Elise Mertens and Zhang Shuai, who last played together at Wimbledon in 2022, teamed up again at the Australian Open to secure the women’s doubles championship. The Belgian-Chinese pair defeated Anna Danilina and Aleksandra Krunic with a score of 7-6(4), 6-4, clinching their ninth Grand Slam doubles title in just their seventh event as partners.
Mertens, with six Grand Slam victories, including three in Australia, and Zhang, with three titles, have a successful history in women’s doubles. Zhang previously won doubles trophies with Samantha Stosur in 2019 and 2021. Mertens has now claimed a doubles Grand Slam victory for three consecutive years.
Ranked World No. 6, Mertens is set to reclaim the World No. 1 spot, marking her 40th week at the top. The duo, seeded fourth, overcame a 4-1 deficit in the first set against the seventh seeds and dominated the second set with a 5-0 lead. Despite a slight setback, they eventually secured the win, as reported by WTA.
In the men’s doubles finals, hometown wildcards Jason Kubler and Marc Polmans are competing. Kubler, aiming for his second Australian Open doubles title, previously won in 2023. Polmans, a first-time Grand Slam finalist, is seeking victory alongside Andrew Whittington.
Furthermore, in the mixed doubles final, local wildcards Olivia Gadecki and John Peers ended a 37-year drought by successfully defending their Australian Open mixed doubles title. They are the first pair since 1988-89 to achieve consecutive AO mixed doubles victories, following in the footsteps of Jana Novotna and Jim Pugh. Gadecki and Peers also became the first Australians to secure back-to-back wins at their home Slam since Margaret Court and Ken Fletcher in 1963-64.
