Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia and Canada’s Daniel Nestor won the mixed doubles title at the Australian Open yesterday in their first — and potentially last — time playing together.
The No. 2-seeded pair beat Taiwan’s Chan Yung-jan and Paul Hanley of Australia 6-3, 3-6 (10/7) in the final.
“There were a lot of tight points there at the end, we were fortunate to win,” Nestor said in the post-match trophy ceremony, making public his regret that Srebotnik plans to return to her regular partner, Nenad Zimonjic, for upcoming Grand Slams. “This was my one shot. I’m glad I took advantage of it.”
Photo: AFP
It was Nestor’s second mixed doubles title in Melbourne after 2007, when he paired with Elena Likhovtseva. Srebotnik has won four Grand Slam mixed doubles titles, including Roland Garros with Zimonjic last year and in 2006.
The 29-year-old Slovenian said in their post-match press conference that she enjoyed playing with Nestor, whom she described as “really calm, a little bit different than Nenad,” but she said she was already committed to resuming her partnership with Zimonjic, who she called “more fiery,” adding that “we already made an agreement, I like to keep my word.”
Nestor added, half jokingly: “I have no problems with her stabbing Nenad in the back at all.”
In the final, Srebotnik and Nestor had nine break points against their opponents and managed to save six of them, while Hanley and Chan were broken three times in five attempts.
Hanley and Chan started strong and got an early break, but Hanley was rattled after getting hit in the face by a ball.
“We were up a break, then you get hit in the face on break point. It’s not a nice feeling,” Hanley said. “The whole match we were sort of fighting within ourselves a little bit. We couldn’t really settle.”
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