Wildcards John Peers and Olivia Gadecki defeated France’s Kristina Mladenovic and Manuel Guinard in a close mixed doubles final at Rod Laver Arena on Friday (Jan 30). The French pair won the first set 6-4, but Peers and Gadecki fought back to take the second set 6-3, forcing a match tiebreak. In a tense finish, the Australians held their nerve to win the tiebreak 10-8. Peers and Gadecki spent much of the match trying to recover from early setbacks. They appeared under pressure when they trailed 7-5 in the match tiebreak, but they raised their game at the right time and won five of the final six points to secure the title.

Gadecki was especially impressive in the closing moments, striking cleanly from the baseline, while the French pair struggled under pressure near the end.

With the victory, Peers and Gadecki became the first pair to win back-to-back Australian Open mixed doubles titles since Jana Novotna and Jim Pugh in 1988-89. They also became the first Australian duo to win the title in consecutive years at Melbourne Park since Margaret Court and Ken Fletcher did so in 1963-64.

The win marked Peers’ third grand slam mixed doubles title. He previously won the US Open mixed doubles in 2022 with Storm Sanders. Peers has also enjoyed success in men’s doubles, winning the Australian Open in 2017 with Henri Kontinen and claimed Olympic gold at the Paris 2024 Games alongside Matthew Ebden.

Source: Wion