MELBOURNE – Chinese Taipei’s Hsieh Su-wei and Belgium’s Elise Mertens won the women’s doubles crown at the Australian Open on Jan 28 with an emphatic 6-1, 7-5 victory over Latvian-Ukrainian pairing Jelena Ostapenko and Lyudmyla Kichenok.
Said Mertens: “These are the stages you want to win. As long as we still enjoy it and still get that motivation and everything, I think it’s just very important...
“Of course, it’s a bit nerve-racking. You know, these matches are what you play for.”
The win earned the second seeds their second women’s Grand Slam doubles crown after victory at Wimbledon in 2021 and made Hsieh the second-oldest woman to ever win a Grand Slam doubles title, behind Lisa Raymond.
The 38-year-old Hsieh called time on her singles career after losing in the first round of qualifying at Melbourne Park in 2024, but still claimed her second title Down Under after also winning the mixed doubles final with Jan Zielinski on Jan 26.
Victory over Ostapenko and Kichenok sealed Hsieh’s seventh Major women’s doubles crown to go with the four she has won at Wimbledon and two at Roland Garros, and moved Mertens up to four Grand Slam women’s doubles titles.
Hsieh and Mertens broke in the third game to gain an early advantage in the match and never looked back, closing out the opening set with a minimum of fuss. The second set was much more of a contest, with Ostapenko and Kichenok seizing the initiative with an early service break, but Hsieh and Mertens broke back to level at 2-2 and again for a 5-3 lead.
The second seeds failed to close out the match, however, allowing Ostapenko and Kichenok to level at 5-5, but were not to be denied two games later, breaking for a third time in the set to seal victory on their first championship point.
“Congratulations girls, for playing a great match. The second set was really close and we had to fight really hard today,” Mertens said.
The men’s doubles final on Jan 27 featured another golden oldie. Rohan Bopanna became the oldest male Grand Slam winner in the Open era when he won the title alongside Matthew Ebden, and the 43-year-old Indian puts it all down to his recovery method.
Bopanna and Australia’s Ebden saw off the Italian duo of Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori 7-6 (7-0), 7-5, and afterwards Bopanna explained how he keeps in shape.
“The recovery is a huge aspect of where I’m really focusing on to get ready for matches,” the new doubles world No. 1 said.
“From the first day I landed here in Adelaide till yesterday, every day I have been in the ice bath. That is the No. 1 recovery for me, which really helps with all the inflammation in the body.” REUTERS
