Clijsters, Sugiyama lift women's doubles

Belgium's Kim Clijsters and Ai Sugiyama of Japan won the women's doubles at Wimbledon on Sunday with a 6-4, 6-4 win.

Belgium's Kim Clijsters and Ai Sugiyama of Japan won the women's doubles at Wimbledon on Sunday with a 6-4, 6-4 win in 1hr 16min over top seeds Paola Suarez of Argentina and Spain's Virginia Ruano Pascual.

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It was the second Grand Slam doubles title in a row for the pair, who also defeated Suarez and Ruano Pascual to lift last month's French Open crown.

Clijsters, who beat Sugiyama here in the singles fourth round, made up her semi-final singles loss to Venus Williams while the second-seeded winning pair also made up for their 2001 doubles final loss together.

Clijsters, a 20-year-old from Bilzen, and Tokyo-born Sugiyama, who celebrated her 28th birthday on Saturday, took their record to four wins for only one loss over Sunday's rivals.

The champions joyfully embraced at the net in front of Clijsters' watching boyfriend Lleyton Hewitt, last year's men's singles champion.