Melbourne: Mahesh Bhupathi captured his tenth Grand Slam title and third mixed doubles crown on the trot after he won the Australian Open title with Switzerland’s Martina Hingis here on Sunday.

Bhupathi and Hingis defeated Daniel Nestor of Canada and Russia’s Elena Likhovtseva 6-3, 6-3 in the final at Rod Laver Arena at Melbourne Park.

It was the sixth mixed doubles win with six different partners for Bhupathi, who won at Wimbledon with Mary Pierce and US Open Daniela Hantuchova, respectively, last year.

The Indian star won the French Open with Rika Hiraki in 1997, paired with Ai Sugiyama to triumph at US Open in 1999 and partnered Likhovtseva to win at Wimbledon in 2002.

He also has four men’s doubles titles under his belt.

The win completed a grand comeback for Hingia after a three-year lay-off. It was her 15th career Grand Slam win and the first in mixed doubles. She has won five singles titles and nine women’s doubles crowns.

“If everyone was asking me why i came back, these are definitely the occasions...,” Hingis said after the victory. “To Mahesh, thank you very much. You took a huge risk because no one was sure how good I was going to be, thanks for taking the courage and playing with me.”

“I just wanted this one badly. My first mixed doubles title, it definitely exceeded my expectations,” she added.

Bhupathi said he had no hesitation in sending Hingis’ agent an e-mail when he heard she was making her comeback asking if she would partner him in Melbourne.

“Fortunately, I got the positive answer and I think the rest is history,” Bhupathi said. “I think we’ll stick together for a while.”