Peers and Gadecki overcame their fellow wildcards to secure a 6-3 4-6 10-6 victory in a match tiebreaker on Rod Laver Arena on Friday.
It was the first time a local mixed pairing had triumphed since Jarmila Gajdosova and Matt Ebden were victorious in 2013, the first all-Aussie final in the Open-era history of the event and the first since the 1967 Australian Championships.
Winners are grinners as Olivia Gadecki and John Peers collect their first major mixed doubles title. (James Ross/AAP PHOTOS)
Peers, who won gold with Ebden at last year's Paris Olympics, showed his poise in the pressure moments to help home 22-year-old Gadecki, playing in her first grand slam final.
While their rivals dominated early, Victorian Peers and Queenslander Gadecki built into the match and forced a first-to-10-points tiebreak.
With both blasting an ace, they got the early jump to lead 4-1 and while Birrell and Smith levelled at 5-5, Peers and Gadecki again forged ahead 8-5 and were able to celebrate soon after.
The foursome played in the first all-Aussie final in the Open-era history of the event. (James Ross/AAP PHOTOS)
"That one was a really tight match out there and for us to be able to get it done the way we did in the tiebreaker was credit, especially to the way Liv (Gadecki) came back into this match," 36-year-old Peers said.
"She really took charge and took it on her own to really step it up there at the end, which was fantastic."
"As we've been doing match after match, we just kept hanging in there, hanging in there, and hoping things go our way.Â
"Today we hung around long enough, and then we were better for the last five minutes of the match, which worked out really nice."
First Grand Slam title for Gadecki, second mixed doubles Grand Slam title for Peers - coming back from a set down, what a moment, what a match 🤩🤩— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) @wwos • @espn • @eurosport • @wowowtennis • #AO2025 pic.twitter.com/47kv8jUGgJJanuary 24, 2025
Gadecki, ranked world No.106 in singles where she made a first-round exit, agreed that they clicked when it counted.
"It was an incredible sort of five to 10 minutes," she said.Â
"I just thought just have a crack and just enjoy the moment and I played some of the my best tennis in that last 10 minutes, and I'm so glad we could get over the line."
It's the second mixed major title for Peers after he won the 2022 US Open crown with Storm Sanders, while he won mixed doubles bronze with Ash Barty at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
Peers also won the men's doubles title at Melbourne Park with Finn Henri Kontinen, in 2017, among his six grand slam finals.
Gadecki's previous best showings were semi-final runs in the Open mixed doubles in the past two years with Marc Polmans.
The winning pair will split $175,000 in prize money while the runners-up will share $97,750.
