Daniel Nestor of Canada (left) and Kristina Mladenovic of France celebrate after winning their mixed doubles match. (AFP)
Canada’s Daniel Nestor has targeted a mixed doubles grand slam in 2014 after pairing up with Frenchwoman Kristina Mladenovic to beat Sania Mirza and Horia Tecau and win the Australian Open title yesterday.
The Wimbledon champion pairing were the underdogs against their sixth-seeded opponents but wrapped up a comfortable 6-3, 6-2 victory inside an hour on Rod Laver Arena.
It was a third Melbourne Park mixed doubles title for Canadian Nestor after his 2007 triumph with Elena Likhovtseva and 2011 victory with Katarina Srebotnik.
Nestor then told his 20-year-old partner Mladenovic on court that he would now like to target a sweep of the major titles to complete the grand slam in one year.
“I was half joking but I always tell my friends my best chance of winning grand slams nowadays are in mixed,” the 41-year-old, who now has won a total of 12 grand slam doubles titles, later told reporters.
“But obviously I’d still like to win men’s doubles titles, too... I just think this is the best chance, but I’ll keep playing both and hopefully good will come out of it.”
The last time a single partnership won doubles titles at all four majors in one year was when Martina Navratilova and Pam Shriver performed the feat in women’s doubles in 1984.