Australian Open tennis: Elise Mertens wins sixth Grand Slam doubles title

Elise Mertens won her sixth Grand Slam doubles title on Saturday in Melbourne. In the Australian Open final, the thirty-year-old Limburg native, partnering China's Shuai Zhang, defeated Kazakhstan's Anna Danilina and Serbia's Aleksandra Krunic 7-6 (7/4), 6-4. The match lasted one hour and 48 minutes.

Mertens adds her name to the Australian Open list of honours for the third time. In 2021, she won the first Grand Slam of the season with Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, the current world number one in singles, and in 2024 she won with Taiwanese Hsieh Su-Wei. Mertens won Wimbledon in 2021 (with Hsieh) and 2025 (with Veronika Kudermetova), and the US Open in 2019 (with Sabalenka). Mertens lost a Grand Slam final twice, each time at Wimbledon: in 2022 with Zhang, and in 2023 with Australian Storm Hunter.

Elise Mertens reaches Australian Open doubles final and returns to top of world ranking

Elise Mertens reached the Australian Open women’s doubles final for the third time in her career on Thursday and will return to the top of the WTA doubles rankings next week.

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After the Australian Open, Mertens will be ranked number one in the WTA doubles rankings for the first time since June 2024. In May 2021, she became the world's best doubles player for the first time; on Monday, she will begin her fortieth week as number one in her tenth reign.

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