There were mixed fortunes for India’s top tennis stars as Sania Mirza won the Connecticut Open title but Leander Paes squandered five match points to go down in the Winston-Salem final. Second seeds Mirza and Romania’s Monica Niculescu needed 1 hour 30 minutes to prevail over the unseeded Ukrainian-Chinese Taipei duo of Kateryna Bondarenko and Chia-Jung Chuang, 7-5, 6-4.

• It was tough luck for the wildcard team of Paes and Andre Begemann of Germany. They were up 6-1 in the second set tie-break against fellow unseeded pair of Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and Henri Kontinen only to lose it by the slimmest of margins, 6-4, 6-7(6), 8-10. The final lasted a marathon 1 hour 54 minutes.

• As for Mirza, this was the 39th title of her illustrious career and the seventh for her this year. Her latest success prior to this week came at Cincinnati  alongside Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic. That victory over her former doubles partner Martina Hingis had made her the sole owner of the No. 1 ranking. The Indian carried on that brilliant form into New Haven this week and dropped just one set en route to the final.