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and her Australian partner Rodionova won their opening match at the first Grand Slam of the year by beating the fellow unseeded pair of Monique Adamczak and Stephanie Bengson, both of Australia, in straight sets 6-3, 6-4.
According to reports from Melbourne, it took Black and Rodionova one hour and 23 minutes to dispatch their opponents on Court Five yesterday morning.
Up next for Black and Rodionova in the second round is the duo of Shuko Aoyama of Japan and American Irina Falconi.
Aoyama and Falconi, who are unseeded, booked their second round date with Black and Rodionova after upsetting 11th seeds Vania King of the United States and Kazakhstan’s Yaroslava Shvedova 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (7-2) in their first round match yesterday.
And a tough second round match awaits Aoyama and Falconi as they will come up against Black and Rodionova who arrived in Melbourne for the Australian Open oozing with confidence after winning the doubles title at the ASB Classic tournament in Auckland, New Zealand, a fortnight ago.
The ASB Classic acted as one of the 2013 season-openers and it saw the wildcard-entry of Black and Rodionova making nonsense of the formbook as they fought all their way to the final where they beat top seeds Shvedova and Germany’s Julia Goerges 2-6, 6-2, 10-5.
Black and Rodionova split US$11 500 for winning the doubles title at this year’s ASB Classic in Auckland.
Lifting the ASB Classic doubles title saw Black capping a memorable comeback in the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Tour after having spent more than a year out due to pregnancy.
It wasn’t just Black’s first WTA event as a mother, it was also the first WTA event she played with her eight-month-old son, Lachlan Alexander Stephens, cheering her on from her camp.
Black, now married to her Australian fitness trainer Brett Stephens, is based in Melbourne and is hoping that her “home advantage” will help her win the Australian Open women’s title this year.
Black and Rodionova must be fancying their chances of winning the women’s doubles title in Melbourne after their recent success at the ASB Classic tournament in Auckland.
In fact, Black has had a large amount of success at the Australian Open where she won the women’s doubles title there once in 2007 with her former American partner Liezel Huber and the mixed doubles crown once in 2010 with India’s Leander Paes.
Black started 2010 strongly by winning two tournaments leading up to the 2010 Australian Open, coming to the slam with an unbeaten record.
Black made it to the finals in both the women’s doubles and mixed doubles.
She and Huber lost the women’s doubles final to Venus and Serena Williams of the United States in straight sets, 6–4, 6–3.
However, Black and Paes won the mixed doubles title in straight sets, beating Ekaterina Makarova and Jaroslav Levinsky 7-5, 6-3 in the final.
The victory marked Black’s first ever mixed doubles victory at the Australian Open. The victory also made her achieve a career Grand Slam in mixed doubles.
Black is already a winner of one WTA Tour singles title and an astonishing 55 women’s doubles titles.
Online Reporter