Top seeds Hsieh Su-wei and Jelena Ostapenko have won their first doubles crown as a duo after dashing the hopes of home hopeful Ellen Perez and Cristina Bucsa in the Brisbane International final on Saturday night.
“Thank you Su-wei for playing with me, I think it’s our first title together,” Ostapenko said. “We had many finals and finally we made it through, so thank you for a really great week this week in general. I really love to play with you.”
Former world No.1 doubles player Hsieh rung in her 40th birthday in the Queensland capital last week and had further cause for celebration following the 6-2 6-1 result over the No.3 seeds.
Having fallen in their first three doubles final last season, including the Australian Open, it delivered the Chinese Taipei player her 36th doubles title and Ostapenko her 12th.
Both women had won the Brisbane doubles trophy before in with different partners – Hsieh alongside Czech Barbora Strycova in 2020 and Ostapenko a year later with Ukrainian Lyudmyla Kichenok.
Perez was bidding to become the first Australian to win the women’s doubles in Brisbane since Anastasia Rodionova prevailed alongside Alla Kudryavtseva 12 years ago.
“I want to congratulate Su-wei and Jelena on an amazing match, you guys are quite a team,” Perez said. “We struggled tonight but you guys were just too good so all the best for the rest of the season.
“I want to thank my partner Cristina. It’s our first time playing together and a very last-minute pairing, but I really enjoyed sharing the court with you … It's so amazing to play in front of a home crowd. I feel like this place was packed.”