fresh, because it was the first time we were playing in a Grand Slam together,” Paes said. “We played World TeamTennis for a couple years and we’re undefeated there. But to come and do it at Wimbledon is something really special.
“Everyone knows what Martina’s achieved over the years at Wimbledon. To come out there and do it back-to-back, the physical and mental effort that it takes to win two titles in the same week, is something really, really special.”
He refused to pick a favourite among his 16 Grand Slams but Paes said lifting the title here does rank among the most special triumphs of his career. “It’s not about which one is the best among all of them but coming out and playing like that in one of the most prestigious courts that we have grown up knowing and winning a title in a Grand Slam without losing a set, that’s very special,” Paes said.
“To be able to play this game for so many years and play with two of the greatest female players (former partner Martina Navratilova and now Hingis), it is fantastic.
They epitomise greatness, they are the greatest on this planet across any sport,” he added.
( Source : agencies )
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