Harrison and Skupski win doubles title

MELBOURNE:

Sixth seeds Neal Skupski and Christian Harrison defeated Australia's wildcard pairing of Jason Kubler and Marc Polmans 7-6(4) 6-4 to capture the Australian Open men's doubles title on Saturday in their first Grand Slam event as a team.

The British-American duo's victory at Rod Laver Arena gave Harrison his first Grand Slam title and marked Skupski's fourth in doubles and mixed doubles, though his first outside Wimbledon.

The partnership is remarkably fresh, as the pair started playing together only two weeks ago in Adelaide after training for a week together in Baton Rouge in December.

"We obviously started playing together in Adelaide two weeks ago now," Skupski said.

"We didn't know obviously how it would go. It seems to be going pretty well so far!"

With the roof closed at Rod Laver Arena due to the rain, the match began at a fast pace under the lights and proved to be an entertaining affair, as the opening set went with serve until Harrison and Skupski broke for a 4-2 lead.

But with the raucous Australian fans firmly behind them, Kubler and Polmans - wearing his trademark legionnaire hat - broke Harrison's serve and consolidated it to level the set at 5-5 before forcing a tiebreak.

They were neck-and-neck in the tiebreak at 4-4 until the British-American duo inched ahead and took the opening set when Skupski smashed an emphatic overhead shot at the net to silence the home fans.

In the second set, Harrison and Skupski broke Polmans' serve early for a 3-1 advantage and they did not look back despite a determined fightback from the Australian pair.

They made it 5-3 on Skupski's serve when Harrison smashed a volley at the net to put the pressure back on the Australians, who managed to keep them at bay by saving a championship point on serve.

But Harrison proved indomitable at the baseline on his own serve as they served for the title.

Although they failed to convert another championship point, they sealed the title at the third time of asking when the American fired an ace down the middle.

The victory brings another Grand Slam trophy into the Harrison household after his elder brother Ryan, also his coach, won the French Open doubles title in 2017.

 

Mertens, Zhang win Women’s doubles

 Fourth seeds Elise Mertens and Zhang Shuai won the Australian Open women's doubles title on Saturday with a 7-6(4) 6-4 victory over Anna Danilina and Aleksandra Krunic, claiming their first Grand Slam trophy as a duo.

The victory handed Mertens her sixth Grand Slam title while Zhang won her third but the triumph almost never happened, with the Belgian-Chinese pair forced to save three match points in the second round against teenagers Iva Jovic and Victoria Mboko.

"It's been quite a week so far," said Mertens, who is set to move up to world number one in the doubles rankings.

"I'm lost for words. In the second round of doubles, we had three match points against us. We kept on fighting, we kept on believing and we really grew as a team. Today, in the final, I'm happy that I served it out eventually.

"It's the first week that we've actually played together and what a result. It's been amazing."

Danilina and Krunic had a superb start when they raced to a 4-1 lead in a gripping opening set but the momentum turned gradually as Mertens and Zhang clawed their way back, winning four games in a row.

As Danilina and Krunic suddenly found themselves trailing, they responded with renewed composure, playing solidly from the baseline and showing sharp movement at the net.

Holding their nerve under pressure, the pair secured two crucial games to stay alive in the set and successfully force a tiebreak.