This article was first published 23 years ago

Williams sisters win Australian Open doubles

google preferred source

Serena and Venus Williams teamed up on Friday to win the Australian Open women's doubles title beating second seeds Virgina Ruano Pascual of Spain and Argentina's Paola Suarez 4-6 6-4 6-3.

The sisters -- opponents in Saturday's singles final -- have already won all four doubles grand slam events and the 2000 Sydney Olympics gold, and have not been beaten as a pair for 16 months now.

Despite their imposing record, they needed a wildcard to enter the tournament because Venus, who did not play enough events last year, does not have a doubles ranking.

Once they had their wildcard, Australian Open officials named the sisters as top seeds to avoid them running into the best teams too early.