Chinese Sun Tiantian and Serbia's Nenad Zimonjic won the Australian Open mixed doubles final yesterday by beating Indian duo Sania Mirza and Mahesh Bhupathi 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 in one hour and 21 minutes.
Sun Tiantian, left, of China and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia hold a trophy after beating India's Sania Mirza and Mahesh Bhupathi in their mixed doubles finals match at the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia , January 27, 2008.
Sun and Zimonjic started with an early break, but the Indian team broke serve soon after, forcing the eventual tiebreaker.
Falling behind at 0-3 in the tiebreak, Sun and Zimonjic rallied to score six games in a row to take the tiebreak at 7-4.
After another early break in the second set, Sun and Zimonjic continued their momentum to edge ahead 5-4.
The Indians saved three championship points on Bhupathi's serve in the ninth game, before Zimonjic served out the set to secure the title.
The win is Sun's first grand slam title and third for China as Zheng Jie and Yan Zi won at the Australian Open and Wimbledon Open at 2006.
(Xinhua News Agency January 28, 2008)
