It was all the way back in 1963-64 that the Australian pairing of Margaret Court and Ken Fletcher claimed back-to-back Australian Open mixed doubles titles.
Olivia Gadecki and John Peers have now matched that effort after a thrilling victory in the final on Rod Laver Arena.
The Australians took on an all-French pairing of Kristina Mladenovic and Manuel Guinard.
Mladenovic is no stranger to Grand Slam finals, having won the 2020 Australian and French Open doubles titles, and 2018 Australian Open and 2016 French Open.
Mladenovic had also claimed mixed doubles at the 2022 Australian Open and the 2014 Australian Open and the 2013 Wimbledon title.
Guinard in first Grand Slam final
Guinard on the other hand was playing in his first final at this level.
Peers is the reigning Olympic doubles champion and of course had won the mixed title at the Australian Open with Gadecki in 2025.
It was the French pairing that opened the match with a break of serve in the first game. John Peers was taken to deuce and the French took the deciding point.
Peers and Gadecki got back on serve after breaking Mladenovich in the fourth game, however Peers was broken for a second time for the French to lead 3-2.
Guinard and Mladenovic held serve and then broke Gadecki to hold a 5-2 lead. Mladenovic would be broken, followed by a Peers service hold put the pressure back on the French pair. Guinard would however serve out the set.
Must win set for the Aussies to retain title
Peers was first to serve in the second set and he was in a better rythym. The Aussie pair jumped out to a 40-15 score before back-to-back unforced forehand errors from Peers saw a deciding point which the Aussies won.
Games went with serve until the fourth game with Mladenovich serving, she was broken to give the Aussies a 3-1 lead. From there Gadecki and Peers would hold to take the set 6-3 and see the match decided in a 10 point breaker.
Guinard would serve the opening point and gave the French the first point with a wide swinging Ace to Gadecki.
With Peers serving, Guinard would send a second serve return over the baseline. Peers was looking up into the sun as he served but got a well placed serve to Mladenovic, but she anticipated the wide serve and hit at the feet of Peers as he made his way to the net, Mladenovic then hit the next shot down the middle of the two Australians to get the first mini break.
Mladenovic was next to serve and she did a terrible first serve that landed halfway up the net, her second was worse as it cannoned off the back of her partner, something that you don’t see very often in doubles.
A great Gadecki backhand winner put the Aussies up 3-2 with Gadecki to serve. Guinard sent a second serve service return deep to the server and the Australian netted her shot. 3-3 at the change of ends.
Gadecki double faulted to give the French pair a 4-3 lead with Guinard serving. A big first serve was returned wide by Peers. The Frenchmas was having trouble with the sun as he served a weak second serve.
Gadecki returned and Guinard ripped a forehand down the line with Peers at the net. Peers got the volley back into the court, it fell short and Mladenovic could only push a shot back. Peers jumped on the next volley and forced an error from Guinard.
4-5 with Peers serving. A good return that dipped as it came over the net saw Gadecki miss the volley and the French were up 4-6.
Peers was able to find a volley winner to keep in touch.
Mladenovic stepped up to serve and basically rolled the ball to Peers’ forehand, he sent the return long.
The French were now just three points from the title. After a long rally, Gadecki was pushed deep out of court but she managed to play a dipping shot to the forehand of Guinard who sent his volley into the net.
Guinard was looking a bit tight and he mistimed a return from the serve of Gadecki, it fell into the net. 7-7.
Another poor service return, this time from Mladenovic now saw the Australians at 7-8 with the Frenchman serving.
Guinard missed the first serve and his second serve sat up perfectly for Peers who ripped a forehand winner to give the Australians championship points. He could not have hit a better return.
Gadecki Peers claim Mixed Doubles at the Australian Open
One match point was saved before Peers stepped up to serve. He missed the first serve but then the Frenchman dumped his serve return into the net and the title was again in the hands of Gadecki and Peers.
The final score was 4-6, 6-3 (10-8) after one hour and 33 minutes.
The trophy was presented to Gadecki and Peers by Bill Bowrey and Bill Bowrey and Lesley Turner Bowrey.
During her victory speech Gadecki said to Peers, “Thank you so much for letting me share the court with you when, you know, to hold the trophy again this year is incredible. I knew we could do it, but I didn’t think we could really do it, if you know what I mean”.
Peers said to Gadecki, “Olivia, I’m sort of speechless, but thank you for playing with me again. We had great fun this week and uh somehow snuck away with this one, but it’s been so much fun sharing the court with you and enjoying every moment out here and hopefully we can do it a few more times because it’s been a lot of fun.”
Vist the Match Centre page at the Australian Open site for the final of the Mixed Doubles.
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