Canadian Daniel Nestor Wins Mixed Doubles Title At Australian Open
Posted January 28, 2007 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A Canadian is among the winners at the Australian Open.
Toronto’s Daniel Nestor lifted the first mixed doubles title of his career when he and Russian partner Elena Likhovtseva defeated the Belarusian team of Max Mirnyi and Victoria Azarenka 6-4, 6-4 Sunday.
The win came after Nestor and Mark Knowles of the Bahamas lost in the men’s doubles semifinal earlier in the week.
“I have to thank my partner, she played great all week,” said Nestor. “We’ve had a lot of success together and it’s great to be able to enjoy a big victory.
“We had a lot of fun playing this final.”
Nestor and Likhovtseva swept the first set and took advantage of Mirnyi, who played far from his best game, failing to pick up the slack for his 17-year-old partner.
Meanwhile Nestor and Likhovtseva, a pair of over-30 champions, seized the trophy on their first match point when Nestor demolished a volley winner down the centre of the court.
The victory came one year after the pair lost the Melbourne final to Mahesh Bhupathi of India and Martina Hingis of Switzerland in straight sets.
“It’s a great feeling to have finally won a mixed,” said Nestor. “We’ve played in two (other finals) and finally won one.”
The only low point of the entire match for the winners was a lost break in the second when Likhovtseva dropped serve.
Still, the pair charged straight to a break-back, and in from there cruised to an easy victory in just 79 minutes.
File Courtesy Getty Images/Torsten Blackwood
Sign up for a del.icio.us account here to save your bookmarks for free online.
