SA, Zim pair win Australian Open
Brad Morgan
29 January 2007
While Roger Federer landed most of the plaudits at the year's first tennis major, the Australian Open, there was success for South Africa as Liezel Huber teamed up with Zimbabwe's Cara Black to win the women's doubles title.
Huber and Black won the women's doubles title at Wimbledon in 2005, but shortly after that the South African injured an anterior cruciate ligament, which left Black to play with Australia's Rennae Stubbs during 2006.
With Huber healthy once more, the pair decided to team up again in 2007, and it proved to be a rewarding decision.
Straight sets victories
They made it through the first three rounds of the Australian Open without dropping a set. In the quarterfinals, Huber and Black were again on song, disposing of sixth seeds Daniela Hantuchova and Ai Sugiyama with ease, 6-1, 6-4. That earned them a semifinal place against top seeds Lisa Raymond and Samantha Stosur.
In the final
four, they dropped a set for the first time in the tournament against Raymond and Stosur, falling behind 6-4, but fought back to secure their place in the final 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.
Their opponents would be the unseeded Taiwanese pair of Yung-Jan Chan and Chia-Jung Chuang, who upset the defending champions and second-seeds Zi Yan and Jie Zheng 6-3, 6-4 in the semifinals.
The final
In the title decider, it looked as if Huber and Black were on their way to a straight sets victory when they went up 6-4, 4-2, but the young Taiwanese pair broke back to level the scores and send the second set into a tie-breaker. After jumping out to an early lead, they levelled matters at one set apiece by clinching the tie-breaker 7-4.
Huber and Black, though, brought their experience to bear in the decider, ripping through the final set in 31 minutes to claim it 6-1 and secure victory 6-4, 6-7, 6-1.
Speaking at the trophy presentation ceremony
afterwards, Black told Huber: "We've been through a lot together. It's great to have you back on board, partner."
Last Grand Slam as a South African
Sadly for South Africa, it will be the last title Huber secures as a South African citizen. She is married to an American and is set to become a US citizen in March.
Previously South Africa's Greer Smith (nee Stevens) won the mixed doubles title with Bob Hewitt at Wimbledon in 1977 and 1979, as well as the US Open mixed doubles in 1979. Only she and Huber, among South African women, have won more than one Grand Slam title.
The Australian Open title was Black's fifth Grand Slam success after two earlier mixed doubles victories, with her brother Wayne, at the French Open in 2002 and Wimbledon in 2004, and women's doubles titles with Huber at Wimbledon in 2005, and with Rennae Stubbs in 2004.
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