Russia’s tennis duo of Vesnina, Makarova reaches Australian Open final

MOSCOW, January 24. /TASS/. Russian pair Yelena Vesnina and Yekaterina beat Romania’s Irina Begu and Monica Niculescu in the semifinals of the Australian Open in the women’s doubles competition, the first Grand Slam series tournament with $43 million in prize money. The Russians, seeded 2nd at the tournament, won the encounter against the 10-seed pair from Romania with the final score of 6-4 and 6-3. Vesnina and Makarova will face Hungary’s Timea Babos and France’s Kristina Mladenovic in the final. The pair of Vesnina and Makarova won a total of three Grand Slam tournaments in the doubles category, namely the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open. Their best result at the Australian Open was the final stage in 2014, when they lost. Vesnina and Makarova are also the gold medalists of the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro in women’s doubles. The Australian Open will run through January 28. Read more