Melbourne, Jan 31 (IANS) Elise Mertens and Zhang Shuai, who last played a Grand Slam together at Wimbledon in 2022, reunited at the Australian Open to win the women’s doubles title.

The Belgian-Chinese duo defeated Anna Danilina and Aleksandra Krunic 7-6(4), 6-4 to win what is a ninth Grand Slam doubles title between them in just their seventh career event as a pair.

Mertens now has six Grand Slams, three in Australia, while Zhang has three. Zhang lifted her other women’s doubles trophies with the now-retired Samantha Stosur at the 2019 Australian Open and the 2021 US Open.

Mertens has now won a doubles Grand Slam in each of the last three years. Currently ranked World No. 6, Mertens was assured of getting back to World No. 1 regardless of the final result. She will log her 40th week on top next week.

The No. 4 seeds pulled away against the No. 7 seeds after coming from 4-1 behind in the first set. They later stormed out to a 5-0 lead in the second set, and needed almost every bit of that cushion. They didn’t wrap up the win until five games later — and after two championship points slipped away at 5-2, WTA reports.

Meanwhile, hometown wildcards Jason Kubler and Marc Polmans Re in the action in the men’s doubles finals.

Kubler is bidding for his second Australian Open doubles crown after triumphing with Rinky Hijikata, also as wildcards, in 2023. Polmans, a semifinalist with Andrew Whittington at Melbourne Park in 2017, is contesting his first Grand Slam final.

In the mixed doubles final on Friday, hometown wildcards Olivia Gadecki and John Peers broke a 37-year drought when they became the first pairing to defend their Australian Open mixed doubles crown in thrilling fashion.

Gadecki and Peers became the first duo to win consecutive AO mixed doubles titles since Jana Novotna and Jim Pugh in 1988-89.

They became the first Australians to go back-to-back at their home Slam since Margaret Court and Ken Fletcher achieved the feat in 1963-64.

–IANS

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