Ageless Daniel Nestor into another Grand Slam final
MELBOURNE – It didn't go the way Daniel Nestor wanted in the men's doubles, in his first Grand Slam with new partner Rohan Bopanna of India.
But in the mixed doubles, the 42-year-old Canadian legend and half-his-age partner Kristina Mladenovic of France are one win away from a two-peat at the Australian Open.
The pair, seeded No. 3, upset the No. 1 seeds, Sania Mirza of India and Bruno Soares of Brazil 3-6. 6-2. [10-8] in a topsy-turvy match Friday that probably turned on Soares's really poor serving day.
Nestor and Mladenovic played fairly average tennis in the first set, better tennis in the second set and, in the match tiebreak, pulled out just enough shots to win. They trailed 6-2 in that match tiebreak, and 8-6.
The turning point came on that 8-6 point, with Mirza serving. Mladenovic took a second serve and crushed it in the direction of Soares at the net. The Brazilian clearly never thought for a secon that Mladenovic would hit that ball in his direction, and he wasn't ready for it.
The French-Canadian pair rolled after that. Mladenovic is capable of making tremendous shots. And she has gone on a tear in a couple of the match tiebreaks the pair has played this tournament.
Here's what it looked like; too bad there weren't more fans in Margaret Court Arena to watch it.
In the final, they will face the sentimental favorite here, the veteran pair of Leander Paes and Martina Hingis, both of them possessing multiple Grand Slam titles.
Hingis, in her doubles comeback, reached the women's doubles final at the U.S. Open with Flavia Pennetta of Italy last September.
In the ever-revolving world of mixed doubles, Nestor and Zimonjic are almost a old married couple. In last year's Australian Open final, they defeated Mirza and ... Horia Tecau. In the quarter-finals of the WImbledon mixed last summer, they defeated Soares and ... Hingis in straight sets.
In the final of the 2006 Australian Open mixed doubles final (eons ago), Nestor and Elena Likhovtseva lost to Hingis and ... Mahesh Bhupathi, Paes' countryman and longtime doubles partner.
Surprisingly, given how much mixed doubles the 34-year-old Hingis has played and how good a doubles player she is, that is her only major mixed title so far.
