WOMEN’S TENNIS ASSOCIATION MATCH NOTES

MELBOURNE, AUS | JANUARY 20-FEBRUARY 2, 2020 | AUD $4,100,000 EVENT

wtatennis.com | facebook.com/WTA | twitter.com/WTA | youtube.com/WTA Tournament Website: www.wtatennis.com | @AustralianOpen | facebook.com/AustralianOpen WTA Communications: Catherine Sneddon ([email protected]), Adam Lincoln ([email protected]) - DOUBLES FINAL

[1] HSIEH SU-WEI (TPE #3) [2] TIMEA BABOS (HUN #4) BARBORA STRYCOVA (CZE #1) vs. (FRA #2) Tied 1-1 Babos and Mladenovic won the teams’ most recent encounter en route to defending their title at the WTA Finals last November... Hsieh and Strycova won the teams’ only other meeting in SF at 2019 Wimbledon... This is the first time the top two seeded teams have met in the Australian Open final since 2010 THE FINALISTS PLAYER AO YTD CAREER YTD CAREER YTD CAREER W/L* W/L* W/L* PRIZE $ PRIZE $ TITLES TITLES [1] Su-Wei Hsieh 27-14 9-0 483-253 $60,550 $8,150420 1 25 [1] Barbora Strycova 28-13 9-0 492-257 $70,600 $11,404,046 1 28 [2] Timea Babos 22-6 5-0 335-145 $7,856 $7,251,611 0 22 [2] Kristina Mladenovic 26-7 7-1 339-155 $15,900 $11,004,403 0 22

*Includes CAREER GRAND SLAM RECORDS - BY ROUND REACHED PLAYER R128 R64 R32 QF SF F* W TOTAL* [1] Su-Wei Hsieh 16 13 13 5 3 1 3 54 [1] Barbora Strycova 11 15 19 5 5 1 1 57 [2] Timea Babos 7 6 6 3 2 6 2 32 [2] Kristina Mladenovic 5 8 7 6 3 5 3 37

*Includes 2020 Australian Open BEST PREVIOUS GRAND SLAM DOUBLES RESULTS PLAYER BEST GRAND SLAM RESULT [1] Su-Wei Hsieh WON (3): 2019 Wimbledon (w/Strycova), 2014 Roland Garros (w/Peng), 2013 Wimbledon (w/Peng)

[1] Barbora Strycova WON (1): 2019 Wimbledon (w/Hsieh)

[2] Timea Babos WON (2): , 2019 Roland Garross (both w/Mladenovic) R-Up (3): 2014 Wimbledon (w/Mladenovic), 2016 Wimbledon (w/Shvedova), 2018 US Open (w/Mladenovic) [2] Kristina Mladenovic WON (3): 2016 Roland Garros (w/Garcia), 2018 Australian Open, 2019 Roland Garros (both w/Babos) R-Up (4): 2014 Wimbledon (w/Babos), 2016 US Open (w/Garcia), 2018 US Open (w/Babos) WOMEN’S TENNIS ASSOCIATION STATS & STORYLINES

ROAD TO THE FINAL FRIENDS ON TOUR

No.1 seeds Hsieh Su-wei and Barbora Strycova and Babos and Mladenovic first met in their early teens at No.2 seeds Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic are the European Team Championships in France. facing off for the first Grand Slam title of 2020 after a pair of straight-sets victories in their respective semifinals. “I remember this Hungarian girl hitting the ball so hard,” Mladenovic said after their triumph at the WTA Finals in Both teams are yet to drop a set en route to the final, 2018. “You cannot imagine. I was, like, ‘Oh, wow, this girl Hsieh and Strycova beat No.4 seeds Barbora Krejcikova is going to be so tough to beat.’” and Katerina Siniakova, 6-2, 6-3, in Thursday’s first semi- final inside Melbourne Arena, and they were followed into When they eventually teamed up together in the profes- the final by Babos and Mladenovic, who beat No.7 seeds sional ranks, success was quick to follow. A runner-up and Chan Hao-ching, 7-5, 6-2. finish at 2014 Wimbledon during their first stint together, which was then surpassed by their 2018 Australian Open The last team to go all the way to the Australian Open title run, in their first event after two years apart. title without dropping a set were 2004 champions and Paola Suárez. Last season brought further success for the pairing, who lifted their second Grand Slam title at Roland Garros It is also the first Australian Open women’s doubles final before becoming the first team to win back-to-back titles between the top two seeds since 2010. On that occasion, at the season ending WTA Finals since 2007-08. the No.2-seeded team of Serena and overcame top seeds and in Hsieh and Strycova have formed an impressive partner- straight sets. ship since first joining forces to win their first title at Indian Wells in 2018. The duo are bidding to win their second Slam title together after triumphing at 2019 Wimbledon. HSIEH RECLAIMS NO.1 The pair arrived in Melbourne with plenty of momentum, having kicked off their 2020 campaign by lifting the trophy at Brisbane, where they overcame and Hsieh Su-wei is set to become the new WTA World No.1 Kiki Bertens in the final. In addition to these triumphs at in doubles on Monday, February 3 after reaching the Wimbledon and Brisbane,they have won titles on four Australian Open doubles final. other occasions, at Birmingham, Dubai and Madrid last year and Indian Wells in 2018. Hsieh, from Chinese Taipei, will return to top spot for the first time in over five years, having first held the elite po- sition for five non-consecutive weeks starting on May 12, 2014 along with then-partner Peng Shuai. WINNING STREAKS

She will overtake current World No.1 and her regular All four finalists have bounced back from singles dis- doubles partner Barbora Strycova when the rankings appointment this fortnight to continue their exceptional are updated on Monday. The team have won five titles recent doubles form. together over the last year, including the pair’s debut Grand Slam crown at Wimbledon, as well as reaching the After exiting the singles draw at the opening hurdle, championship match at the Shiseido WTA Finals Shen- Babos and Mladenovic negotiated a tricky draw, which zhen, and started the 2020 season with a title run at the included a second-round test against Ashleigh Barty and Brisbane International. Julia Goerges, to stretch their current winning streak to 10 matches.

