Aiming for their third Grand Slam title, Leander Paes and Martina Navratilova were outclassed in the final of the French Open Mixed Doubles today. The unseeded pair of Daniela Hantuchova and Fabrice Santoro won 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 on Court Suzanne Lenglen after failing to hold serve on four occasions, three at crucial moments in the second and third sets. Martina, who was playing in a mixed doubles final at Roland Garros after 20 years, had her sights on Grand Slam title No 59, Paes on a seventh. The Indo-US pair opened their campaign on a losing note. Paes, who opened serve, was broken despite holding two game-points. Santoro then doubled the advantage before Martina pulled one back, then Hantuchova won on love. Down 1-3, Paes held the 5th, before he and Martina broke the Frenchman Santoro. The game saw Paes/Martina concede four break-point opportunities before leveling scores (3-3) on the fifth advantage point. Martina maintained her perfect serve record and she and Paes then targeted Hantuchova to get into a comfort zone. They The No 6 seeds ran up a 40-0 advantage before dropping a point and eventually went up 5-3. Paes, serving for the set, struggled but eventually pulled through. But his luck ran out in the second set, when he failed to hold serve in the eighth game. The set went breezily for Hantuchova and Santoro and Paes dropped his serve for the third time. That seemed to affect Martina, who after winning five straight games handed over the advantage to the Slovak-French partnership. Down 2-3 and suddenly the match drifted away from Paes’ and Martina’s reach.
