Williams sisters land sixth doubles title
LONDON: Serena Williams followed up her seventh Wimbledon singles title and record-equalling 22nd Grand Slam crown with victory in the women’s doubles alongside sister Venus on Saturday.
The unseeded Americans defeated fifth seeds Timea Babos of Hungary and Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan 6-3, 6-4 to claim their sixth Wimbledon doubles title.
It was also their 14th doubles triumph as a team at the majors and their 22nd in 23 finals overall.
They still have some way to go, however, to match the 20 of Martina Navratilova and fellow American Pam Shriver.
“It’s awesome to win another doubles at Wimbledon,” said Serena.
For Venus it was a consolation after she lost to Angelique Kerber in Thursday’s singles semi-finals — denying her a first Grand Slam singles final since losing to Serena at Wimbledon in 2009.
Venus said: “I never want to make a mistake. I don’t want to let Serena down. She brought the energy from the singles on to the doubles court.”
Serena and Venus hadn’t played together for two years before this year but reunited as part of their build-up for the Olympic Games next month.
MAHUT, HERBERT WIN
Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert beat Julien Benneteau and Edouard RogerVasselin 6-4, 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 to win Wimbledon on Saturday in the first all-French Grand Slam men’s doubles final of the Open era.
The victory gives Mahut a happier memory from the grasscourt tournament where he lost the longest match in tennis history, 70-68 in the fifth set against John Isner in the first round of singles in 2010.
This is the second major title together for the top-seeded team of Mahut and Herbert, who won the US Open last year.
They’re only the second pair of Frenchmen to earn the doubles trophy at the All England Club in the Open era, which began in 1968. Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra won Wimbledon in 2007.
Benneteau and Roger-Vasselin won the 2014 French Open doubles championship.