Victoria & Maria Victorious in Doubles MELBOURNE, Australia - Victoria Azarenka and Maria Kirilenko may not have had the singles showings they envisioned at the Australian Open, both falling prior to the quarterfinals, but they are having quite a remarkable run in the doubles event. Azarenka and Kirilenko have played together as far back as 2007, however never before in a Grand Slam, making their run to the final in Melbourne all the more impressive. Nevertheless, their 62 64 semifinal defeat of No.2 seeds Kveta Peschke and Katarina Srebotnik on Thursday should not be considered such a surprise, in that they only lost two games to them in their most recent encounter in Cincinnati last year en route to their only title as of yet. Azarenka and Kirilenko also have an interesting history against their opponents in Friday's final, top-seeded Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta. They dropped only three games against them also in Cincinnati, in the semis, but later in the year in the semis in Moscow were beaten in a tight two-setter. Azarenka, who has four doubles titles to her name, is no stranger to Grand Slam doubles success, having been runner-up at the 2008 Australian Open alongside Shahar Peer and the 2009 French Open with Elena Vesnina. Kirilenko has eight doubles titles to her name but had never advanced beyond a Grand Slam semifinal until now. As for Dulko and Pennetta's semifinal, they got past No.3 seeds Liezel Huber and Nadia Petrova, 64 75, their second win in two career meetings against the American-Russian duo. Despite a terrific history together that includes 10 titles, this will be Dulko and Pennetta's first major final, with their semifinal showing at Wimbledon last year being their previous best Slam result. Dulko has 15 doubles titles to her name, while Pennetta has 13. The Italian does have Grand Slam final experience, having been runner-up at the 2005 US Open alongside Elena Dementieva. So, which team is the favorite in the final? Let the stats decide.
