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Title for Soares despite having less time

By The Assam Tribune

MELBOURNE, Jan 31: Bruno Soares didn�t have much down time between his Australian Open doubles championship matches. No worries, he won them both.

On Sunday afternoon, he added the mixed doubles title with Elena Vesnina to the men�s doubles championship he won with Jamie Murray.

Vesnina and Soares won the last four points of the match tiebreaker to take the mixed doubles title with a 6-4, 4-6, 10-5 with over American Coco Vandeweghe and Hora Tecau of Romania.

Just over 16 hours earlier � after 1 a.m. on Sunday � Soares and Murray beat Daniel Nestor and Radek Stepanek 2-6, 6-4, 7-5, also on Rod Laver Arena.

A Brazilian player had never won any title at the Australian Open. And now the country has two.

Soares said he didn�t finish media commitments at Melbourne Park until 2 a.m. on Sunday, then had to do some Brazilian press requests from his hotel room.

�I went to bed at 5, set my alarm for 11, woke up at 8:30, been living on coffee ever since,� Soares said. �So I had 22 coffees already.�

Vesnina interjected, laughing: �I got a (text) message from him at 4:30 a.m., �I�m ready, partner�.�

It was all worth it, Soares said.

�I knew I had another important day today, you don�t get a chance to play many Grand Slam finals,� he said. �I mean, I got two in the same day.�

Vesnina and Soares fell behind 3-0 in the tiebreaker before coming back to take a 6-3 lead. After the margin was reduced to 6-5, Vesnina and Soares won the last four points of the match.

It ended some Grand Slam mixed doubles finals frustration for Vesnina, a Russian who has two women�s doubles titles in majors. It was Vesnina�s fourth mixed doubles final, and first win.

�Four times lucky,� said Vesnina, who received a message from Soares at the end of December asking if she would be his mixed doubles partner in Australia. � AP

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