France wins maiden women's doubles Major title in 45 years at French Open

Paris, June 5 (IANS) Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic came out the first French pair to win a Grand Slam women's doubles tennis title in 45 years after beating Ekaterina Makarova/Elena Vesnina of Russia at the French Open here on Sunday.

The local duo, major final debutants, rallied to a 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 victory over the 2013 French Open champions, who were playing their 15th final and fifth Major final, looking for their third Grand Slam title, reports Xinhua.

Last time when a French pair took a Grand Slam title was in 1971 when Gail Sheriff Chanfreau Lovera and Francoise Durr won at Roland Garros.

It has been the maiden championship of Garcia and Mladenovic in a major event.

The French pair got off to a flying start with a 4-0 lead. Their Russian rivals did break back but had not enough space to launch a comeback before Garcia and Mladenovic wrapped it up 6-3.

After the seventh seeds Russians fought back to level the match with a 6-2 second set, the fifth seeds broke their opponents' ninth game for a 5-4 lead and held their own serve to clinch the title.

--IANS

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