MELBOURNE, Australia — Wang Ziying and Li Xiaohui have combined to win China’s first Grand Slam title in wheelchair tennis.
Wang and Li had a 6-2, 6-3 win over Zhu Zhenzhen of China and Manami Tanaka of Japan in the Australian Open women’s wheelchair doubles final on Friday.
Li was a quarterfinalist in the doubles here last year and reached the doubles semifinals at the French Open and Wimbledon. Wang was making her debut at the Australian Open after reaching the Wimbledon semifinals last year in wheelchair singles and doubles.
For Zhu, the loss continued a run of close calls at Melbourne Park, where she’s been a runner-up in doubles four times. She also was a runner-up in the wheelchair singles at Roland Garros three years running.
Tanaka has been a semifinalist in singles and in doubles twice in Australia but has never won a major.