Fifth seeds Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic took out the Australian Open women’s doubles title on Friday to be crowned Grand Slam champions for the first time.
The Hungarian-French pairing battled past second seeded Russians Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina 6-4, 6-3 on Rod Laver Arena, to foil the Russian pair’s quest for a career Grand Slam.
“It’s an incredible feeling, I was in tears,” said an emotional Babos. “It’s amazing to play with you,” she added of Mladenovic.
It was their first Slam title after going close at Wimbledon in 2014, where they made the final but lost. The duo beat the world’s top two teams en route to the title.
They own three other doubles titles as a team, all won in 2015 – at Dubai, Marrakech and Rome.
Babos will be partnering India’s Rohan Bopanna in the mixed doubles semi-final to be played later on Friday. Seeded fifth, they will take on Marcelo Demoliner and María José Martínez Sánchez for a place in the final.
With inputs from AFP
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