India's doubles specialist Mahesh Bhupathi and former world number one Martina Hingis shocked sixth seeds Daniel Nestor of Canada and Russia's Elena Likhovsteva to win the Australian Open mixed doubles title in Melbourne on Sunday.
Wild card entrants Hingis and Bhupathi produced a dominant display of tennis to win 6-3, 6-3 in just 65 minutes.
- Special: Best of Bhupathi
Bhupathi has now won 10 Grand Slam titles, while Hingis took her Grand Slam tally to 15. Today's success with Bhupathi was her first Grand Slam mixed doubles title.
Hingis, making a comeback to Grand Slam tennis, had reached the women's singles quarter-finals in her first appearance since injury forced her into premature retirement in 2002.
The Swiss won five Grand Slam singles titles, including three straight Australian crowns from 1997-99, and was also a leading doubles player.
She won 36 doubles titles before retiring, including nine Grand Slams, but rarely played mixed doubles.
"If everyone was asking me why I came back, these are definitely the occasions...," Hingis said after the victory.
"To Mahesh, thank you very much. You took a huge risk because no one was sure how good I was going to be; thanks for taking the courage and playing with me," said Hingis.
This was Bhupathi's third straight mixed doubles Grand Slam victory after winning Wimbledon and US Open with France's Mary Pierce and Slovakia's Daniel Hantuchova respectively in 2005.
He is one of the hottest properties on the mixed doubles circuit, having won six mixed doubles titles with six different partners.
Bhupathi's Grand Slam titles:
1997: French Open mixed doubles with Rika Hiraki of Japan
1999: French Open men's doubles with Leander Paes
1999: Wimbledon men's doubles with Leander Paes
1999: US Open mixed doubles with Ai Sugiyama of Japan
2001: French Open men's doubles with Paes
2002: Wimbledon mixed doubles with Elena Likhovtseva of Russia
2002: US Open men's doubles with Max Mirnyi
2005: Wimbledon mixed doubles with Mary Pierce.
2005: US Open mixed doubles with Daniela Hantuchova.
2006: Australian Open mixed doubles with Martina Hingis.
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