Stosur, Zhang win Australian Open women's doubles title

The unseeded pairing of Sam Stosur and Zhang Shuai have won their first Grand Slam doubles title together, beating defending champions and No. 2-seeded Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic 6-3, 6-4 in the final.

Australia's Samantha Stosur (L) and China's Zhang Shuai celebrate winning the women's doubles final against Hungary's Timea Babos and France's Kristina Mladenovic on day 12 of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on January 25, 2019. [Photo: AFP/Saeed KHAN]

Australia's Stosur now owns three major doubles championships, adding this to wins with Lisa Raymond at the 2005 U.S. Open and 2006 French Open. She also won the 2011 U.S. Open singles trophy.

The victory Friday was the 10th in a row for Stosur and China's Zhang. Their most recent loss was against Babos and Mladenovic at last year's U.S. Open.

Australia's Samantha Stosur (L) watches as China's Zhang Shuai hits a return during the women's doubles final against Hungary's Timea Babos and France's Kristina Mladenovic on day 12 of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on January 25, 2019. [Photo: AFP/David Gray]

Stosur is the first Australian to win the women's doubles title at the country's Grand Slam tournament since Alicia Molik teamed with Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia in 2005.