The reigning Australian and French Open mixed doubles champions will go head-to-head for the chance to add the 2015 Wimbledon trophy to their collections after both pairs moved into the semi-finals on Thursday.
Mike Bryan and Bethanie Mattek-Sands, the Roland Garros champions and Wimbledon top seeds, became the first pair to advance to the final four, easing past Daniel Nestor and Kristina Mladenovic, the 2013 Wimbledon mixed doubles holders and No.8 seeds, 7-6(2), 6-2.
Bryan and Mattek-Sands, who were bundled out of the gentlemen’s and ladies’ doubles quarter-finals respectively earlier this week, will next face Australian Open champions and No.7 seeds, Leander Paes and Martina Hingis, who powered past No.3 seeds Marcin Matkowski and Elena Vesnina 6-2, 6-1 in just 44 minutes.
“It’s always great to have a second shot to win at Wimbledon,'' Bryan said. Bob [his brother and men’s doubles partner] and I wanted to come here and try to win our fourth Wimbledon title and we were kind of dejected to lose in a tight match, but to get right back on the saddle and win a mixed doubles match kind of erases that.
“My brother’s probably having a terrible flight home right now, but once you win your next match you just forget and move on,” he laughed.
Bryan and Mattek-Sands are long-time friends and are reunited on the mixed doubles court this season. They have enjoyed a stellar run in recent weeks.
I've learned a lot from Bethanie this year, she's one of the hardest working players on tour...
“The honeymoon period’s still strong, we’re a new, fresh team and it’s great once you start playing well with someone to keep it going. It would be great to win two Grand Slams in Europe; the French Open and Wimbledon, on two different surfaces. The mixed has been the highlight of my year,” Bryan added.
The three-time Wimbledon men’s doubles champion and 2012 mixed doubles title-holder said Mattek-Sands was leading the pair’s charge towards the title. “I’ve learned a lot from Bethanie this year, she’s one of the hardest working players on tour and she’s helping me to stay fit late in my career.
“She’s taken her game to the next level and it’s been inspiring at this age to see her just roast the ball. That’s the name of the game in doubles, it’s a game of small margins; you’ve got to shoot for the alleys and she goes for it. You have to have that aggressive mentality and she’s a little bulldog, she rises to the occasion.”
Paes, 42, is bidding to win his fourth mixed doubles title at SW19 in a career spanning more than two decades at the All England Club.
Hingis, the 1997 ladies’ singles champion and a two-time Wimbledon ladies’ doubles title-holder, is within reach of completing a career sweep of SW19 by adding the mixed doubles trophy to her set.
Despite Hingis’s early reservations she was “not good enough” to team up with Paes, the pair joined forces to win their first Grand Slam crown in January and haven't looked back.
“I was scared at first, I was thinking last year when he asked me for the first time, ‘I’m not good enough, I don’t want to screw up,’ but now I feel like I can hold my own,” she said. I can definitely rely on my partner, I just put a couple of balls in and the rest is taken care of.”
Meanwhile, No.2 seeds Bruno Soares and Sania Mirza surrendered an early lead to go down to No.5 seeds Alexander Peya and Timea Babos 3-6, 7-6(6), 9-7 after almost two-and-a-half hours.
The No.5 seeds will meet Robert Lindstedt and Anabel Medina Garrigues in the semi-finals, who defeated No.6 seeds Horia Tecau and Katarina Srebotnik 6-4, 1-6, 6-3.
