Martina Hingis and Anna Kournikova on Friday became not only the most popular doubles team at this year's Australian Open, but also the most successful.
The two glamour girls of tennis defeated the less experienced teaming of Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario and Daniela Hantuchova in three sets 6-2 6-7(4) 6-1.
The win gives the pair their second Australian Open doubles titles - they also won in 1999.
Although Hingis and Kournikova won the first set with little trouble, the second set saw a new resolve from their opponents. The 18-year-old Hantuchova won the first game with an ace, and momentum stayed with her and the Spaniard from then on.
Hingis broke Sanchez-Vicario in the third game of the set (though it took six break points to achieve) but Kournikova was broken in the next game to level the set 2-2. The score stayed close and the set eventually went into a tiebreak, Sanchez-Vicario and Hantuchova winning 7-4 to take the second set.
The underdogs appeared to still have momentum in the first game of the third set, breaking Hingis to lead 1-0. But Hingis and Kournikova were not going to give up and stepped up a gear to dominate the third set, winning every remaining game to take the set 6-1.
"We looked like we were the better team all the time," said Hingis after the match. "Throughout the whole match we were always up and winning, and we just couldn't close it out."
The heat on Friday - over 30 degrees Celsius - did not seem to bother Hingis, who pulled out of the doubles final in Sydney recently due to warm weather.
"You wouldn't normally want to waste any energy, nothing extra," said Hingis. "Doubles doesn't take as much out of you as a singles match. You don't run around as much."
The win augers well for Hingis' singles final on Saturday against Jennifer Capriati. Every time Hingis has won a doubles title at the Open in the past (1997, 1998 and 1999) she has also gone on to win the singles final.
"I wouldn't want to go out there after losing today's match," said Hingis. "It gives me extra confidence."
Also confident going into the rest of the year will be Hantuchova, whose strong performance in the both the singles and doubles tournaments has won her a lot of Australian fans.
She lost in the third round of the singles to Venus Williams in one of the highlight matches of the tournament, pushing the world number three to three sets before eventually succumbing 6-3 0-6 4-6.
The young Slovakian's fashion sense has also drawn much attention. In the doubles final she wore a (very) short black dress. Had it not been for her white cap and sneakers, she could have been on her way to a cocktail party. Some members of the media even suggested she had outshone tennis' number one glamour girl, Kournikova, on the court.
Playing on centre court away from the legion of teenage boys that follow Kournikova and Hingis' matches with testosterone fuelled fervor, the support of the crowd seemed to sway toward the gutsy youngster and popular veteran Sanchez-Vicario.
Even so, Hantuchova received praise from both Kournikova and Hingis, who said that only her lack of experience had let her down in the final. Partner Sanchez-Vicario said that, while she herself may have few Grand Slam finals appearances in the future, Hantuchova is likely to have many more.
"I want to start to beat the top players," said Hantuchova. "I want to try and break into the top 10."
With her strong showing at the Australian Open, the young player is certainly one to watch.
