Before entering this year’s Australian Open, Elise Mertens and Zhang Shuai had not shared a Grand Slam court since finishing as runners-up at Wimbledon in 2022. But a reunion for the two paid immediate dividends in Melbourne, ending a four-year gap between their major appearances as a pair.
On Saturday, the Belgian-Chinese duo defeated Anna Danilina and Aleksandra Krunic 7-6(4), 6-4 to win what is a ninth Grand Slam doubles title between them, in just their seventh career event on the WTA Tour as a pair.
“This is second time play together at the Grand Slam,” Zhang said. “First time we make to the final, and this time we got the trophy. Very special. We show every team how good we are. We played so many great teams and then so many great singles player, doubles player. We played everything.”
Mertens now holds six Grand Slam doubles titles, three of which have been captured in Melbourne. While Zhang secured her previous major trophies alongside the now-retired Samantha Stosur at the 2019 Australian Open and 2021 US Open, Mertens has now won a doubles major in each of the past three seasons. With the victory, Mertens is set to reclaim the No. 1 spot in the WTA Rankings on Monday.
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“It’s been definitely a good couple of months, especially on the Grand Slams and the WTA Finals,” Mertens said. “I knew if we would win the semis, that I would be No. 1 again, so that was definitely a motivation to do well.
“Of course I was not really thinking about the spot. I was thinking about this trophy in the first place, but it does mean a lot. It’s something to do well in singles and doubles, but to be No. 1 in something, it’s amazing.”
The No. 4 seeds pulled away against the No. 7 seeds, who were contesting their second major final together after finishing as runners-up at Roland Garros last spring, after coming from 4-1 behind in the first set. A four-game run put them in front, and despite failing to convert two set points in the 12th game, a 6-0 tiebreak lead proved enough of a margin earn them the set on a seventh set point. They later stormed out to a 5-0 lead in the second set and needed almost every bit of that cushion. They didn’t wrap up the win until five games later, and after two championship points slipped away at 5-2.
In addition to the Wimbledon fortnight at which they finished as runners-up to Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova, Mertens and Zhang were also finalists in Birmingham that year. On the way to their first-ever team title, they saved three match points in the second round against teenagers Iva Jovic and Victoria Mboko in a match they won 7-5, 4-6, 7-6(10).
(Source: wtatennis.com)
