Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova successfully defend Australian Open women’s doubles title with fine win

Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova successfully defended their Australian Open women’s doubles title with a fine win over Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara on Sunday.

The Czech pair have formed a formidable partnership over the last few years, and this was their 24th straight win in women’s doubles matches at Grand Slams, meaning they now hold the titles from Melbourne, the US Open and Wimbledon.

Speaking on court afterwards, Krejcikova said: “I’m really happy that we are playing our 10th [time] here together.

“We started in 2013, so it’s been a very long journey, and I’m really happy how we are playing and how we can improve, the connection and everything is working well.

“I’ll be looking forwards for more.”

Krejcikova and Siniakova, understandably given their track record, were the favourites coming into the encounter on Rod Laver Arena.

And they broke in the very first game to underline their status.

That turned out to be the only break of the first set, as – though Krejcikova had to save two break points in the subsequent game – the Czech pair made serene progress to a one-set lead.

The writing looked on the wall for Aoyama and Shibahara when they went down a break early in the second, but to their credit they fought back and broke Siniakova to bring matters back level at 2-2.

Regrettably for them, they won only one further game from there as Krejcikova and Siniakova accelerated to the title with some impressive tennis.

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