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It's a treat to play with Martina: Paes

February 01, 2015 22:35 IST

Martina Hingis of Switzerland and Leander Paes of India hold the winners trophy after their final mixed doubles match against Kristina Mladenovic of France and Daniel Nestor of Canada. Photograph: Robert Prezioso/Getty Images

Leander Paes and Martina Hingis, two legends of the game, were all praise for each other after winning their first Grand Slam together as Indian ace called it a "treat to win title" with the 'Swiss Miss'.

- It's Grand Slam No 15 for legendary Leander Paes

Paes, contesting his 25th season on the ATP World Tour, and the Swiss ace defeated defending champions Daniel Nestor and Kristina Mladenovic 6-4, 6-3 in the final.

Interestingly, it was 16th career Grand Slam title for Hingis while Paes won his 15th title.

It was third Australian Open mixed double title for Paes, who won with Martina Navratilova in 2003 and with Cara Black in 2010.

"It's a great honour to keep coming back to Australia. It's a treat to play with Martina. I finally managed to learn some things from her returns and returned half decently today. It's intriguing," Paes said.

Martina Hingis of Switzerland and Leander Paes of India celebrate winning their final mixed doubles match against Kristina Mladenovic of France and Daniel Nestor of Canada. Photograph: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

Paes also paid tribute to his team behind the scenes. "There are a few people who got us together. All you guys back home who put us together to win our first Grand Slam, thank you," the 41-year-old said.

Hingis, who has seven Australian Open trophies including three singles titles in her glittering career, joked, "Martina (Navratilova) – thank you for lending me Leander!" as Navratilova who watched the match from the stands smiled.

Talking about the Indian, the Swiss legend said, "I think we even grew with every match – the confidence, the teamwork, the suggestions we had, one or the other, we really trust each other. I think that was the key in every match."

Meanwhile, President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated tennis ace Leander Paes for winning the Australian Open mixed doubles crown with Switzerland's Martina Hingis.

Both PM and President took to micro-blogging site twitter to praise Paes, who won his 15th career Grand Slam title in Melbourne.

"Leander Paes continues to make us proud! I congratulate him on the Mixed Doubles win with Martina Hingis at the Australian Open," there was a tweet from PMO.

"Congratulations to Leander Paes on the Mixed Doubles win at the Australian Open# PresidentMukherjee" read President Mukherjee's tweet.