Melbourne, Jan 25: kraine's Alona and Kateryna Bondarenko came back to down 12th-seeded Victoria Azarenka and Shahar Peer 2-6, 6-1, 6-4, to win the women's doubles championship at the 2008 Australian Open on Friday.
The Bondarenko sisters rebounded from a tough first set to become the first siblings to win a Grand Slam event since Venus and Serena Williams won in Melbourne Park in 2003. They led 4-1 in the third set before their opponents battled back to within 5-4, but the siblings were able to hold on for the win.The match lasted nearly two hours which was uncharacteristically dominated by baseline rallies. It was the first time the Bondarenko sisters had won a doubles title in their 38th tournament playing together. Their previous best was reaching three semi-finals in WTA Tour events.
They had the chance to serve for the match at 5-2 but were broken before sealing victory on their first match point at 5-4 when Azarenka hit a backhand return into the net.