Elise Mertens and Aryna Sabalenka have won the US Open women's doubles final after beating Victoria Azarenka and Ashleigh Barty.
The duo defeated Azarenka and Barty 7-5, 7-5 on Sunday at Arthur Ashe Stadium in an hour and 37 minutes on court.
Mertens and Sabalenka lost dropped one set in the entire tournament and the victory clinches their first Grand Slam title as a doubles pairing. They faced only one other seeded team on their way to the title.
It marks a miserable end to the US Open for world number two Barty, who was shocked in the third round by 18th seed Qiang Wang in the singles draw.
Azarenka, meanwhile, has now lost in four women's doubles Grand Slam finals, although she has won twice in the mixed doubles.
It was a close match throughout in both sets but at 5-6 in both sets on Azarenka's serve, Mertens and Sabalenka struck a crucial blow.
In the second set, it was a case of deja vu when Azarenka again blundered, not helped by some missed chances at the net from Barty.
And it took a fine overhead smash from Sabalenka to seal the straight sets victory in front of the half-full arena.
