Kristina Mladenovic Wins Australian Mixed Doubles With Daniel Nestor

Kristina Mladenovic won the Australian mixed doubles with her partner Daniel Nestor on Sunday, overcoming Sania Mirza and Horia Tecau of India and Romania respectively, 6-3, 6-2.

Nestor, who is from Canada, and Mladenovic, who hails from France, combined perfectly to demolish their opponents. This success comes after they won the Wimbledon mixed doubles last year.

41-year-old Nestor lavished praise upon his teammate after their success, declaring, “Kiki, she’s the best mixed doubles player. She really helps me out on court. I actually have to cover less of the court, which is perfect for me, because I’m so old.”

However, despite his age, Nestor clearly isn’t finished on the Tennis court, and he was even caught telling Mladenovic half-way through the encounter that he’d like to win a Grand Slam of mixed doubles titles with her. The on-court microphone picked up his remarks, which he later admitted he was only half-joking about.

“I always tell my friends my best chance of winning Grand Slams nowadays are in mixed,” he said. “But obviously I’d still like to win men’s doubles titles, too. You know, I think I have a good partner in that, too. I just think this is the best chance, but I’ll keep playing both and hopefully good will come out of it.”

Nestor has proven to be a dab-hand on the double’s circuit. Not only has he won all four majors in the men’s competition, but this was his third success at the Australian Open mixed doubles, after he picked up 2007 and 2011’s trophies. In total, Nestor has won 12 Grand Slam doubles titles, eight of which were mens and four in the mixed doubles.

Earlier on Sunday, Stanislas Wawrinka stunned the tennis world by defeating world number one Rafael Nadal in four sets, 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3.

The 28-year-old Swiss athlete managed to overcome the heavily fancied Spaniard, after Nadal suffered a back injury. It was even feared that Nadal would have to retire just before the third set, however he rallied back to threaten a comeback only to finally succumb to Wawrinka in the fourth.

After his victory, Wawrinka admitted, “I never expected to win a Grand Slam because, for me, I was not good enough to beat those guys. To win a Slam, to be number three [in the rankings], both for me is a big surprise. But I think more so to win a Slam, because in the ranking you can be number three without winning a Slam. But now both are happening, so it’s a big surprise.”