Serena warms up by winning Melbourne doubles

Published>Fri, Jan 29 10 04:29 PM

Serena Williams completed one half of an Australian Open double when she and older sister Venus Williams won the women's doubles title on Friday.

Serena heads into Saturday's singles final against Justine Henin in Melbourne on a winning note after defending her doubles crown with a 6-4 6-3 victory over Zimbabwe's Cara Black and American Liezel Huber at Rod Laver Arena.

The win gave them their 11th grand slam doubles championship and their fourth at Melbourne Park -- and also preserved their perfect record in grand slam finals.

"I guess I was really focused and my serve was really working today," Venus told reporters after not conceding a single service break.

"They played really like a team and were really coming into the net and just doing everything right. So Serena and I just had to work together."

The Williams sisters overcame a sluggish start to win a break at 3-3 in the first set, then sealed it on the third set point when Black netted.

They then carried the momentum into the second, winning an early service break before calmly serving out the match.

COMEDY ENDING

Although sharp at the net and a model of cooperation throughout, their triumph had a touch of comedy at the end, when Venus was unaware that they had won the match.

After breaking Huber's serve to seal the match, she was set to ready herself for the next game.

"I actually didn't know the score. I thought that it was 5-2. I really don't know how I lost track," she said. "I thought '(Serena's) really happy about this break! I thought, 'Wow, I've never seen her this happy. But I'll go with it.'"

Serena, whose legs have been heavily strapped throughout the tournament, appeared on court with her wrist taped, but brushed off concerns about her fitness ahead of her clash with Henin.

"I fell the other day a couple times in my match, so, yeah, I'm just adding to the list," she said.

The second-seeded Williams sisters snapped a 13-match winning streak for Black and Huber, who won the Sydney and Auckland titles in the lead-up to Melbourne Park.

The Williams sisters have now beaten the top-ranked pair in all three of their meetings, including the U.S. Open final last year. They hold an astonishing 16-1 record in finals overall, their only loss dating back to 1999 at San Diego.

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