Hsieh, Mertens win women’s doubles title at Australian Open

MELBOURNE (Agencies): Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-Wei and Belgium’s Elise Mertens won the women’s doubles crown at the Australian Open on Sunday with an emphatic 6-1 7-5 victory over Latvian-Ukrainian pairing Jelena Ostapenko and Lyudmyla Kichenok. The win earned the second seeds their second women’s Grand Slam doubles crown after victory at Wimbledon in 2021 and made Hsieh the second-oldest woman to ever win a Grand Slam doubles title, behind Lisa Raymond. The 38-year-old Hsieh called time on her singles career after losing in the first round of qualifying at Melbourne Park this year, but still claimed her second title Down Under after also winning the mixed doubles final on Friday. Victory over Ostapenko and Kichenok sealed Hsieh’s seventh major women’s doubles crown, to go with the four she has won at Wimbledon and two at Roland Garros, and moved Mertens up to four Grand Slam women’s doubles titles. Hsieh and Mertens broke in the third game to gain an early advantage in the match and never looked back, closing out the opening set with a minimum of fuss. The second set was much more of a contest, with Ostapenko and Kichenok seizing the initiative with an early service break, but Hsieh and Mertens broke back to level at 2-2 and again for a 5-3 lead. The second seeds failed to close out the match, however, allowing Ostapenko and Kichenok to level at 5-5, but were not to be denied two games later, breaking for a third time in the set to seal victory on their first championship point. “Congratulations girls for playing a great match,” Mertens said. “The second set was really close and we had to fight really hard today. Thanks everyone for coming out.”