Mixed day for Paes: loses to old mate but wins with Martina

Mahesh Bhupathi, teaming up with Max Mirnyi of Belarus, extracted revenge from his estranged partner, defeating Leander Paes and David Rikl of Czech Republic on his way to the final of the men’s doubles at Wimbledon today. In a reversal of their quarter-final result at the French Open last month, top seeds Bhupathi and Mirnyi defeated Paes and Rikl, the fifth seeds, 6-7 (6/8), 6-4, 7-6 (9/7), 6-3 in a keenly contested semifinal on court one. Winners of three doubles titles together and world’s number one doubles pair at one time, Paes and Bhupathi have split over personal differences and now play with different partners. Bhupathi has now set himself on course for his eighth Grand Slam victory, having already won four doubles and three mixed doubles titles. In the final, Bhupathi and Mirnyi will take on the fourth seeded team of Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden and Todd Woodbridge of Australia. Bjorkman and Woodbridge had earlier defeated the Israeli pair of Johanthan Elrich and Andy Ram 6-2, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 in the first semi-final. Later, in a girls’ doubles second round match, India’s Sania Mirza and Alisa Kleybanova of Russia defeated Emma Laine of Finland and Nadja Pavic of croatia 6-1, 6-2.

But, Paes and Martina Navratilova remained on course for history in the mixed doubles section after they registered a 5-7, 7-6 (7/3), 6-4 victory over the American pair of Mike Bryan and Lisa Raymond. Earlier, Kim Clijsters of Belgium and Japan’s Ai Sugiyama denied the 46-year-old a chance of a 20th Wimbledon title today, beating the veteran and Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 in the women’s doubles quarter-finals. Navratilova, nine singles, seven women’s doubles and three mixed doubles successes to her name, was playing an astonishing 300th match at the All-England Club since her 1976 debut. She came here hoping to go level with Billie Jean King, whose 20 crowns are a Wimbledon record, comprising six singles wins, 10 doubles and four mixed triumphs between 1961 and 1979. But Navratilova, a Czech-born naturalised American, was unable to match an aggressive showing by her rivals on this occasion as Clijsters and Sugiyama moved through to a meeting with Lindsay Davenport and Lisa Raymond. (PTI)