Leander Paes was denied of his 10th Grand Slam title yesterday when he and Zimbabwean partner Cara Black lost in the final of mixed doubles at Wimbledon
Leander Paes was denied of his 10th Grand Slam title yesterday when he and Zimbabwean partner Cara Black lost in the final of mixed doubles at Wimbledon to ninth seeds Bahamian Mark Knowles and his German partner Anna-Lena Groenefeld.
Top seeds Paes-Black were favourites to win and began well taking an impressive 5-2 lead in the first set. However, the tables turned from then on, as Knowles-Groenefeld won five straight games to take Set One 7-5.
The comeback seemed to have taken the Indo-Zimbabwean pair by surprise sending them on theu00a0 backfoot something they never recovered from. The US Open defending champions then went down tamely in Set Two 3-6 even as a disappointed Paes looked to the heavens after Black failed to return a Knowles serve to finish the match. Paes who along with partner Lukas Dlouhy won the French Open doubles title recently and was hopeful he could make it a back-to-back Grand Slam win at Wimbledon. "I lost early in the mixed doubles at the French Open and went on to win the doubles, so since I've lost early in the men's doubles here, I'm hoping to win the mixed doubles," he had said recently.
Paes and Black lost in the second round in both previous slams this year the Australian and French Opens.
This is the fourth major title and first Wimbledon for Knowles.
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