MELBOURNE, Australia -- Fabrice Santoro and Michael Llodra became the first French team since 1928 to win the Australian Open men's doubles title, defeating top-seeded Mark Knowles and Daniel Nestor 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 Saturday.

It was a rematch of last year's final, won by Knowles of the Bahamas and Nestor of Canada. Despite that victory, Knowles and Nestor have lost six of their seven Grand Slam finals.

Santoro and Llodra, who were seeded eighth, are the first Frenchmen to win at a major since

For the French combination, it was a first major win and also their first doubles success together.

The last French team to win the men's doubles at the Australian Open was Jean Borotra and Jacques Brugnon. Llodra and Santoro are only the second all-French pair to win a Grand Slam title in the Open Era of tennis, which started in 1968. The other was Yannick Noah and Henri Leconte at the 1984 French Open.

"I always had a thought that I might someday win a Grand Slam title in doubles, but now that it's happened, it's just incredible,'' Santoro said. "We never gave up, but we were two or three points away from losing it in that last set.''

Twice there was a point for a double break against the French team in the final set before they fought back.

"I thought maybe I could do something like this before the end of my career but I've done it after two years. That's unbelievable to me,'' Llodra said.

Knowles and Nestor, who have won 17 career titles as a team and a total of 50 between them with various partners, were bitterly disappointed.

"We have played them twice before and not seen them play like that,'' Nestor said.