MELBOURNE, Australia -- Venus and Serena Williams completed
a career Grand Slam in women's doubles Friday, beating Lindsay
Davenport and Corina Morariu 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 in the Australian Open.
The Williams sisters won the French Open and U.S. Open in 1999.
Last year they won Wimbledon and gold medals in the Sydney
Olympics.
|  | | Venus, left, and Serena Williams needed three sets to win the doubles crown Friday. |
The title was a nice consolation prize for the sisters, both
eliminated in singles by Martina Hingis. Serena was defeated in the
quarterfinals and Venus endured the most lopsided loss of her
career, 6-1, 6-1, in the semifinals Thursday.
Venus said: "I want to thank the Australian Open committee
for giving us a wild card -- because our doubles ranking wasn't
good enough to get us in the draw!
"But we should qualify for a ranking after this tournament,
and it will be interesting to see where we enter."
The Grand Slam title was the eighth for Venus and the seventh
for Serena, including two in mixed doubles for each player.
Their 22-match winning streak in women's doubles was snapped in
a first-round loss at Sydney earlier this month to Hingis and
Monica Seles. The Williamses avenged that defeat Thursday in the
semifinals.
The sisters jumped to a 3-0 lead in the final, breaking
Davenport's serve in the second game. Davenport lost her serve
twice more in the final set, including the last game.
For their latest title, the sisters won $196,878. They were
unseeded because they played together in only three tournaments
last year.
Davenport and Morariu, who was celebrating her 23rd birthday
on Friday, collected $93,000 as runners-up.
Serena, who has shrugged off the bout of gastroenteritis
which had dogged her during her quarterfinal singles defeat to Hingis, added: "This is no consolation at all for losing in the singles.
"We both want to be known as singles players. But you have
to recognize that she (Hingis) just played very well. The doubles is a different competition altogether, and make no mistake, we are both very happy to have won here."
Neither could suggest another player on the WTA Tour they
would like to team up with for future doubles events.
Venus said: "I can't imagine playing with anyone else but
Serena.
"I think we love playing with each other. We have a great
understanding -- I know that no matter what I do, Serena will
always be there for me."
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AUDIO/VIDEO
 Venus and Serena Williams win the 2001 Australian Open women's doubles title.
avi: 2065 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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