Australian doubles program strong after first major of the year

One of the most interesting stories from the 2025 Australian Open was under the radar a little bit. For the first time in the Open Era, we saw an all-Australian mixed doubles final. On Thursday, Olivia Gadecki of Gold Coast and John Peers of Melbourne defeated Kimberly Birrell of Gold Coast and John-Patrick Smith of Townsville, 3-6, 6-4, [10-6].

For Gadecki, this was her first grand slam doubles title. For Peers, he has now won two grand slam mixed doubles titles and three grand slam titles overall. Peers teamed up with Henri Kontinen of Finland to beat the famous American duo of Mike and Bob Bryan in the final of the 2017 Australian Open, 7-5, 7-5, Then, Peers teamed up with Storm Sanders (now Hunter) to win the 2022 United States Open mixed doubles title. Peers and Sanders beat Kirsten Filpkens of Belgium (the Wimbledon singles semifinalist) and Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France, 4-6, 6-4, [10-7].

Then this past year, Peers and Matthew Ebden of Perth made Australian sport headlines as they beat the American duo of Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram in the men’s doubles gold medal match of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, 6-7, 7-6, [10-8]. It was one of 18 gold medals won by Australia at the 2024 Olympic Games.

For Gadecki and Birrell, the grand slam final was partial redemption. Gadecki was steamrolled in the first round in the women’s singles draw by Veronika Kudermetova of Russia, 6-1, 6-1. Meanwhile, Birrell was beaten by Eva Lys of Germany, 6-2, 6-2 in the first round. Lys was a lucky loser who only found out she was in the women’s singles draw 10 minutes before her match against Birrell.

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