By ,
Published May 02, 2016
Melbourne, Australia (SportsNetwork.com) - American Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Safarova made the most of their first Australian Open together, besting Chan Yung-Jan and Zheng Jie to win the women's doubles title at the year's first major.
Mattek-Sands and her Czech partner entered the tournament unseeded and only advanced to the final after Julia Goerges retired due to an illness in the semis.
They took the first set from the 14th-seeded duo with a break of serve and won a second set tiebreak to come away with a 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) victory at Rod Laver Arena.
The prize for capturing their first major title is splitting $575,000.
China's Zheng was an Aussie and U.S. Open doubles champ in 2006, while Chan of Taipei was an Aussie and U.S. Open doubles runner-up in 2007.
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/mattek-sands-safarova-win-womens-doubles-title