Safarova, Mattek-Sands dance to doubles title

Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the U.S. and Czech Republic’s Lucie Safarova dance as they celebrate winning their Women’s doubles final match against Czech Republic’s Andrea Hlavackova and China’s Peng Shuai. REUTERS

AFP: Second seeds Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Safarova took out the Australian Open women’s doubles title on Friday to be crowned Grand Slam champions for a fourth time.

The American-Czech pairing battled past 12th-seeded Andrea Hlavackova, also from the Czech Republic, and China’s Peng Shuai 6-7 (4/7), 6-3, 6-3 on Rod Laver Arena.

Mattek-Sands and Safarova got the decisive break in the fourth game of the deciding set to go 3-1 up after Hlavackova sent down a double fault.

There was no looking back, with Mattek-Sands clinching the title with a volley as they jumped for joy and then celebrated with a dance routine in front of the trophy.

It was their fourth major title together, and ninth overall, after winning at Melbourne and Roland Garros in 2015 and at the US Open last year.