By IANS
Melbourne : The unseeded pair of Sania Mirza and Mahesh Bhupathi have kept Indian hopes alive in the Australian Open by easing into the mixed doubles final, which will be played here Sunday. While Bhupathi will be looking for a seventh mixed doubles title, Sania will be playing in her first major final of a Grand Slam.
It has been a smooth ride for the Indian pair en route to the final, excepting against second seeds Lisa Raymond of the US and Swede Simon Aspelin whom they beat in three sets. They had had an unexpected windfall in the quarterfinals when seventh-seeded Czech pair Martin Damm and Kveta Peschke gave them a walkover.
Sania-Bhupathi in their first round had overrun the challenge from Australians Alicia Molik-Nathan Healey. Then in the second round they knocked out second seeds Lisa Raymond of the US and Swede Simon Aspelin.
Their sublime touch continued in the semi finals as the Indians routed the eighth-seeded Nathalie Dechy of France and her Israeli partner Andy Ram.
One thing that the Indian pair struggled in was their break point conversion, which has been 38 percent in their first and second round matches, improving to 43 percent in the semi-finals.
The Indian pair are now up against fifth seed pair of Tiantian Sun of China and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia, who on their to the final stunned the top seeds Cara Black of Zimbabwe and Australian Paul Hanley.