Aus Open: Australian wildcards Gadecki-Peers win mixed doubles title

Melbourne, Jan 24 (IANS) Wild card duo Olivia Gadecki and John Peers won the Australian Open mixed doubles title after beating compatriots Kimberly Birrell and John-Patrick Smith in an all-Aussie summit clash on Friday.

The Australian wildcards earned a comeback 3-6, 6-4 (10-6) win over compatriots Birrell and Smith in one hour and 24 minutes in front of thrilled fans at Rod Laver Arena.

Gadecki and Peers were presented the trophy by Grand Slam champions Lesley Bowrey and Bill Bowrey, and the victory marks a second Australian title for Peers, who won the men’s doubles title with Henri Kontinen in 2017.

The 36-year-old Peers, who claimed Olympic doubles gold in Paris with Matthew Ebden, also won the 2022 US Open mixed doubles title with Storm Sanders and the 2017 Aussie Open men's doubles title with Henri Kontinen. For Gadecki, the Melbourne trophy is her first at a major.

Gadecki, 22 and Peers, 36, struck 25 winners en route to becoming the first all-Australian mixed doubles Australian champions since 2013, when Matt Ebden and Jarmila Gajdosova lifted the crown.

They’re also just the fourth all-Australian pairing to achieve the feat in the Open era, following in the footsteps of Ebden and Gajdosova, Scott Draper and Samantha Stosur in 2005, and Mark Woodforde and Nicole Provis in 1992, according to tournament stats.

By triumphing in the first all-Aussie final in the Open Era history of the event, and the first since the 1967 Australian Open, it means that for the 14th straight edition of the tournament, a local name has been inscribed on at least one AO trophy.

The Aussies also came from behind and won a match tiebreak in the quarter-finals against Indian ace Rohan Bopanna and her Chinese partner Zhang Shuai.

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