Martina Navratilova lost her swansong appearance at the Australian Open with partner Leander Paes, in the mixed doubles final in Melbourne on Sunday.

The defending champions lost to Serbian Nenad Zimonjic and Russian Elena Bovina 6-1 7-6 in 69 minutes.

Navratilova announced after the match that the final was her last Australian Open appearance.She however confirmed that she and Paes would play the remaining three Grand Slam tournaments.

Zimonjic and Bovina won the opening set in a mere 21 minutes, breaking Paes and Navratilova once each. Martina, a veteran of 58 Grand Slam wins and Paes fought harder in the second set taking it to a tiebreaker.

But Zimonjic and Bovina were playing on another level and they raced to a 6-1 lead before Paes twice held serve. But Zimonjic served out the match to give the unseeded duo their first Grand Slam mixed doubles title.