The duo defeated Anna Danilina of Kazakhstan and Aleksandra Krunic of Serbia in the final. Playing just their seventh tournament as a team, the fourth-seeded pair beat the seventh seeds in straight sets, 7-6(7-4), 6-4, at Rod Laver Arena. With the victory, Mertens, currently ranked sixth, is set to regain the world No.1 position in women’s doubles.
Mertens and Zhang had earlier reached the Wimbledon final in 2022, while Danilina and Krunic finished second at last year’s French Open. This victory marked Mertens’ sixth Grand Slam doubles title. She has also won the Australian Open twice before in 2021 and 2024.
Later on Saturday, the men’s doubles final was set to feature American Christian Harrison and Britain’s Neal Skupski against Australians Jason Kubler and Marc Polmans. Kubler has a strong doubles record at the Australian Open, having won 14 of his 17 matches at the tournament. Meanwhile, Harrison and Skupski teamed up for the first time earlier this month in Adelaide and reached the semi-finals.
In the mixed doubles final on Friday (Jan 30), wildcards John Peers and Olivia Gadecki defeated France’s Kristina Mladenovic and Manuel Guinard 4-6, 6-3, 10-8 at Rod Laver Arena.
With the victory, Peers and Gadecki became the first pair to win back-to-back Australian Open mixed doubles titles since Jana Novotna and Jim Pugh in 1988-89.
They also became the first Australian duo to win the title in consecutive years at Melbourne Park since Margaret Court and Ken Fletcher did so in 1963-64.