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Cara takes aim at Australian Open

Tennis
ZIMBABWE’S top female tennis player Cara Black will attempt to take her fairytale comeback to professional tennis to another level when she makes her first Grand Slam appearance in almost two years at next week’s Australian Open in Melbourne.

ZIMBABWE’S top female tennis player Cara Black will attempt to take her fairytale comeback to professional tennis to another level when she makes her first Grand Slam appearance in almost two years at next week’s Australian Open in Melbourne. REPORT BY DANIEL NHAKANISO SPORTS REPORTER

The Australian Open, the first Grand Slam of the season, will take place from January 14-27.

The former world number one female doubles player expressed her delight after claiming the ASB Classic title in her first Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Tour tournament since becoming a mom last April.

Partnering Australia’s Anastasia Rodionova, Black sealed her 55th WTA doubles title courtesy of a 2-6, 6-2 (10-5) nervy tie break win over top seeds Julia Goerges of Germany and Kazakhstan’s Yaroslava Shvedova in the women’s doubles final at the ASB Tennis Arena on Saturday.

“It feels great to be back out on the tour again,” Black said in an interview on WTA’s official website.

“It was great to be back on the court with Rodi (Rodionova) again. We had a fun week last week in Auckland and are thrilled to have won the title. Auckland has always been one of my favourite stops on the tour, so it was really nice to be back there again. And the final was an exciting match, playing against two great professionals of the game, Slava and Julia. There were some awesome points and we were lucky to come out on top in that super tie-break.”

Black revealed that last week’s tournament wasn’t just her first WTA event as a mother, as it was also the first WTA event she played with her eight-month-old son, Lachlan Alexander Stephens, cheering her on from her camp.

The three-time Zimbabwe Sportsperson of the Year said she had now set her sights on the Australian Open.

“I’m looking forward to the Australian Open coming up and am so lucky to have my family by my side.”

Following her latest win, Black will be one of the contenders in Australia where she has won the women’s doubles once in 2007 with former partner Liezel Huber and the mixed once in 2010 with Leander Paes.