Paes-Vesnina reach Wimbledon final after hard win

London: Leander Paes and Elena Vesnina stunned top seeds Bob Bryan and Liezel Huber to enter the mixed doubles final of the Wimbledon championships on Saturday.

The fourth seed Indo-Russian pair scored a tough 7-5 3-6 6-3 win over their American opponents in the semifinals at court number one here in one hour and 48 minutes.

It will be second Grand Slam final of the season for Paes and Vesnina as they had reached the final of the Australian Open. But they had ended runners-up to Bethanie Mattek-Sands Horia Tecau.

The fourth seeds stunned top seeds Bryan and Huber to enter the mixed doubles final.

At the same tournament Paes had completed his career Slam by winning the men's doubles trophy with Radek Stepanek.

The first set was fought fiercely with both the teams locked 5-5 with one break each. Paes and Vesnina dropped their serve in the sixth game to trail 2-4 but broke immediately.

The Indo-Russian pair then got the crucial break in the 11th game and served out the set in the next.

The Americans came back strong in the second set and with help of an early break they pushed the match to the deciding third set.

Paes and Elena overcame a nervy start as they saved breakpoints in the very first game and then got crucial break in the fourth game to open up a 4-1 lead.

That break was enough for the Indo-Russian pair to seal the win.

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