Sun Tian Tian and Nenad Zimonjic have claimed the mixed doubles title at Australian Open 2008 with a straight-sets success over Indian pair Sania Mirza and Mahesh Bhupathi.
Sun, the 2004 women's Olympic doubles champion from China, combined brilliantly with Serbian Zimonjic to dominate the match and win 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 in 81 minutes on Rod Laver Arena.
It is the first time the two have combined for a Grand Slam success and could be the start of a dominant mixed-doubles partnership, given how well they combine on the court.
The first set ebbed and flowed with Sun and Zimonjic getting the first break in the fourth game, only to be broken themselves in consecutive service games. They got it back on serve with a break in the eighth game and from there, both pairs held strong to force a tie-breaker. Bhupathi and Mirza took the first three points, but the momentum swung and Sun and Zimonjic won the next six points before taking the tie-breaker 7-4 when Bhupathi netted a backhand
Sun and Zimonjic broke in the first game of the second and had all the momentum going their way. Bhupathi and Mirza could not make any inroads into their opponents' serve, winning just seven receiving points for the match, and were under constant pressure. Sun and Zimonjic had break points in the seventh game and then had two match points on Bhupathi's serve in the ninth. The Indian pair dug deep to stay in the contest, but only delayed the inevitable as Zimonjic served it out, claiming victory when Bhupathi hit a volley wide when he could have left it to go out.
