Mattek-Sands, Safarova win 2nd Aussie Open doubles title

American Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Czech Lucie Safarova enhanced their reputation as the dominant duo in women’s doubles by winning the Australian Open title for the second time.

The second-seeded pair had to scramble from behind to eventually overwhelm Czech Andrea Hlavackova and China’s Peng Shuai 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-3 in a tense final.

It extended the pair’s unbeaten record to 12 matches at Melbourne Park – they won the 2015 doubles title in their debut as a team, but didn’t play together last year because illness forced Safarova to miss the championships.

It was their fourth Grand Slam success after also winning the 2015 French Open and last year’s US Open. Not only did Mattek-Sands strengthen her grip on the No.1 ranking and Safarova rose to a career-high No.2, the pair shared 660,000 Australian dollars ($500,000) in prizemoney.