Zimbabwean Pair Black-Ullyett Beat Bryans, Hewitt Faces Safin at Australian Open

Zimbabwe's Wayne Black and Kevin Ullyett defeated Americans Bob and Mike Bryan 6-4, 6-4 Saturday to win the Australian Open doubles title, their second slam after the 2001 US Open.

It was the Bryan's fourth appearance in a slam final and their second in Melbourne after finishing runners-up last year, bringing their record in slam finals to 1-4, with their only win in 2003 at the French Open.

Black and Ullyett now lead the rivalry with six wins in their nine meetings.

"You got to be on top of everything to beat them pretty much," Black said. "They bring so much energy to the court, and if we can just rival that energy with them, it makes for great encounters."

The Bryans could not convert on either of their break opportunities during the match, and threw in six double faults between them.

Black and Ullyett dedicated the win to their fathers, who both died of cancer.

Scheduled for Sunday is the mixed doubles final between unseeded Aussies Scott Draper/Samantha Stosur and the No. 4-seeded Zimbabwe/South African pairing of Ullyett/Liezel Huber (d. Max "The Beast" Mirnyi/Martina Navratilova in the semis), and the men's singles final of (3) Lleyton Hewitt vs. (4) Marat Safin (career head-to-head 5-5, with the Russian winning their last meeting at the Masters Series-Paris).

"Lleyton is really good at what he does," said Safin, who will try and overpower Hewitt in the final. "He tries to put you in -- he tries to make you play the same game he wants you to play. And it just doesn't suit me. I have to go with my tactics, you know, just go for it sometimes, risk it, and be aggressive -- be really aggressive."