Australian Open: Sam Stosur and Zhang Shuai win women's doubles title
| Australian Open 2019 |
|---|
| Venue: Melbourne Park Dates: 14-27 January |
| Coverage: Daily live commentaries on the BBC Sport website, listen to Tennis Breakfast daily from 07:00 GMT on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra and watch highlights on BBC TV and online. |
Unseeded Sam Stosur and Zhang Shuai beat defending champions Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic to claim the Australian Open women’s doubles title.
Australian Stosur and China’s Zhang claimed a 6-3 6-4 victory over the Hungarian-French second seeds.
It is Stosur’s third Grand Slam doubles title – the 34-year-old also won the US Open singles title in 2011 – and Zhang’s first.
“We have a great friendship and I think that shows when we play,” Stosur said.
The title is Stosur’s first in front of a home crowd, following her victories with Lisa Raymond at the 2005 US Open and 2006 French Open.
Zhang considered retiring in 2015 after struggling for form but Stosur persuaded her not to.
The pair are now on a 10-match unbeaten streak after claiming their first title together in Hong Kong in October.
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