Paes completes doubles Slam

2008-09-04 22:28

New York - India's Leander Paes completed a career mixed doubles Grand Slam on Thursday, joining Zimbabwe's Cara Black to beat Britain's Jamie Murray and American Liezel Huber 7-6 (8/6) 6-4 in the US Open final.

The 97-minute victory for the first-time Slam pairing follows mixed titles for Paes at the 1999 French Open and Wimbledon with American Lisa Raymond and the 2003 Wimbledon and Australian Opens with US star Martina Navratilova.

"The key part is selecting a good partner," Paes said. "I let Cara do all the work and I just stood back and enjoyed it."

Paes, who lacks the Australian Open title for a men's doubles career Slam, lost two prior US Open mixed finals, including last year with American Meghann Shaughnessy 6-4 7-6 (8/6) to Max Mirnyi and Victoria Azarenka of Belarus.

In 2001, Paes and US partner Lisa Raymond fell 6-4 5-7 11-9 (champions tiebreak) in the final to Australians Todd Woodbridge and Rennae Stubbs.

Both Black, 29, and Paes, 35, have a chance for more titles this week at Flushing Meadows.

Paes and Czech Lukas Dlouhy have advanced to Friday's US Open men's doubles final, where they will face US brothers Mike and Bob Bryan.

Black and Huber, a South African who became a US citizen last year, are top-seeded partners in women's doubles, where they have advanced to the semifinals.

- AFP