Dechy retains title

The seventh seeds won a tight first set and then survived a few nerves in the second, when the Taiwan pair hit back from 5-0 to 5-2, to clinch the title.

The win gave Dechy, who won the mixed doubles at the French Open in June, her third grand slam title while it was Safina's first, having lost in the final to Dechy and Russian Vera Zvonareva 12 months ago.

"It's unbelievable," Dechy told reporters. "I was saying to my husband, Can you believe it's the second time (in a row) that I'm winning this trophy?"

Safina said their partnership came about at the last minute.

"I was supposed to play doubles with (Tatiana) Golovin, but then she got her injury," the Russian said.

"She's like, 'I'm not going to play'. I was in New Haven. (Maria) Kirilenko said to me 'I think Nathalie, she's just texted me, she wants to play doubles with me. You should text her'.

"I just texted her, just two days before. It was like, OK, let's play."

Safina said she hoped they would play together again in the future.

"I would love to play with her. I had an agreement with Meghann Shaughnessy to the end of the year. (But) maybe we can start from next year."