Agencies
Paris, June 3: At least one French Open trophy will come to India because the mixed doubles final will have one Indian in each of the two pairs. But they will be against one another with Leander Paes and Sania Mirza standing on opposite sides of the court.
Leander and Martina Hingis reached the final of the mixed doubles with a 6-3, 3-6, 10-7 win over sixth seeds Andrea Hlavackova from Czech Republic and Frenchman Edouard Roger-Vasselin here late Thursday evening.
In the other semifinal, Sania Mirza and Ivan Dodig, the second-seeded Indo-Croatian duo overcame local favourites Kristina Mladenovic and Pierre-Hugues Herbert, the third seeds with a 4-6, 6-3, 12-10 victory.
Earlier in the day, both the pairs had to play their quarterfinal matches. The final will really be interesting though as Hingis also plays women’s doubles with Sania and this will be the first time she will playing against her partner since the two have teamed up.
Paes and Hingis have won three Grand Slams together — the Australian Open, Wimbledon and US Open in 2015, their first year of partnership.
If Paes wins the title at Roland Garros, he will complete a career Grand Slam in mixed doubles, something he’s already achieved in men’s doubles. He had once reached the final here in 2005.