Melbourne, Jan 31 || Elise Mertens and Zhang Shuai, who last played a Grand Slam together at Wimbledon in 2022, reunited at the Australian Open to win the women's doubles title.
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 as a pair.
Mertens now has six Grand Slams, three in Australia, while Zhang has three. Zhang lifted her other women's doubles trophies with the now-retired Samantha Stosur at the 2019 Australian Open and the 2021 US Open.
Mertens has now won a doubles Grand Slam in each of the last three years. Currently ranked World No. 6, Mertens was assured of getting back to World No. 1 regardless of the final result. She will log her 40th week on top next week.
The No. 4 seeds pulled away against the No. 7 seeds after coming from 4-1 behind in the first set. 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, WTA reports.