Tennis: Aoyama, Shibahara reach Australian Open women’s doubles final

Sports

Japanese duo Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara will play for their first Grand Slam women’s doubles title at the Australian Open following a 6-2, 7-6(7) semifinal victory over Americans Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula on Friday.

Having powered through the first set in 29 minutes, the 10th-seeded Japanese pair were pushed to the limit in the second, winning the tiebreak to complete the upset against the No. 2 seeds at Melbourne Park.

Aoyama, 35, and Shibahara, 24, will face Czech top seeds Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova in Sunday’s final.

Doubles specialist Shibahara is aiming for her sec...

Kyodo News

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