Be it the Japanese five-foot nothing Rika Hiraki or the long-legged Slovakian beauty Daniela Hantuchova, former World No 1 Martina Hingis or French star Mary Pierce, Mahesh Bhupathi has always tried out new partners at the Grand Slams and that too with remarkable success on every surface. This time around though at the year’s first mega event that gets underway in Melbourne on January 15, the Indian ace who has won all his six Grand Slam mixed doubles titles with different partners, will be pairing up with Hantuchova with whom he won the 2005 US Open crown.

“I will most likely be teaming up with Daniela Hantuchova in Melbourne,” Bhupathi told The Sunday Express. The Bangalorean who won the title last year with Swiss Martina Hingis, however said he wasn’t thinking about winning the title. “We won the US Open a few years ago. So let’s see. We’ll take it one match at a time in Melbourne,” he said.

Meanwhile in the men’s doubles category, Bhupathi made a decent start to the season by reaching the quarter-finals of the Medibank International in Sydney - the last event before the Australian Open. His partner then was Frenchman Fabrice Santoro, but in Melbourne he will be pairing up with Radek Stepanek. Asked if he’s had enough practice with his Czech partner ahead of the Open, Bhupathi said: “Yeah, we’ll be fine. Obviously, we won’t be seeded, so just hoping that we get a good draw when they come out on Tuesday. And, then we’ll take it match by match.”