Melbourne, Australia – Runners-up a year ago, top seeds Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci were determined not to let another opportunity slip away.
The Italian duo captured the Australian Open women's doubles title on Friday, outlasting Aussie wildcards Ashleigh Barty and Casey Dellacqua 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 at Rod Laver Arena.
The 16-year-old Barty was trying to become the youngest Grand Slam champion since Martina Hingis captured the Aussie Open singles title in 1997.
An Aussie pairing hasn't captured the Aussie Open women's doubles title since 1979.
The 25-year-old Errani and 29-year-old Vinci, the reigning U.S. and French Open champions, lost in three sets to a Russian tandem of Svetlana Kuznetsova and Vera Zvonareva last year at Melbourne Park.
"Our strength is that we always play together," Vinci said. "We went out there today with lots of grit, and we really wanted to win."
Errani, who was last year's surprise French Open singles runner-up, and Vinci will split $500,000.
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.