By Andrew Den

Unseeded Svetlana Kuznetsova and Vera Zvonareva won the Australian Open women’s doubles crown on Friday, coming from behind to beat Italian pair Roberta Vinci and Sara Errani in three sets.

The Russians overcame a poor start from Zvonareva in particular to win the title 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 on Rod Laver Arena, but were quick to downplay any implications for the Olympic Games later this year.

Vinci and Errani are Fed Cup stalwarts for Italy and have won all five Fed Cup doubles matches they have played. Kuznetsova and Zvonareva rarely play together and only decided to team up for Melbourne at the last moment.

“I think we decided the night before sign-in was closing,” Kuznetsova said. “Because we focus on singles, sometimes I go to a grand slam and I don’t know if I’m going to play or not in the doubles.”

Zvonareva insisted they weren’t thinking of the Olympics when they opted to play doubles in Melbourne.

“It’s not our main focus,” she said. “Long-term, you know, we don’t know. It depends because we have so many great players that can play good in singles and doubles.

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