Errani, Vinci clinch maiden Australian Open women`s doubles title

Melbourne: The top-seeded pair of Sara Errani and Robert Vinci won their first Australian Open women`s doubles title by beating local team of Ashleigh Barty and Casey Dellacque here Friday.

Barty and Dellacqua broke the Italian pair in the eighth game of the second set, then held serve in the next game to force a deciding third set. The Australian pair broke Errani and Vinci to start the deciding set, but the Italians recovered quickly and won the match 6-2, 3-6, 6-2, reports Xinhua. Italy`s Errani and Vinci played a disciplined game in the final, with 22 unforced errors against 42 for the Australians, who were in their first major final. After their victory, Errani and Vinci have won three of the last four Grand Slam tournaments, and lack only victory at Wimbledon to join the three players this century who have completed a career Grand Slam in women`s doubles. The Italians, the reigning US and French Open champions, lost in three sets to the Russian tandem of Svetlana Kuznetsova and Vera Zvonareva last year at Melbourne Park. IANS