LONDON: Sania Mirza and Mate Pavic, the sixth seeds in the Wimbledon mixed doubles draw, edged out Spain's David Vega Hernandez and Georgia's Natela Dzalamidze 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (10-3) in just under two hours of their opening match.
The Indo-Croat pairing, who trailed 1-3 in the opening set, having dropped serve in the fourth game, won four straight games before serving out the set in the tenth game.
Sania and Pavic, playing together for the first time, were broken in the eighth game of the second set just when they appeared to assume control of the match.
In the decider, the two teams went toe to toe, and in the 10th game on Hernandez' serve the sixth seeds had four match points. The game stretched to seven deuces. The Spaniard held and the match drifted into a deciding super tie-break. Sania and Pavic, who opened to a 2-0 lead, didn't look back, winning the last four points.