Elise Mertens marked her return to the No. 1 ranking in women’s doubles by combining with China’s Zhang Shuai to win the Australian Open title on Saturday.
Mertens and Zhang trailed twice — 0-3 and 1-4 — in the first set but rallied to beat Anna Danilina of Kazakhstan and Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic 7-6 (4), 6-4. Mertens and Zhang led the final set 5-0 before withstanding a comeback attempt when Danilina and Krunic won four straight games.
Currently ranked No. 6 in doubles, Mertens, who won the Wimbledon doubles title last year with Veronika Kudermetova, will return to the No. 1 ranking after the Australian Open.
That will mark the Belgian player’s 40th cumulative week as No. 1 in doubles and was guaranteed regardless of the outcome of the Melbourne Park final Saturday.
Mertens and Zhang were 2022 Wimbledon finalists while Danilina and Krunic were runners-up last year at the French Open.
The win Saturday was Mertens’ sixth Grand Slam doubles title, including 2021 and 2024 at Melbourne Park.
The mixed doubles final was played on Friday, when Australians Olivia Gadecki and John Peers became the first team to win consecutive titles since 1989 after beating the French pair of Kristina Mladenovic and Manuel Guinard 4-6, 6-3, 10-8.
