NEW YORK (AP) — Top-seeded Sania Mirza of India and Bruno Soares of Brazil won the U.S. Open mixed doubles title Friday after playing together for just two weeks, beating American Abigail Spears and Mexico’s Santiago Gonzalez 6-1, 2-6, 11-9 tiebreak.
Mirza and Soares had each been successful mixed doubles players, so Mirza said during the trophy presentation that she wasn’t sure why it took them this long to pair up.
“I tried to play with Sania for a long time,” he said later.
“What a lie,” she interjected.
“She finally gave me a chance to play,” he insisted.
Mirza has now won three Grand Slam mixed doubles titles. Soares was the 2012 U.S. Open champion with Ekaterina Makarova, who lost to Serena Williams in the singles semifinals on Friday. Soares joked that clearly this means Mirza will reach the singles semis in Flushing Meadows in two years.
In the super tiebreak, Mirza and Soares went ahead 9-4 before Spears and Gonzalez won five straight points. They clinched victory on their sixth championship point.
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