Number 1 seeds Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend battled past Hsieh-Su-wei and Jelena Ostapenko 6-2 6-7 (4-7) 6-3 after 2 hours and 27 minutes on Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne to win their second women’s doubles title together at the Australian Open.
Siniakova and Townsend earned break points in all four of their opponents’ service game. They broke twice in the third and fifth games to race out to a 5-1 lead. Hsieh held serve in the seventh game for 2-5. Siniakova held to love to close out the first set 6-2 in 37 minutes.
Siniakova has won ten Grand Slam doubles titles and a total of 29 WTA Tour titles. She has become the first player to win ten major doubles trophies since Martina Hingis clinched her 10th titles at 2015 Wimbledon. Siniakova has collected seven Grand Slam titles with Barbora Krejcikova, one with Coco Gauff and two with Townsend. She has claimed her third Australian Open trophy after winning twice with Krejcikova. The Czech player has reached the semifinals or better at the past Grand Slam tournaments.
Ostapenko and Townsend held their first services games at the start of the second set before Hsieh was broken at 2-1. Ostapenko held serve at 2-3.
Ostapenko and Hsieh broke Townsend in the sixth game to draw level to 3-3. Siniakova and Townsend broke serve in the seventh game to take a 4-3 lead and earned the chance to serve for the match at 5-4. Ostapenko and Hsieh converted their fourth break point to draw level to 5-5. Hsieh managed to hold serve in the 11th game for 5-6. Siniakova held serve to send the set into a tie-break. Ostapenko and Hsieh went up a mini-break twice at 2-0 and 4-3, but Siniakova and Townsend pulled back on serve both times. Ostapenko and Hsieh won two points off Townsend at 5-4 and 6-4 to level the match.
Hsieh and Ostapenko broke Siniakova in the first game of the third set. Siniakova and Townsend broke straight back in the second game to draw level at 1-1. Hsieh was broken again in the ninth game.
Siniakova and Townsend sealed the win on their match point in the ninth game.
“I am happy with the way that we fought mentally and were able to fight through those tough moments and overcome”, said Townsend.
Townsend has played her first match on Rod Laver Arena since she won the Junior Australian Open title. “It’s amazing that when you go out to these courts, you hold memories, and you remember what those feelings are. Being able to step back on the court and practice there, it brought back those memories and how it felt, the little girl with braces and bows in her hair. It was really special”, said Townsend.