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Paes-Hingis storm into mixed doubles final

Leander Paes kept himself in line for his 15th Grand Slam title by reaching the Australian Open mixed doubles final with Martina Hingis as they defeated Su-Wei Hsieh and Pablo Cuevas in straight sets on Friday. The seventh seeded Indo-Swiss pair recorded a comfortable 7-5, 6-4 win over the unseeded Taipei-Uruguay combine in the semifinal in one hour and 14 minutes. Paes and Hingis broke Hsieh, who till recently was ranked world number one, thrice in the match.

41-year-old Paes has won eight men’s doubles and six mixed doubles title in his glittering career. He has joined forces with Hingis for the first time in his career. The Swiss legend is also a winner of 14 Grand Slam titles, including five singles. The seventh seeds had a breakpoint in the very first game when Hingis hit a volley winner but the Swiss missed a backhand winner, letting the opponents hold the serve. 

Paes’ serve was broken in the next game when Hsieh hit a lob for a winner at deuce as the unseeded team took a 2-0 lead in the opening set. Hingis and Paes initially left enough gap between them for Hsieh and Cuevas to take advantage, specially the Taipei player who hit winners comfortably but they later dominated the contest.
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