  Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the U.S. and Horia Tecau of Romania (R) pose with their trophy next to Elena Vesnina of Russia (2nd L) and Leander Paes of India (L) after their mixed doubles final match at the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne January 29, 2012. REUTERS/Toby Melville |
American Bethanie Mattek-Sands and her Romanian partner Horia Tecau won the Australian Open mixed doubles title on Sunday.
Mattek-Sands and Tecau, seeded eighth, recorded a 6-3, 5-7, 10-3 victory over the fifth-seeded team of Russian Elena Vesnina and Indian Leander Paes.
After the second set lasted nearly an hour, Mattek-Sands and Tecau took care of their opponents in the match-deciding tiebreak in just 12 minutes. They had six aces among 34 winners in the match.
On Saturday, Paes and Radek Stepanek ended the three-year Australian Open reign of Bob and Mike Bryan by beating the top-ranked twin brothers in the men's doubles finale.
Instead of the Bryans, Mattek-Sands became the only American to win a title at this year's Aussie event.
Mattek-Sands and Tecau will split $144,000.
