Leander Paes chases record-equalling Grand Slam title

The last couple of times they reached a Grand Slam final, Leander Paes and Cara Black ended up on the losing side, and the pair will aim to break that jinx in the Australian Open mixed doubles summit clash here tomorrow.

The 36-year-old Paes will equal the record for the most Grand Slam title wins by an Indian, if he and Black manage to lift the title, which would be their second together and Paes' fifth overall.

A triumph tomorrow will take Paes' Grand Slam tally to 11, equalling the number of titles won by one-time doubles' partner, Mahesh Bhupathi.

The top-seeded Indo-Zimbabwean pair is up against 10th seeds Ekaterina Makarova of Russia and Jaroslav Levinsky of Czechoslovakia tomorrow, and start favourites given their wealth of experience.

Paes and the 30-year-old Black had made back-to-back Grand Slam finals — Wimbledon and the US Open — last season, but faltered at the finishing line in both the events.

The last time the duo won a mixed doubles' title was the 2008 US Open.

Paes has been a former mixed doubles' champions at Melbourne Park, and that triumph came in 2003 when he was partnering American legend Martina Navratilova.