MELBOURNE (AP) – Taylor Townsend of the United States (US) returned to the court on which her career first took flight, teaming with Katerina Siniakova to beat Hsieh Su-Wei and Jelena Ostapenko 6-2, 6-7 (4), 6-3 in the women’s doubles final yesterday at the Australian Open.
“This is super-special to me,” Townsend said. “The last time I played on this court I was 15 and in 2012 I won the juniors here and that was the kick-start.
“Honestly, being here is so special to me because this tournament was the beginning of me being able to live out my dream.”
Top-seeded Townsend and Siniakova of the Czech Republic led 6-2, 5-3 and served for the match for the first time at 5-4 in the second set. But third-seeded Hsieh and Ostapenko rallied to take the second set in a tie-break and to hold an early break in the third.
Taylor and Siniakova were able to fall back on proven teamwork on crucial points. This was their third Grand Slam together: they won Wimbledon last year and reached the semifinals of the US Open.
They were also able to exploit a hint of weakness on Hsieh’s serve with Ostapenko at the net, breaking her four times in the match including in the ninth game of the final set.
