Elise Mertens and Hsieh Su-wei’s decision to reunite this season has reaped the ultimate reward – another Grand Slam crown.
MORE: The Australian Open 2024 women's doubles draw
Teaming up at a major tournament for the first time since the US Open in 2021, the second seeds claimed the Australian Open 2024 women’s doubles title with a commanding 6-1 7-5 victory in the final against Ukrainian Lyudmyla Kichenok and Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko at Rod Laver Arena on Sunday afternoon.
This is Mertens and Hsieh’s second Grand Slam victory as a team, following their success at Wimbledon in 2021.
They made a dominant start against the 11th seeds, clinching the opening set in 27 minutes.
Kichenok and Ostapenko did their best to quell that momentum, breaking Mertens’ serve in a 12-minute opening game in the second set.
But the advantage did not last long, with 31-year-old Kichenok broken to love in the fourth game.
Mertens and Hsieh regained control, building a 5-3 lead, but were unable to serve out the match in the ninth game.
They squashed Kichenok and Ostapenko’s hopes of staging an impressive comeback though, breaking in the 12th game to close out victory in 92 minutes.
It snaps a red-hot start to the season for world No.27 Kichenok and world No.29 Ostapenko, who scooped a WTA 500 title in Brisbane earlier this month and were on a nine-match winning streak.
Meanwhile for Hsieh, it caps a memorable fortnight in Melbourne. This is the 38-year-old’s eighth career Grand Slam doubles title and her second this tournament, after teaming with Poland’s Jan Zielinski to win the mixed doubles event on Friday.
This effort means Hsieh becomes the first woman to win the Australian Open doubles and mixed doubles titles in the same year since Australian Rennae Stubbs in 2000.
She is just the third woman in the Open era to achieve this feat (matching Margaret Court in 1969).
It is Mertens’ second Australian Open title – she also won alongside Aryna Sabalenka in 2021 – and her fourth major doubles crown in total.
Currently ranked No.2, the 27-year-old from Belgium is set to return to world No.1 after scooping the title in Melbourne.
Hsieh now holds three of the four women’s Grand Slam titles after winning at Roland-Garros (with China’s Wang Xinyu) and Wimbledon (with Czech Barbora Strycova) last season. Her ranking will rise four places to world No.2.