Australian Open: Stosur-Zhang win women's doubles title

China's Shuai Zhang (right) and Australiau00c3u00a2u00c2u0080u00c2u0099s Samantha Stosur kiss their trophy after winning the Australian Open women's doubles final yesterday. Pic/AFP

Unseeded pair Samantha Stosur and Shuai Zhang clinched the Australian Open women's doubles title yesterday to be crowned Grand Slam champions at Melbourne Park for the first time.

The Australian-Chinese combination battled past Hungarian-French Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic - last year's champions - 6-3, 6-4 on Rod Laver Arena. "Today, it is a dream true for me," said Zhang, who won her first Grand Slam doubles title. Stosur added: "Shuai, it is always a pleasure being on court with you, we have a great friendship."

It was their maiden Slam crown as a team, although Stosur had previously won the 2005 US Open and 2006 French Open in a partnership with Lisa Raymond that earned them 20 titles altogether. En route to the title, Stosur and Zhang knocked out reigning French Open and Wimbledon champions Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova.

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