Meanwhile, Hsieh and Strycova have won nine on the spin, last tasting defeat against Babos and Mladenovic at last year’s Shiseido WTA Finals Shenzhen. HSIEH SU-WEI TIMEA BABOS BARBORA STRYCOVA VS KRISTINA MLADENOVIC

QUICK-HITS QUICK-HITS

• Strycova and Hsieh are competing at the Australian • This year marks their fourth time contesting the Aus- Open for the first time as a team tralian Open as a team • Bidding to win their second Grand Slam doubles title • The duo have now reached the final at Melbourne together after lifting the crown at 2019 Wimbledon (d. Park in three consecutive seasons, winning the title Dabrowski/Y.Xu) in 2018 (d. Makarova/Vesnina in F) and finishing • Kicked off 2020 campaign by lifting silverware at R-Up in 2019 (l. Stosur/Z.Shuai) Brisbane (d. Barty/Bertens in F) • Their other major title together came at 2019 Roland • Including their run this fortnight, they are on a nine- Garros (d. Duan/Zheng in F) match winning streak, stretching back to their defeat • Fell 2r on their first appearance as a team in Mel- to today’s opponents Babos and Mladenovic in last bourne in 2015 (l. Mattek-Sands/Safarova) year’s Shiseido WTA Finals Shenzhen; their longest • Mladenovic is making her ninth appearance in dou- winning streak together was 13 (2019 Birming- bles at the Australian Open while Babos is here for ham-2019 US Open) an eighth time • In addition to 2019 Wimbledon and 2020 Brisbane, • Playing first event together since winning Shiseido have triumphed together on four other occasions, at WTA Finals Shenzhen last November; their current 2019 Birmingham (d. Groenefeld/Schuurs in F), 2019 win streak is 10 matches, three short of their best run Dubai (d. Hradecka/Makarova in F), 2019 Madrid together (2019 Istanbul-2019 Wimbledon) (d. Dabrowski /Y.Xu in F) and 2018 Indian Wells (d. • After defending their Shiseido WTA Finals Shenzhen Makarova/Vesnina in F) crown last season, became the first team to win • Hsieh is making her 15th appearance in doubles at back-to-back titles at the season-ending event since the Australian Open, surpassing her previous best Black/Huber in 2007-08 result which took place in 2018 when she advanced • Following their Grand Slam triumph in Paris, Mlade- to SF with partner S.Peng (l. Babos/Mladenovic) novic ascended to WTA Doubles World No.1 for the • Strycova is making her 13th appearance in doubles first time in her career (June 10, 2019), and held the at the Australian Open, surpassing her previous joint- top spot for six non-consecutive weeks best result which took place last year when she ad- • Babos rose to World No.1 after 2018 Wimbledon vanced to SF with partner Vondrousova (l. Stosur/S. (July 16, 2018), becoming the first player from Hun- Zhang) and in 2015 with Krajicek (l. L.Chan/J.Zheng) gary - male or female - to reach the No.1 ranking in • Strycova owns 28 doubles titles (one major); Hsieh is singles or doubles. She held the spot for 13 non-con- not far behind with 25 doubles titles (three at majors) secutive weeks under her belt • Own nine doubles titles as a team, Dubai, Marrakech • Following their title at Wimbledon, Strycova sur- and Rome in 2015, the Australian Open, Birmingham passed Mladenovic to become WTA Doubles World and WTA Finals in 2018 and Istanbul, Roland Garros No.1 for the first time in her career (July 15, 2019) and WTA Finals in 2019; their career record in WTA and has held the top spot for 12 non-consecutive doubles finals stands at 9-7 weeks • Both Babos and Mladenovic own 22 doubles titles • By reaching the final this fortnight, Hsieh is set to • In today’s final, the pair will face off against Hsieh/ reclaim the Doubles World No.1 position for the first Strycova for their third career meeting and rematch time in over five years, overtaking the position from of last championship match to be played in the 2019 her doubles partner and current No.1 Strycova season last fall at the Shiseido WTA Finals Shenzhen • Hsieh last reached Doubles World No.1 on May 12, where they defeated the pair in straight sets, 6-1, 6-3 2014 (spent total of five weeks at top spot) • In singles, Mladenovic has a career-high ranking • In today’s final, the pair will face off against Babos/ of No.10 (October 23, 2017). She owns one career Mladenovic for their third career meeting and a singles title, at 2017 St. Petersburg rematch of the 2019 Wimbledon SF, where they • Babos’s best singles ranking is No.25 (September defeated the Hungarian-French duo en route to their 19, 2016) and she has three career titles, at 2018 maiden Grand Slam title Taipei City, 2017 Budapest and 2012 Monterrey • In singles, Hsieh has a career-high ranking of No.23 (February 25, 2013). She owns three career singles titles, at 2018 Hiroshima, 2012 Kuala Lumpur and 2012 Guangzhou • Strycova’s best singles rankings is No.16 (January 16, 2017) and has two career singles titles, at 2017 Linz and 2011 Quebec City