Ash Barty and Kiki Bertens have fallen just short of claiming the doubles title at the Brisbane International, going down to number one seeds Su-Wei Hsieh and Barbora Strycova at Pat Rafter Arena.
In a rollercoaster match, Hsieh and Strycova defended one matchpoint in the second set, before winning 3-6 7-6(7) 10-8.
The singles earlier in the week also didn't go Barty's way, with the Aussie knocked out in the second round by Jennifer Brady.
The Aussie world number one will donate her half of the prize money to the bushfire fundraising effort - a total that amounts to $22,400.
Barty and Bertens advanced to the decider via a walkover when Kristina Mladenovic and Ajla Tomljanovic pulled out after the French star fell ill.
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The pair had previously beaten Anett Kontaveit and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-7(6) 6-3 10-8 in a thriller in the first round, before easing past Nicole Melichar and Yifan Xu 6-3 6-2.
Barty and Bertens scored a break to go up 4-2 in the first set, before Barty held with ease to take the first set in half an hour in front of a vocal home crowd.
.@ashbarty and @kikibertens take the opening set 6-3! #BrisbaneTennis pic.twitter.com/1mHdwdKsR0
— WTA (@WTA) January 12, 2020
Barty and Bertens earned another early break in the second set on Hsieh's serve, right after a crying child momentarily held up play.
An emotional young fan brings a temporary pause to the #BrisbaneTennis action 😭 😂 pic.twitter.com/XvzaBeOrYv
— WTA (@WTA) January 12, 2020
Their momentum was short lived though, as Strycova and Hsieh managed to keep the ball away from Barty and force Bertens into a mistake.
It was some nice work at the net from Strycova, before a Bertens double fault that saw the break given straight back.
The second-set break-a-thon continued, with Barty stumbling on serve before rectifying with some brilliant work from the back of the court and a perfect volley at the net to break Hsieh.
Shot!@ashbarty | #BrisbaneTennis pic.twitter.com/iiHVYvX63M
— WTA (@WTA) January 12, 2020
Bertens was broken again, and Strycova followed suit to get us back on serve at 5-5.
The second set tiebreak was another rollercoaster, with Barty and Bertens taking an early advantage before Hsieh and Strycova fought back. .
What. A. Point!@ashbarty |@kikibertens | #BrisbaneTennis pic.twitter.com/YpIpTtTsDj
— WTA (@WTA) January 12, 2020
The Aussie and Dutch pairing earned a matchpoint at 6-5, but Bertens sent one wide and Hsieh and Strycova made no errors in pushing the decider to a third set tiebreak.
After going behind due to a series of mistakes, Barty and Bertens fought back, but it was too little, too late as Strycova and Hsieh raised the trophy.
In the singles, Karolina Pliskova plays American Madison Keys.