Seventeen seeds Alicia Molik and Mara Santangelo are the surprise winners of this year’s French Open. The Australian/Italian pairing had never previously won a doubles title, so their triumph in a Grand Slam is a great way to start their trophy collection.
Molik and Santangelo upset the second seeds Cara Black and Lisa Huber in the semi-final 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 and overcame Katarina Srebotnik from Finland and Japan’s Ai Sugiyama in the final this evening, 7-6, 6-4 in 1hr 36mins.
Srebotnik and Sugiyama did well to reach the final themselves, defeating the No.1 seeds Lisa Raymond from the US and Australian Samantha Stosur in their semi-final 1-6, 6-4, 6-3.
Alicia Molik claims her second Grand Slam doubles title, after her win with Svetlana Kuznetsova at the 2005 Australian Open. What makes victory particularly sweet for her is the fact that she spent months out of the game due to an ear infection and has gradually been making her way back this year.
This is Santangelo’s first major title, but it is richly deserved on the back of successes in Rome alongside Nathalie Dechy, and Amelia Island, when she was associated with one of her opponents today, Katarina Srebotnik.
