LONDON: Second seeds India's Leander Paes and Zimbabwe's Cara Black powered to a 6-4, 7-6 (5) win over Wesley Moodie of South Africa and Lisa Raymond of the United States in the Wimbledon mixed doubles final.
Paes, playing his 23 Grand Slam final, having already won six men's doubles titles, clinched his sixth mixed-doubles crown, which made the winning team richer by 92,000 pounds. Paes, cheered on by wife Rhea and daughter Aiyana, who had her Barbie doll for company, is now the most feted Grand Slam champion from India, moving past his former doubles partner Mahesh Bhupathi, who has won 11 Grand Slam titles, (four doubles and seven mixed-doubles).
After a minor blip early in the opening set, when the Paes serve was broken and Moodie and Raymond took a 2-0 lead, the second seeds took control. They broke the American, but Black's serve was broken right back in the fourth game and Moodie and Raymond took a 3-1 lead. The Indo- Zimbabwean pair then won five of the next six games to seal the opening set.
Paes and Black, who won the Australian Open title earlier this year and have now played five Grand Slam finals, had four chances to break Raymond's serve in the seventh game, but the American-South African combine clawed back from 15-40 to hold serve.
Paes and Black showed similar nerve in the eighth game on Black's serve. The set then went to tie-break, where Paes and Black showed they were the stronger pair.
