Twins Bob and Mike Bryan have secured their fourth Australian Open title with a hard-fought three-set victory over arch-rivals Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic in the men's doubles final on Saturday night.
The American No.1 seeds added to their Melbourne Park successes of 2006, 2007 and 2009 and broke a run of five consecutive losses to their opponents with a 6-3 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 win in their 16th appearance in a major final.
It is the eighth Grand Slam crown for the 31-year-old brothers - including their three Australian Opens, the 2003 French Open, 2006 Wimbledon and 2005 and 2008 US Opens - putting them outright second behind Australian legends Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde (11) for most major doubles titles in the Open era.
The victory is also the Bryans' 57th overall, just four behind the Woodies' record 61 titles.
The five-time ATP World Tour doubles champions have won five or more titles in each of the past eight seasons, including seven in 2009.
Both teams had gone into Saturday night's decider in top form, the Bryans having disposed of Michael Kohlmann and Jarkko Nieminen 6-1 6-4, while second seeds Nestor and Zimonjic ended the giant-killing run of Ivo Karlovic and Dusan Vemic 6-4 6-4.
The Bryans, who have reached at least one Grand Slam final every year since 2003, needed just one break in the first set to seize the advantage.
Games went with serve early in the second set before Nestor and Zimonjic, who won nine straight matches heading into the final, broke to take a 3-1 lead.
But just as the Canadian-Serbian pairing appeared to gain the momentum, the Bryans broke back immediately to put the set back on serve before sending the set to a tie-breaker.
The Americans raced to a 5-2 lead and looked like closing out the match then and there but Nestor and Zimonjic managed to claw their way back into the contest with five straight points to send the match into a third and deciding set.
It was again an early break of 37-year-old Nestor's serve that gave the Americans the edge, before sealing victory.
Nestor was making his fourth appearance in the Australian Open final, while the 33-year-old Zimonjic was through to the decider in Melbourne for the first time.
Aside from their eight Grand Slam titles, the Bryans have won the Tennis Masters Cup doubles three times (2003, 2004 and 2009), won the bronze medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and also helped the USA to the 2007 Davis Cup.