New Delhi: The Indian pair of Sania Mirza and Mahesh Bhupathi on Thursday won their second Grand Slam title together and first French Open mixed doubles final by beating the Klaudia Jans-Ignacik of Poland and her Mexican partner Santiago Gonzalez 7-6 (7-3), 6-1.

It is the second Grand Slam title for Sania while 12th Major trophy for Bhupathi, who now has won eight mixed doubles trophies. Sania and Bhupathi had won the 2009 Australia Open and it is their first Grand Slam title since then. Sania had become the first woman tennis player from India to win a Grand Slam with that Australian Open trophy.

It was a fantastic performance from Sania and Bhupathi. At the post-match ceremony, Sania had said – “My partner is easily one of the best in the world and d he showed it again tonight. It is his birthday today and I don’t need to think of a gift for him now.”

Mahesh Bhupathi dedicates this win to his 4-month-old daughter. “I am sure my 4-month-old daughter is watching this from home on television. This win is for her,” he said.

Leander Paes is the most successful Indian tennis player with 13 Grand Slam titles, seven of which are men’s doubles trophies with various partners.

Sachin Tendulkar on Tuesday became the first batsman in history to score 15,000 Test runs even as he moved towards his 100th international century.

Tendulkar, 38, achieved the feat when he reached 28 on the third day of the first Test against the West Indies at the Feroz Shah Kotla ground in New Delhi.

Srikkanth refused to buy the theory that excessive cricket, which has led to fatigue and injury to the players, was the main reason behind India’s humiliating series loss against England.

“If you see the Future Tours Programme, all countries are playing cricket 365 days a year whether England or Australia. It is not the Indians only. Cricket is being played the whole year in whatever format — Test, ODI or Twenty20. So I don’t think that it is the fatigue factor for the performance in England,” the former India captain said.

However, statistics of the last one year has a different story to tell with India playing more Test and ODI matches than Australia and England.

From August last year till date, India played 14 Tests, 29 ODIs and two Twenty20 International matches compared to Australia (7 Tests, 23 ODIs, 5 T20 Internationals) and England (13 Tests, 24 ODIs, 5 T20 Internationals).

Apart from the rigours of international cricket, most of the Indian cricketers also represented their respective franchises in the high-profile IPL and Champions League Twenty20 matches.

Srikkanth cited batting failure and not fatigue behind the debacle, which saw India lose the number one Test status to England after an innings and 242 runs defeat at Edgbaston yesterday.

Source: DC