Leander Paes and Cara Black have broken a run of back-to-back losing Grand Slam finals with victory in the Australian Open mixed doubles at Melbourne Park on Sunday.
Playing under a closed roof on Rod Laver Arena, the Indian-Zimbabwean pair was too strong for unseeded duo Jaroslav Levinsky and Ekaterina Makarova 7-5 6-3 in one hour and eight minutes to claim their second major title together.
"I think that just our expertise and the way we play doubles, the way we cover the right shots at the right time, and the fact we keep bringing it to our opponents (won it for us)," Paes said.
"That's what won it for us today, is that our individual play, our instincts are very well matched well together."
Paes and Black won the US Open in 2008 in their first outing as a doubles pairing and reached the final of last year's Wimbledon and US Open - both of which they lost.
For Paes, the victory represents his 11th Grand Slam title in men's and mixed doubles - placing him level with former long-time partner Mahesh Bhupathi for most majors by an Indian player.
Black has been equally successful, this being her ninth Grand Slam victory from 16 finals.
The No.1 seeds went into the final as hot favourites and didn't disappoint, their experience at the business end of major tournaments proving invaluable against 27-year-old Czech Levinsky and 21-year-old Russian Makarova, who were both playing in their first major final.
Paes won the mixed doubles title at the Australian Open in 2003 with tennis legend Martina Navratilova and was runner-up the following year.
Black also reached the final of the women's doubles this year with partner Liezel Huber, losing to Serena and Venus Williams 6-4 6-3.