Mladenovic and Nestor Collide Again

French hope Kristina Mladenovic and Canadian veteran Daniel Nestor teamed up again at this year's Australian Open to conquer their second Grand Slam mixed-doubles title together. The popular tandem cruised through the draw to collect their second major crown after Wimbledon last year.

Although they were not seeded at the start of the tournament, Mladenovic and Nestor enjoyed a relatively easy ride Down Under going all the way without dropping a set. They beat  the likes of Su-Wei Hsieh and Raven Klaasen, Lisa Raymond and Mariusz Fyrstenberg, Daniela Hantuchova and Leander Paes, Jie Zheng and Scott Lipsky, respectively Sania Mirza and Horia Tecau in the final.

After the final, the experienced doubles specialist was very complimentary of his partner: "She's very good at returning the men's serve," Nestor confessed. "I'm sure a lot of girls aren't afraid to return the men's serve out there, but whether they're able to do it is another story." "The first thing is not to be afraid of returning the men's serve, because obviously it's going really fast," Mladenovic commented. "And the second thing is that I like the challenge. I like going for it and trying to return it. They get crazy when the return comes back or even comes back as a winner."

The pairing is having great fun both on and off the court. Kristina actually confessed she'd been approached by other players and asked to play with them. "Now that we're starting to get good results, a few players are asking me when he's going to retire! I tell them no, I'm playing with Danny forever now," Kiki assured Daniel. "They say, 'Okay, we can play once he stops. We hope it's going to be soon.' Pretty much all the teams we beat joke about it!"

I love this dynamic duo, and now that the Canadian has announced his big plans of sweeping the majors to achieve the Grand Slam this year, I totally cheer for them! You go guys! 

Kiki Mladenovic and Daniel Nestor are strengthening their credentials as the best mixed-doubles team of the moment by winning their second major crown at the Australian Open. They beat Indian Sania Mirza and Romanian Horia Tecau in the final.

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Mladenovic Doubles Up for France

A day after Marion Bartoli stunned Sabine Lisicki to win the Wimbledon ladies' crown, another Frenchwoman achieved her Grand Slam dream. Kristina Mladenovic, one of the hottest prospects of the young generation, teamed up with doubles legend, Canadian Daniel Nestor, to win the mixed-doubles trophy, following a nail-biting 5-7,6-2,8-6 final victory over American Lisa Raymond and Brazilian Bruno Soares.

Mladenovic has been in great form in the doubles this year, collecting three titles with three different partners: Memphis with Galina Voskoboeva, Charleston with Lucie Safarova, respectively Oeiras with Hao-Ching Chan. The Frenchwoman also finished runner-up with Daniel Nestor at the French Open, where they lost 10-4 in the super-tiebreak to Czech duo Lucie Hradecka and Frantisek Cermak. 

The victory at Wimbledon comes to revenge for their Roland Garros disappointment, but the pair had to overcome some tough challenges en route to clinching the title. They dismissed the second seeded Sania Mirza and Horia Tecau in the quarterfinal, third seeded Katarina Strebotnik and Nenad Zimonjic in the semis, and now the No.1 seeded Raymond and Soares.

I put great faith in Kristina. She has a huge game, powerful groundstrokes, booming serve, but most important, she's proven she is extremely tough mentally. With her team in danger of losing a second consecutive major final, she saved two match points on her serve to level at 6 all in the decider. The French-Canadian tandem then broke decisively in the next game, while the experienced Nestor served out a superb win to the delight of Marion Bartoli and her dad, Walter, who were cheering from the crowd.

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