WTT Washington Kastles

Leander and Martina Win US Open Mixed Doubles over Kastles Teammate Querrey

September 12, 2015 - World TeamTennis (WTT)
Washington Kastles News Release


In a battle of the Kastles, two was better than one as Hingis/Paes defeated Querrey and partner Mattek-Sands

The rest of the tennis world is finding out what World TeamTennis fans in general and Kastles fans in particular already knew: Leander Paes and Martina Hingis are the greatest show on the court.

The Kastles captain and its star player were already the 2015 Australian Open and Wimbledon champions - now they can count the US Open title in their growing collections as well. Leander and Martina have 36 Grand Slam titles between them, and are the backbone of the Washington Kastles squad which has captured five straight WTT championships - three of them led by Hingis and Paes.

With a good number of Kastles fans in attendance, today's match had its share of drama starting with the familiar face on the other side of the net: Leander and Martina's Kastles teammate Sam Querrey.

Querry and fellow American Bethanie Mattek-Sands, who won the lone Grand Slam mixed doubles title at the French that alluded Hingis/Paes as well as two Grand Slam women's doubles this year, nearly played the spoiler. In the end however, Leander and Martina hoisted the trophy after holding on to win, 6-4, 3-6, 10-7 in a thrilling super tiebreaker.

After losing the first set, Querry and Mattek-Sands made a surprise move and switched their returning sides. With Mattek-Sands now on the backhand side, she hit clean down-the-line backhand winners past a crossing Paes on two critical deciding points to hold at 1-1 and then to break to go up 3-1, which opened a lead they carried through to win the set 6-3.

In a tense super tiebreaker that would decide the US Open, the Kastles legends of Paes and Hingis kept fighting even when down 1-4 and 2-5. On the match's most important point at 7-7, they created their opening when Paes blocked a big Mattek-Sands serve with a down-the-line forehand winner past a surprised Querrey. After a challenge confirmed that the ball had landed on the line, all that was left was for Paes to win two points on his serve, which he did, closing out the match and the US Open Championship with two forehand volley winners.

In the post-match trophy ceremony, both Hingis and Paes talked about playing and practicing with Querrey this WTT season and credited their Kastles experience playing together over the last three years that led to them to forming and then preparing for their exceptional Grand Slam partnership.

As the first team to win 3 mixed doubles in 45 years, are Leander and Martina the most dominant mixed doubles team in nearly the last half century?

Read below, then share your opinions with us on Facebook and Twitter. We're waiting to hear from you!

Hingis-Paes most dominant mixed team in 45 years

Reprinted from USOpen.org - by McCarton Ackerman

Mixed doubles is often eschewed to the outer courts during Grand Slam events, but the popular team of Martina Hingis and Leander Paes have been giving it a much-needed boost with their dominance in 2015.

The pair won the Australian Open and Wimbledon mixed doubles titles this year without the loss of a set and have now added the US Open to their collection. Down 1-4 in the deciding super tiebreak of their final against Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sam Querrey, they rallied with a series of winners to clinch the title, 6-4, 3-6, [10-7].

But just as importantly, the win established them the most dominant mixed doubles team of the last 45 years. Paes and Hingis are only the second mixed doubles team in the Open era (and the first since 1969) to win three Grand Slams in the same year.

"The understanding we have for the game and each other is amazing. Even if one thing doesn't work, we come up with a plan B or C like we did today," said Hingis. "I just feel like we're almost invincible going on court."

The win also gave Paes his ninth mixed doubles title, more than any other man in the Open era. Only Martina Navratilova has more than him among players in the Open era, with 10 titles. But Paes believes there's nothing specific about his game that translates so well to mixed doubles. Instead, it's his personality that has led to incredible Grand Slam success

"I don't believe that I have the technique or caliber of talent that [Hingis] has. What I do have is the guts. I will go for it," said Paes. "In any partnership, there's got to be one person who brings the energy to the team, who takes all the pressure on their shoulder and drives the team forward. I know if I can keep Martina happy and relaxed, I don't even have to worry about the tennis."

Paes and Hingis have played mixed doubles together for years in World Team Tennis as part of the Washington Kastles franchise, helping that team to five consecutive championship titles, but hadn't played in a Grand Slam until this year. Their time on the court has also turned into a friendship far closer than most mixed doubles teams in the draw this year. Paes and Hingis even practiced together regularly before their matches.

"When we go out there and play for an hour, we are generally getting in a block of four or five hours of quality in that one hour," said Paes. "I have a reputation of not wanting to practice so much, but it's because the quality of practice is so good I don't have to do the same number of hours as others."

The pair have already confirmed they will play together in 2016 and if they can maintain their current form, they will likely be lifting up many more trophies in the future.

"We don't have the biggest serves or returns, but we are stable and we do the basics as well as anybody," said Hingis. "Our solid base is just so high that our opponents have to overperform to win. We have a little bit of this aura and they have to come up with their best game to beat us."



World TeamTennis Stories from September 12, 2015


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