British Tennis - Lawn Tennis Association

Liam Broady & Joshua Ward-Hibbert have won the Australian Open boys' doubles title after winning the final in straight sets on Friday.

The British duo defeated Adam Pavlasek (CZE) & Filip Veger (CRO) 6-3, 6-2 after just 45 minutes of play.

"It’s just unbelievable, what we’ve been able to do in Australia," Ward-Hibbert commented after the victory. "It’s difficult to put it into words really.

"Even if I’d only had the good run in the singles it would have been fantastic but to win the doubles on top of that is something else. You put so much work in to achieving things like this and now that we have, I just keep thinking ‘is this real?’

"It makes it even better that I’ve won the doubles with Liam. He’s a really good friend of mine who I’ve known since we were playing under-10 tournaments so to lift the trophy with him is really special.

"We had some great preparation going into this tournament which is why I’ve been able to do so well. I did a week at the SoTo Academy with my coach Dan before coming to Australia. I’ve got a great team behind me who have supported me all the way and helped us so much for our match preparations."

It was a commanding performance from the pair who broke their opponents on three occasions, won 92% of their first serve points, winning twice as many overall points as the Czech & Croatian duo.

Ward-Hibbert continued: "They got us fired up for the final where we started really well which set the tone for the match. Once we got the break in the first set there was no turning back.

"It’s great to start the year off like this. It gives me the belief that I can do this all the time and compete with the best. I know what level I can play at now so hopefully I can continue that and win many more titles."

The title is a first in a Grand Slam for Joshua Ward-Hibbert, who trains at the SoTo Academy in Spain under the tutelage of Dan Kiernan, but a second junior Grand Slam title for Liam Broady, who won the boys' doubles at Wimbledon in 2010.

Broady, currently ranked three in the world junior rankings, was a runner up in the boys' singles at Wimbledon last year, and also spends time training at the SoTo Academy.