MELBOURNE, Australia — Taylor Townsend of the United States returned to the court where her career first took flight, teaming with Katerina Siniakova to beat Su-Wei Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko 6-2, 6-7 (4), 6-3 in the women’s doubles final Sunday at the Australian Open.
“This is super special to me,” Townsend said. “The last time I played on this court I was 15, and in 2012 I won the juniors here and that was the kick start.
“Honestly, being here is so special to me because this tournament was the beginning of me being able to live out my dream.”
Top-seeded Townsend and Siniakova, of the Czech Republic, led 6-2, 5-3 and served for the match for the first time at 5-4 in the second set. But third-seeded Hsieh and Ostapenko rallied to take the second set in a tiebreaker and to hold an early break in the third.
Taylor and Siniakova were able to fall back on their teamwork on crucial points. This was their third Grand Slam together: They won Wimbledon last year and reached the semifinals of the US Open.
They were also able to exploit a hint of weakness on Hsieh’s serve with Ostapenko at the net, breaking her four times in the match, including in the ninth game of the final set. Siniakova then served out the match, with Townsend providing the finishing touch at the net.
Siniakova and Townsend raced to a 5-1 lead inside 30 minutes, and while Hsieh managed to hold at 5-2 in the best game of the set, Siniakova held to love to close out the first set in 37 minutes.
Win or lose, Siniakova was going to extend her stay atop the WTA doubles rankings to 136 weeks, the fifth-best run of all time. She has reached the semifinals or better at the past five Grand Slams.
The second set, much the same as the first, began with Ostapenko and Townsend holding serve, then Hsieh was broken at 2-1.
Ostakpenko held at 2-3, and there was noticeable lift in intensity from the third seeds, a recognition of the importance of the moment, and they managed to break Townsend to level at 3-3.
But another Hsieh service break gave Townsend the opportunity to serve for the match at 5-4. But again, Ostapenko and Hsieh rallied to level at 5. Hsieh then managed a crucial hold with Ostapenko occasionally starting at the back of the court rather than at the net.
Siniakova’s hold sent the set into a tiebreak in which Ostapenko and Hseih picked up two points off Townsend at 5-4 and 6-4 to level the match.
The complexion of the game had changed and the third seeds were able to break Siniakova for the first time in the opening game of the third set, though Siniakova and Townsend immediately broke Ostapenko to level at 1.
Hsieh was broken again in the ninth game, and this time Siniakova didn’t miss.
