Venus and Serena Williams have stormed past Daniela Hantuchova and Ai Sugiyama to lift the Australian Open women’s doubles crown for the third time in their career.
The American sisters produced a devastating display to dispose of the ninth-seeded pair 6-3 6-3 to earn their eighth Grand Slam doubles title together, and said the victory was as sweet as their other seven.
"They're all so wonderful." Venus said after the match. "I think we complement each other on the court because we're both extremely positive. We know, when the other one moves, what the other one needs to do to compensate for that or to add to it. I think that we're so good at putting the ball away, I think it helps us so much."
At first, the Slovak/Japanese duo appeared to have the upper hand in the encounter, played beneath the Rod Laver Arena roof as the mercury reached 43 degrees outside.
The good friends and partners, making their second Grand Slam final appearance as a team since Roland Garros in 2006, looked relaxed and jovial as they strolled on court and subsequently eased into the match, breaking Venus in the opening game.
The fast-paced tone was set immediately as Serena and Hantuchova became drawn in fierce forehand rallies. But Serena and Venus were undeterred, whispering tactics to each other beneath closed fingertips in trademark fashion. The mood of the match soon changed when the American sisters produced several pieces of astonishing net play.
Venus, clad in a sunshine yellow dress, was particularly impressive at 4-3 when she dashed across the net like a flash of lightning to hit a perfect forehand volley into an open court and earn a break point. A Hantuchova backhand miss gave the sisters a double break, and spectacular serving by Venus saw the 10th seeds claim the first set.
Speaking of Venus after the match, Serena said: "She's covering the whole net. At one point today I literally stood back and she took care of everything, so … yeah, I just wouldn't want to face them [Venus's shots] too much. They are ferocious."
Come the second set, each player had trouble holding their serve. At 1-1, Sugiyama’s was the first to go. Serena, Hantuchova and Venus followed suit, and then Sugiyama got broken again.
It was the younger Williams that became the first to hold, and that proved to be the deciding factor. Punishing tennis on Hantuchova’s serve then followed as the sisters asserted their authority at the net to claim their eighth Grand Slam doubles title.
While the sisters produced flawless tennis today, they admitted their doubles game needed a bit of help in the early days.
"I think when we first started playing, we thought we knew each other so well we didn't have to talk between points … Someone told us, maybe Zina (Garrison), that we needed to talk between points," Venus smiled.
"We never told each other where we were going to serve or anything," Serena adds.
"We just figured we're so close that we don't need to do that. I think that's pretty clueless," Venus laughed.
However, there is no question about their doubles game now. The victory means the sisters are now tied for the third-most successful partnership in the Open era in terms of Grand Slam doubles titles. The most successful was Martina Navratilova and Pam Shriver, who scooped 21 titles, followed by Gigi Fernandez and Natasha Zvereva (14), and Virginia Ruano Pascual and Paola Suarez (8).
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