The team of Kateřina Siniaková and Taylor Townsend won their second grand slam tournament at the Australian Open.
For Siniaková, it was her tenth slam title, and she retained the No. 1 ranking when she and Townsend made the semis.
Across the net was the new team of Hsieh Su-wei and Jeļena Ostapenko. In their first outing Hsieh and Ostapenko played the warm up event, the Adelaide International, where as top seeds they lost in the first round to the American team of Ashlyn Krueger and Jessica Pegula, 3-6 5-7.
Hsieh won both the women’s and the mixed doubles in Melbourne last year, adding two slam titles for a personal total of nine. In the women’s she had partnered with Elise Mertens, but this year entered a new partnership with Jeļena Ostapenko, who was Hseih’s opponent in the 2024 final with Lyudmyla Kichenok.
Ostapenko was coming off victory with Kichenok at the 2024 US Open.
The 2025 final at Melbourne Park was a rollercoaster. Ostapenko started the match by going down 0-40 on her serve but clamoured back to win the game. In contrast, Townsend made all her first serves and held to love.
Soon both Hsieh and Ostapenko were broken while Siniaková got lucky with a let cord in her service game and the score was 4-1. Ostapenko lifted with a great lob and volley to get two break points on Townsend’s serve, only to see them slip away through the other side’s winners.
With the score at 5-1, Hsieh served to stay in the set and won the last game point with a couple of nice angles.
With Siniaková bringing up three set points, Townsend grabbed the first with an extreme angled winner at the net for 6-2.
In the second set, Siniaková consolidated a break for 3-1, and it looked as if her team might run away with the match. But Ostapenko held and, surprisingly, Townsend was broken to level the score at 3-3.
Siniaková/Townsend broke straight back against Hseih to recover the lead.
Siniaková went down 15-40 but came through two deuces to hold for 5-3. She and Townsend couldn’t break Ostapenko to claim the championship, however, and the score progressed to 5-4.
Serving for the championship, Townsend was broken again when her partner volleyed into the net on the fourth set point.
Having been the least effective player on serve, Hsieh survived a tough game to go into the lead for the first time in the set, 6-5.
Siniaková started the next game with a double fault but held so that the set went to a tiebreak.
Hsieh/Ostapenko started the tiebreak well, going up 3-1 thanks to a poor volley by Townsend. At 3-3 they continued to push ahead and reached 5-4. They teamed closely as both were tested in the following point, before it turned into a long private rally between Siniaková and Ostapenko until the latter smacked a blazing backhand winner.
To seal the set at 7-6(4), Hseih returned Townsend’s serve down the line, right past Siniaková at the net for a winner.
At the start of the third set, perhaps because Townsend had been broken twice in the previous set while Siniaková had won all three of her service games, they swapped their service order. So Siniaková served first but that decision backfired when she was broken to 15. In the next game, Siniaková and Ostapenko played another private rally and again it was the Czech who made an error, but ultimately Ostapenko was broken.
Games remained on serve until the seventh game when Hseih was broken due to four consecutive errors from her team. With the score now at 5-3 to their opponents, they could win only one point in the next game, through the gift of a Siniaková double fault.
The net play of Townsend won the championship point as Hseih’s return hit the top of the net and bounced high before suddenly dropping over. As the ball bounced up at her feet, Townsend kept her focus and gently pushed it down the middle, between the opponents.
The trophies were presented by nine-times doubles grand slam champion Judy Dalton. When Ostapenko realised that she and Hseih had been mistakenly presented with the winning coaches’ plates she asked for the correct ones. Dalton was unflustered as she replaced them and everyone saw the humour.
After receiving the champions’ trophy, Siniaková acknowledged the enjoyment in partnering with Townsend. “Big thanks goes to Taylor. We are having fun and that’s the most important (thing).”
Siniaková was forced to abandon her partnership with then World No. 1 Storm Hunter after the Australian ruptured her achilles tendon in April of last year. Having now won two grand slams with Townsend, Siniaková may have a tough decision to make regarding a return to partnering Hunter. The Siniaková and Hunter team only managed to play one slam together before the injury, when they lost in the semis of the 2024 Australian Open to Hsieh and Mertens.
For her part, Townsend’s heartfelt speech touched on her journey and the one she wished for others.
“This is super special to me. The last time I played on (Rod Laver Arena in 2012) I was 15 and I won the juniors here. That was the kickstart… of me being able to live out my dream…to be here 13 years later holding a “seniors” trophy, it really is amazing.
She added, “Being able to watch Madison (Keys) win yesterday just filled my heart and made me so happy. She’s a friend of mine. This was a really good tournament for American girls who look like me. I hope this is inspiring – a little girl like me from the south side of Chicago who grew up in Atlanta and now is in Melbourne winning the Australian Open.”
Title photo by Tennis Australia / Alex Coppel
Update
Storm Hunter returned to doubles competition in February at the ATX Open in Austin.
She played well with partner Caroline Dolehide but they dropped a 7-0 lead in the super tiebreak, then at 9-7 couldn’t convert match points.
The pair lost 7-5 3-6 9-11 to Alicja Rosolska and Isabelle Haverlag.