MELBOURNE, January 26, 2018

Timea Babos of Hungary and Frenchwoman Kristina Mladenovic clinched the women’s doubles title of the 2018 Australian Open. The No. 5 seeds defeated the all-Russian-combination of Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina 6-4, 6-3 on Friday afternoon on Rod Laver Arena.

“It’s an incredible feeling, I was in tears,” said an emotional Babos, who lifted her first Grand Slam trophy. “It’s amazing to play with you,” she added of Mladenovic.

It was their first Grand Slam team title after finishing runner-up at Wimbledon in 2014.

The Australian Open remains the missing link for Makarova and Vesnina. The Russian tandem won the 2013 French Open, 2014 US Open and 2017 Wimbledon and were striving to become only the sixth women’s team to complete all four doubles majors in the Open era.