History could be made on Friday at Roland Garros when Leander Paes and Martina Hingis face Sania Mirza and Ivan Dodig in the French Open Mixed Doubles final. Leander Paes, at 42 years, will on the brink of glory and has the chance to win a career Grand Slam (winning all four majors) in mixed doubles. The Indian tennis legend has already achieved a career Grand Slam in the men’s doubles category.
Mirza-Dodig and Paes-Hingis reached the final in similar fashion as both had to play three sets with the third being a super tie-break. While Paes and Hingis beat Andrea Hlavackova and Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-3, 3-6, 10-7, Mirza and Dodig defeated Kristina Mladenovic and Pierre-Hugues Herbert 4-6, 6-3, 12-10 to make it to the final. The match promises to be a tricky contest as Mirza, Hingis and Paes have all played with each other in their careers.
Rain disrupting play at Roland Garros
Proceedings at the French Open have been severely halted due to excessive rain and both pairings had to play their semi-finals due to the backlog. Play has been cancelled already on a couple of days and the organisers will be hoping rain does not play spoilsport yet again.
Leander Paes, a man who never refuses to stop, will be looking to win his first French Open mixed doubles title and his teammate and compatriot Sania Mirza will be standing in his way.
Should Leander and Hingis win, it will be a tenth mixed doubles major for the former and a fifth for the latter. Sania Mirza, on the other hand, will be looking to win her first mixed doubles title since grabbing the 2014 US Open with Bruno Soares.
As far as tournament form is considered, the unseeded pairing of Leander Paes and Martina Hingis will go into the match with high confidence despite their quarter-final going to a third set super tie-break. On the other hand, second seeds Mirza and Dodig have played two gruelling contests on the trot with both their quarter-final and semi-final going to the third set.
The conditions will be quite testing for both pairs as rain has hugely affected gameplay at the French Open and Leander Paes, through microblogging site Twitter, expressed how tough it was to compete on a wet court.
Indian fans will be keenly watching the contest as irrespective of what happens, the winner will be from the sub-continent.
