Friday, September 9, 2005 (New York):

Mahesh Bhupathi won his ninth grand slam title after he lifted the mixed doubles title with Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia at the US Open.

Bhupathi and Hantuchova needed an sixty-one minutes to defeat Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia & Montenegro and Katarina Srebotnik of Slovakia 6-4, 6-2.

Bhupathi-Hantuchova duo were in good form and capitalised on some poor net play by Zimonjic to gain a break in the seventh game of the first set.

Bhupathi and Hantuchova were immediately up 1-0 in the second set, breaking Zimonjic when his partner Srebotnik put a high forehand wide.
They then forced three break points on Srebotnik's serve in the seventh game and went up 5-2.
Zimonjic and Srebotnik made late fight as they forced a triple breakpoint on Hantuchova's serve.
But it was all too late and Bhupathi intercepted a backhand service return from Zimonjic to seal the match.

"We saved a match point in the first round (against Tian Tian Sun of China and Simon Aspelin of Sweden). And we worked hard from there on for this victory," Bhupathi said after the match. He said he has set a target for himself that of winning the only grand slam title to elude him - the Australian Open.

Bhupathi now becomes the most successful tennis play in Indian history. The 2005 US Open Mixed Doubles title was the ninth of his career, (four Men's Doubles and five Mixed Doubles).

His first Grand Slam title came in 1997 when he won the French Open Mixed Doubles title with Japan's Rika Hiraki.

His partnership with Leander Paes (India) saw them win three Men's Doubles title - 1999 US and French and the 2001 French.

He also won the 1999 US Open Mixed Doubles title with Ai Sugiyama of Japan.

Bhupathi then won Wimbledon Men's Doubles title in 2002 with Max Mirnyi and the 2002 US Open Mixed Doubles title with Elena Likhovtseva.

His eighth Grand Slam title was 2005 Wimbledon Mixed Doubles title with Mary Pierce (France).

For Hantuchova it was her fourth Mixed Doubles title, having won the French Open this year with Fabrice Santoro, the Australian Open in 2002 with Kevin Ullyett and the Wimbledon in 2001 with Leos Friedl.

	Istset	IIndset
Daniela Hantuchova SVK Mahesh Bhupathi      IND	6	6
Katarina Srebotnik   SLO Nenad Zimonjic        SCG	4	2
Elapsed Time by Set	31	30

MATCH SUMMARY
	Srebotnik(SLO) /Zimonjic(SCG)	Hantuchova(SVK) /Bhupathi(IND)
Aces	5	5
Double Faults	3	2
Unforced Errors	2	3
Winning % on 1st Serve	22 of 35 = 63 %	18 of 23 = 78 %
Winning % on 2nd Serve	7 of 17 = 41 %	19 of 25 = 76 %
Winners (Including Service)	11	5
Receiving Points Won	11 of 48 = 23 %	23 of 52 = 44 %
Break Point Conversions	0 of 3 = 0 %	3 of 3 = 100 %
Total Points Won	40	60
Fastest Serve	133 MPH	113 MPH
Average 1st Serve Speed	108 MPH	102 MPH
Average 2nd Serve Speed	92 MPH	82 MPH