Australian Open: Williams sisters clinch doubles glory

Singles failure was forgotten for a while by Venus and Serena Williams as they won the Australian Open women's doubles crown in Melbourne.

The sisters, reigning Wimbledon champions, beat 1999 Wimbledon winners Lindsay Davenport and Corina Morariu 6-2 4-6 6-4.

It completes their Grand Slam set together, having also won the French and US Open titles two years ago. They were also Olympic gold medallists in Sydney last September.

The match was delayed for an hour by heavy rain - eventually the roof on the Rod Laver Arena was closed - and because it went to three sets the second men's semi-final between Frenchmen Arnaud Clement and Sebastien Grosjean was late starting.

Both Serena and Venus went out to Martina Hingis in the singles, Serena 8-6 in the third set of a memorable quarter-final, and Venus 6-1 6-1 in a one-sided semi-final which represented the worst defeat of her career.