SPORTS

Canada's Daniel Nestor falls in mixed doubles final at Australian Open

Bill Scott The Associated Press
Published Sunday, February 1, 2015 7:55AM EST

Martina Hingis of Switzerland, second right, and Leander Paes of India, right, are congratulated by Kristina Mladenovic of France, left, and Daniel Nestor of Canada after winning the mixed doubles final at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2015. (AP Photo/Rob Griffith)

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MELBOURNE, Australia -- Canadian Daniel Nestor and French partner Kristina Mladenovic were dethroned as Australian Open mixed doubles champions on Sunday, losing the final to Martina Hingis and Leander Paes 6-4, 6-3.

The 42-year-old Nestor, from Toronto, was broken three times in the match, which lasted just 62 minutes and played under the closed roof of the Rod Laver arena due to rain.

The Canadian's third-seeded side went down to defeat with 18 winners and 16 unforced errors, losing serve five times while breaking on three occasions.

"They played better for sure. Obviously there were things we could have done a little bit better. But they were the better team," said Nestor. "Even when I thought I was serving OK, they were still making a lot of balls. They played well.

"I played a bit was over-aggressive on second serve. The court was playing a little bit different than what we've been used to... It was kicking more when we were playing outside. Today it was more of a dead bounce."

Nestor called his overall Open performance (he and Rohan Bopanna lost in the men's doubles second round) as "not ideal."

"We played well in Sydney (won the title) and had a little bit of a letdown here. It's nice to win some matches in mixed. It was not result that we wanted but it was OK overall."

All four players on the court were former grand slam champions, with Hingis winning her second major in mixed doubles and 16th overall in a career which began in 1995 as a teenager. The Swiss had not won a grand slam title since playing Australia in 2006 in the event.

Nestor, who owns four mixed doubles titles and won the Melbourne title in 2011 and 2007. He claimed Wimbledon with Mladenivoc two years ago.

He and Russian Elena Lkihovtseva finished runners-up in 2006 in Australia to a team of Hingis and another Indian, Paes' former doubles partner Mahesh Bhupathi.

Nestor got off to a poor start, broken to love in the second game of the match before his team broke Paes in the fifth game. Hingis and Paes won the set after 29 minutes as Nestor double-faulted on a set point.

In the second, Nestor made amends as he held serve in the second game only to lose it again to hand over a 4-2 lead.

But Hingis and Mldenovic then traded breaks, with the Swiss-Indian seventh seed emerging with a 5-3 lead. A return long from Mladenovic off a Hingis return at her feet ended the contest on a first match point.