Zhang, Stosur to meet champs in Australian Open doubles final

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China's Zhang Shuai and her Australian partner Samantha Stosur advanced to the Australian Open women's doubles final, after a thrilling three-set victory over Czech duo Barbora Strycova and Marketa Vondrousova on Wednesday that ended 7-5, 4-6, 7-5.

While it was a nervous start for the Sino-Aussie duo, falling behind in the first set 5-2, the pair managed to find their rhythm and eventually fight their way back to go one set ahead.

With the Czech combo mounting their own fight back in the second, it all came down to a deciding third and final set.

Although Zhang and Stosur got the early break, Strycova and Vondrousova were able to win it back in a see-sawing back-and-forth contest that had fans in Melbourne on the edge of their seats.

In the end, however, Zhang and Stosur were able to get the break at 5-5 and serve out the match to snatch the win.

Zhang Shuai (L) of China in action during the women's semi-final match of the 2019 Australian Open at Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia, January 23, 2019 /VCG Photo

It was Zhang's first women's doubles final at a grand slam and the 30-year-old became the sixth Chinese player to reach a senior grand slam final.

In the post-match interview, Zhang said: “My dream from a very young age that I could compete in the final matches of a grand slam was realized.”

“This is the duel between top world-class players that sometimes, a tiny advantage in condition, one or two serves may change the trend of a whole game.” Zhang expressed her feeling about the match, “Today, winning the match gives us confidence and I improved a lot as well.”

Zhang launched three battle lines in this Australia Open but stopped in the women's singles' third round and mixed doubles' first round.

Stosur and Zhang will take on reigning Australian Open champions, tournament's second seeds Timea Babos from Hungary and Frenchwoman Kristina Mladenovic, who knocked them out of the 2018 US Open at the semi-final stage, in the final on Friday.

(With inputs from Xinhua News Agency)