American Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Czech Republic’s Lucie Safarova came out trumps in a tense final to beat Czech Andrea Hlavackova and China’s Peng Shuai 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-3 to lift the Australian Open women’s doubles title. This was Mattek-Sands and Safarova’s second title at Melbourne Park, having already tasted success in 2015.
The pair made a rousing comeback after losing the first set by a narrow margin, in spite of being in command in the early stages. Hlavackova and Peng lost their way in the second set. Despite having their serve broken, the American-Czech pair cruised to a 6-3 win.
In the third set, Hlavackova’s serve was broken at a crucial juncture – during the fourth game – and Mattek-Sands and Safarova didn’t look back from there, sealing the tie with ease. Mattek-Sands is currently the top-ranked women’s doubles player followed by her partner Safarova at second.
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