Top Zimbabwean female tennis player Cara Black and her South African partner Liezel Huber won the 2007 Australian Open women's doubles champions on Friday.

Third seeds Black and Huber buried themselves in glory on Friday morning after lifting the Australian Open title following a hard-earned 6-4, 6-7 (4-7), 6-1 victory over Yung-Jan Chan and Chia-Jung Chuang of the Chinese Taipei in the final. Chan and Chuang were unseeded.

Friday's sweet victory saw Black and Huber, the 2005 Wimbledon women's doubles champions, lifting their second Grand Slam as a team in two years, The Herald reported on Saturday.

Despite the pair being taken to three sets, Black, speaking at the post-match press conference, said she was happy to win. "I think a lot of expectation was on us. We were the No. 3 seeds and really we didn't know what to expect of them," she said.

Huber, meanwhile, admitted the pair had been nervous midway through the match before overcoming the Chinese Taipei combination.

Black is now a holder of three Grand Slam women's doubles titles after also winning the Wimbledon title with Australia's Rennae Stubbs in 2004. She also captured the Wimbledon mixed doubles title with her brother Wayne in 2004.

According to reports from Melbourne, the experience of Black and Huber made the difference in Friday's match as they rallied past the rookie pair in two hours 10 minutes.

Black and Huber are two of the Women's Tennis Association Tour's most-decorated doubles players, winning Wimbledon in 2005 and finishing runners-up at the French Open in the same year.

In contrast, Chan (17) and Chuang (22) were wildcards at this year's Australian Open and playing only in their third Tour-level event together and their first major.

It was the first time that anyone from Chinese Taipei had made a Grand Slam final and they put up a sterling fight before wilting under the hot Melbourne sun.

Source: Xinhua