Calcutta: It’s no secret that Mahesh Bhupathi loves trying out different partners in mixed doubles.

He doesn’t only find efficient partners, Bhupathi has in the last few years showed a penchant for striking up high-profile partnerships. And more importantly, succeeding with quite a few of them, too. That he has won five mixed doubles crowns with five different partners tells its own story.

Take last year, for instance. It was with Frenchwoman Mary Pierce that Bhupathi conquered Wimbledon. Came the next Grand Slam, the US Open, Bhupathi chose Slovakian glamour girl Daniela Hantuchova and struck gold again.

It’s 2006 now and time for India’s most successful Grand Slam champion to ‘unearth’ a grand new partner. And who better than comeback girl Martina Hingis?

The Swiss Miss, who has just returned to competitive tennis after a three-year lay-off, had expressed interest to join forces with the Indian doubles ace about six-seven years ago. A suitable understanding, however, could not be worked out then.

So Bhupathi has taken the first available opportunity to pair up with the multiple Grand Slam champion after her much-hyped return to the circuit.

None of Bhupathi’s nine Grand Slam doubles titles (four in men’s and five in mixed) have been achieved at the Australian Open, so he’s eager to break the Melbourne jinx ? either with Wesley Moodie or Hingis.

Leander Paes, meanwhile, will have to look for a new partner as well because Martina Navratilova won’t be playing in Melbourne. “I just came to know yesterday (Monday) that she has an injury and won’t be playing in the Open,” Paes said from Melbourne. The deadline for mixed doubles sign-in is Wednesday evening. So Paes doesn’t have much time to arrange a new partnership.

Even Sania Mirza, who got off to a fine start in singles on Tuesday, will be playing the mixed event, her partner being Stephen Huss ? the Aussie who won the 2005 Wimbledon men’s doubles with South African Moodie (Bhupathi’s current men’s doubles partner).

In women’s doubles, Sania’s partner will be American Corina Morariu, who with Hingis were the No. 1 team in the world once. The name Morariu will also ring a bell ? she is the one who battled cancer and made a pretty successful comeback to the tennis courts.