MELBOURNE: Belgium’s Elise Mertens and Chinese partner Zhang Shuai clinched their first Grand Slam women’s doubles title as a team Saturday when they downed Anna Danilina and Aleksandra Krunic at the Australian Open.
The fourth seeds, in only their seventh event together, were too good for the seventh-seeded Kazakh and Serbian pair on Rod Laver Arena, winning 7-6 (7/4), 6-4.
Currently ranked sixth, Mertens will reclaim the women’s doubles world number one ranking with the victory.
It was a third Australian Open doubles crown for the experienced Belgian, who won in 2021 alongside Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka and again in 2024 playing with Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei.
Zhang won the tournament with Australian Samantha Stosur in 2019.