Harare — They've done it again! Zimbabwe's women's tennis doubles specialist Cara Black and her American partner Liezel Huber lifted their eighth title of the year when they captured the Generali Ladies Linz crown in Austria on Sunday.

In a thrilling final, top seeds Black and Huber required a match tie-break to see off Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia and Japan's Ai Sugiyama 6-2, 3-6, 10-8, according to reports from Linz. This is Black and Huber's second trophy of the European indoor season at the US$$600 000 Tier II event in Northern Austria.

This has also been a memorable year for Black and Huber and the dynamic duo ensured they finished the season on a high by capturing their eighth title since January. Black and Huber did not receive their first significant test of the week until the semi-finals when they came up against the number three seeds, Alicia Molik and Mara Santangelo. The first set was a tense affair, but it was the lower ranked team who held their nerve at the crucial moment to strike the psychologically vital first blow. However, from there Black and Huber displayed the fighting spirit which has helped them capture 11 Women's Tennis Association Tour titles together, turning the match on its head to run out 5-7, 6-2, 10-4 winners.

Like Black and Huber, second seeds Srebotnik and Sugiyama, enjoyed a relatively easy passage through to the final four where they came up against the in-form Czech Republic's Kveta Peschke and Rennae Stubbs of Australia. Coming into the contest, the number four seeds had won 15 of their last 17 matches, bringing them title triumphs in Stuttgart and Zurich - the latter of which included a quarter-final triumph over Sugiyama and Srebotnik - but there was to be no hat-trick in Linz as the Slovene-Japanese pair edged an exciting match, 7-6 (3), 4-6, 10-6.

After two absorbing semi-finals, the championship round on Sunday had a lot to live up to and it certainly did not disappoint, with the two teams putting on a doubles masterclass. Srebotnik and Sugiyama made a slow start and were duly punished by the ruthless Black/Huber pairing who broke serve twice on their way to wrapping up the first set in 28 minutes. When the top seeds broke serve to open up the second set it appeared there was only going to be one winner, but Srebotnik and Sugiyama hit back in spectacular fashion, feeling off the next four games before closing out the set in style with a love service game.

The deciding match tie-break provided plenty of excitement for the spectators crammed into the Intersport Arena Linz, but ultimately an unanswered run of four points at 2-2 proved decisive, as the Zimbabwean-American team managed to hold on and secure a 6-2, 3-6 10-8 triumph. "We're really excited to have won the title," Black said after Sunday's match. "It's been such a great week and to win before going to the (Sony Ericsson) Championships makes it even more important. "I think it's going to give us a lot of confidence and we've got a week off now, so we'll be able to get a little rest and just get ready for Madrid."

"We're glad to have won this match and to have pulled it out," Huber said. "It came down to the wire, but it's good preparation for Madrid. We're very happy, excited and our preparations for Madrid went just right, so whatever happens now we know we are fully prepared for it." The title run was the perfect preparation for Black and Huber ahead of the upcoming Sony Ericsson Championships in Madrid, Spain. The season-ending Sony Ericsson Championships will take place in Madrid's Recinto Ferial Casa de Campo from November 6-11. The Sony Ericsson Championships is the richest annual women's sporting event in the world. The tournament is the year-ending punctuation to an 11-month global Tour which finally gathers the Top 8 singles players and Top 4 doubles teams from the season to battle it out for a share of the US$3 million prize purse. Since its inception in 1972, the event has been held in such notable venues as Madison Square Garden, New York City, the Olympiahalle in Munich and The Forum and Staples Centre in Los Angeles. And Black and Huber, currently ranked as the world's top doubles team, are once again set to grace the same event next week where they will start as firm favourites to lift the title.

Joining them in the season-ending showpiece in Madrid will be their victims in Sunday's final in Linz, Srebotnik and Sugiyama, as well as two of the year's other outstanding teams, Peschke and Stubbs and Chinese Taipei's Chan Yung-Jan and Chuang Chia-Jung. Black's former doubles partner Stubbs enters her 12th season-ending Championships, having made her debut in 1992 and having played the event nine of the last 10 years (the only exception being 2003).

She won the title in 2001 with American Lisa Raymond and was runner-up in the last three years with Black. Peschke qualified for the first time in 2006 alongside Francesca Schiavone of Italy and now enters her second Championships.