Australian Open: Gadecki, Peers Win All-Aussie Mixed Doubles Final

Olivia Gadecki and John Peers, Australian Open
Olivia Gadecki and John Peers (photo: Tennis Australia)

MELBOURNE/WASHINGTON, January 24, 2025 (by Michael Dickens)

For the first time since 1967, the Australian Open featured an all-Aussie mixed doubles final. Friday afternoon on Rod Laver Arena, wild cards Olivia Gadecki and John Peers faced their good friends Kimberly Birrell and John-Patrick Smith, also wild cards. One thing was assured: a wild card Australian team would lift the trophy. Can’t they all win?

The teams became the sixth and seventh all-Australian pairs to reach the AO mixed final in the past 20 years. The last time there was an all-Aussie mixed doubles final was 1967, when Owen Davidson and Lesley Turner defeated Tony Roche and Judy Tegart.

As it happened, Gadecki and Peers rallied from a shaky start, in which they fell behind 0-3 and lost the opening set, and won the AO mixed doubles title, 3-6, 6-4, 10-6, in one hour and 24 minutes. The 22-year-old Gadecki, who was the youngest of the quartet of Aussies on the court, hit an overhead smash on match point to complete a back-and-forth seven-shot rally and put away the title victory.

Gadecki and Peers combined to hit five aces and 25 winners overall, won 79 percent of their first-serve points, converted one of six break points and outpointed Birrell and Smith, 61-58.

The victory earned Gadecki and Peers their first mixed title as a pair. It also made them the first all-Aussie mixed doubles champions at the AO since Matthew Ebden and Jarmila Wolfe in 2013.

After reaching the title match, Gadecki said: “It’s always one of my dreams to make a Grand Slam final, so to be playing in one at the age of 22 is pretty cool. And to hopefully play another Aussie [team] would be incredible.”

It was Gadecki’s first major title and the second mixed doubles major crown for Peers, 36, who won the US Open mixed doubles title in 2022 with Aussie Storm Sanders. Peers also teamed with Ebden to win the Olympic doubles gold medal last summer in Paris. He also won the 2017 Australian Open men’s doubles title with Henri Kontinen of Finland in 2017.

“Thanks, Peersie, for playing with me and letting me ride the wave,” Gadecki said during the trophy presentation.

Peers added: “It was an amazing week, another amazing event. We just a little lucky at the end. … Liv, it was great to share the court with you. You’re a class act, so keep going. This is just the start for you.”

Around the Australian Open

• No. 1 seeds Katerina Siniakova of Czechia and Taylor Townsend of the United States advanced to the women’s doubles final with their come-from-behind 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-3 victory over Russians Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider in two hours and 14 minutes on Margaret Court Arena.

Siniakova, who is a two-time AO women’s doubles champion and nine-time major champion in women’s doubles, and Townsend combined to hit 40 winners while making just 14 unforced errors, converted four of 11 break points and outpointed Andreeva and Shnaider 103-96.

In Sunday’s final, Siniakova and Townsend will play No. 3 seeds Hsieh Su-Wei of Taiwan and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, who defeated No. 2 seeds Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada and Erin Routliffe of New Zealand, 7-6 (6), 3-6, 6-3, in two hours and 23 minutes on Margaret Court Arena.

• No. 4 seed Wakana Sonobe of Japan upset top seed Emerson Jones of Australia, 6-3, 6-4, in an hour and 14 minutes on 1573 Arena to advance to the junior girls’ singles final.

The 17-year-old Sonobe hit eight aces and 25 winners overall and pressured Jones, 16, into committing 23 unforced errors. She converted four of eight break points and outpointed her opponent 65-53.

In Saturday’s title match, Sonobe will play No. 6 Kristina Penickova, 15, of the United States, who held on to defeat unseeded Mia Pohankova, 16, of Slovakia, 6-4, 4-6, 7-5, in two hours and 22 minutes on Court 6.

Friday’s Australian Open results

Saturday’s Australian Open order of play

By the numbers

• When World No. 14 Madison Keys faces World No. 1 and two-time defending Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka in Saturday evening’s women’s singles final, the 29-year-old American bids to become fourth oldest first-time Grand Slam champion in the Open Era behind Flavia Pennetta (2015 US Open – 33 years, 199 days), Ann Jones (1969 Wimbledon – 30 years, 261 days) and Francesca Schiavone (2010 Roland-Garros – 29 years,  347 days).

• When the PIF WTA Rankings are updated on Monday, Madison Keys will return to the Top 10 for the first time since the week of January 9, 2023. Since dropping out of the Top 10, Keys has maintained a Top 25 ranking.

• If Ben Shelton defeats defending champion Jannik Sinner Friday evening to reach the AO men’s singles title match, it would be the first time in 20 years that an American man and woman had reached the Australian Open singles finals in the same year. The last time it happened was 2005 with Andre Agassi and Lindsay Davenport.

“Quotable …”

“I felt like I’d really left it all out there. That’s really all you can ask. … I just kept telling myself that if I just keep putting in the work and doing my best and leaving it all out there, that’s the only thing that I can do and that’s the only thing I can control.”

– World No. 14 Madison Keys of the United States, during her post-match news conference after defeating World No. 2 Iga Swiatek, 5-7, 6-1, 7-6 (8), to advance to Saturday’ evenings women’s singles title match.

 

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