Paes wins mixed doubles in Paris

In partnership with Hingis, Indian becomes one of the oldest players in the history of the game to win a Grand Slam title at 43.

Paris, the city of romance, holds a special place in Leander Paes' heart as he had spent a few years training in the French capital. Paes had lived and practised with his French coach at the courts of Roland Garros national tennis centre which was only a few minutes away from the Grand Slam venue.

Now the Indian tennis player, in his 43rd year, has been turning the clock back again as he looked in prime form showcasing his speed and agility at the net and won the mixed doubles title with Martina Hingis and reached the quarterfinals of the men's doubles with Marcin Matkowski.

The unseeded Indo-Swiss pair of Paes and Hingis beat second seeds Sania Mirza and Ivan Dodig 4-6, 6-4, 10-8 in the mixed doubles final.

In 2015, Paes and Hingis won three of the four Grand Slam titles on offer with the French Open the missing trophy in their cabinet.

Fittingly, Paris was also the site of his first Grand Slam triumph in 1999 as Paes and his partner Mahesh Bhupathi beat Goran Ivanisevic and Jeff Tarango 6-2, 7-5.

Paes explained his love for Paris, "I am blessed to have had a long career and every Grand Slam has some unique memories for me. Paris is special to me because I have a lot of good memories having lived and practised at Roland Garros. Also I have won three titles here. It goes to show I enjoy the place."

Leander has also grown to love playing on clay and has adapted very well to the heavy conditions after the rains at Paris this year, "It is a surface that demands more especially with the heavier conditions. You need more patience and the quality of play needed is also high because you need more variety in your game when playing on a slower surface."

By winning Friday's final along with his partner Hingis, the In- dian legend has achieved a mixed doubles career slam following his career slam in men's doubles which he completed at Melbourne in 2012 by annexing the Australian Open doubles crown with partner Radek Stepanek.

With other important events like Wimbledon and the Olympics just around the corner, the Indian star is also peaking at the right time. Paes has been the flag bearer for Indian tennis for over 25 years and he is no mood to slow down. Leander's many fans are undoubtedly estactic after he clinched another historic title in Paris.

There were even some smiles exchanged between Mirza and Hingis as a Hingis volley found the line when the umpire came down to check the mark. Games went with serve till the end of the set when Hingis' serve was broken when Mirza came up with a spectacular passing shot to clinch the opening set 6-4.

In the second set Paes and Hingis went up an early break but soon relinquished it. However they were able to clinch another break to lead 4-3. Both teams tried to resort to lobs to counter the heavy conditions.

Mirza then missed a volley to face set point but the second seeds fought back well to save both. Paes then served out the set without much trouble. The match tiebreak that would decide the title took a rollercoaster route. First Mirza and Dodig took a 3- 1 lead but Paes and Hingis slowly fought back with some authoritative tennis to level it back at 5-5 and then led 7-5 at the change of ends.

At one point Paes hit a trademark forehand volley winner ad started egging on the crowd as they led 8-6. Two points from the title. And there were cries of “Come on Old Man” from the crowd. Mirza and Dodig fought back to 8- 8. Hingis then hit a backhand pass to reach championship point and then Paes and Hingis closed out the win on a forehand error from Dodig.