Samantha Stosur has lapped up a moment in the Melbourne Park spotlight, winning through to the Australian Open women’s doubles final.

The much-loved Queenslander paired with China’s Shuai Zhang for an epic 7-5 4-6 7-5 semi-final triumph over Czech duo Barbora Strycova and Marketa Vondrousova on Wednesday night.

In a sweet antidote to Stosur’s years of singles pain at her home slam, the 34-year-old won through in front of a near-capacity Rod Laver Arena after injury cut short Novak Djokovic’s earlier passage to the men’s semi-finals.