Doubles Take: Zhang, Stosur rise Down Under

It hasn’t always been easy, but at this year’s Australian Open, Shuai Zhang and Samantha Stosur have managed to do what they do best when partnered: win.

At last year’s US Open, the unseeded duo shook up the tournament by advancing to the semifinals in their first bit of action together for 2018. They followed up that run with their first title in Hong Kong to close out their respective doubles campaigns, recording eight wins in nine matches over two events.

The Chinese-Australian duo earned their place in the Australian Open final with 7-6, 6-2 victories in the first two rounds, which included their first upset of the tournament against doubles specialists and No. 8 seeds Su-Wei Hsieh and Abigail Spears.

Their biggest win, though, came in the quarterfinals against the top-seeded team of Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova, who were looking to win their third major title out of four events. Stosur and Zhang bounced the Czechs in straight sets to face another unseeded team in Barbora Strycova and Marketa Vondrousova.

After winning a tight first set, Stosur and Zhang dropped the second to the Czechs before prevailing in a 7-5 decider, with points like this being played through the match.

Next up for Stosur and Zhang is the second-seeded team and defending champions Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic. Picking up from where they left off last year, the WTA Finals winners have been lights-out in Melbourne, only dropping one set on their way to the final.

The final will be a rematch of last year’s US Open semifinal, won by Babos and Mladenovic in straights. That’s the only loss Stosur and Zhang have together the past few months, and if they didn’t have enough motivation—particularly with Stosur looking to win in front of her home crowd—having the opportunity to avenge that defeat will surely add fuel to the fire.

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