There were new names etched on the mixed doubles trophy at the 2022 Australian Open as Ivan Dodig and Kristina Mladenovic clinched their first Grand Slam title as a pair.
Dodig, from Croatia, and Mladenovic, from France, only came together at the start of the year, but they found instant success at Melbourne Park.
Two doubles specialists in their own right, the pair had 12 doubles titles between them heading into the 2022 Australian Open, and they looked in imperious fashion from the off.
Seeded fifth, Dodig and Mladenovic came through three match tie-breaks in the opening rounds to progress to the final, where they saw off home favorites Jason Kubler and Jaimee Fourlis on the Rod Laver Arena.
Mixed doubles on the up
As one of the only formats of the game to be played at Grand Slams, mixed doubles is enjoying something of a renaissance among the tennis-playing elite.
With exciting new partnerships popping up across the game and the usual group of stalwarts all looking for silverware, each Grand Slam presents another opportunity for players to clinch a famous trophy.
Both Dodig and Mladenovic had won the Australian Open before (Dodig winning the men’s doubles with Filip Polášek in 2021 and Mladenovic twice winning the women’s doubles with Tímea Babos).
However, mixed doubles presents another superb opportunity that players simply don’t want to pass up on.
Dodig and Mladenovic to go from strength to strength?
Winning a first Grand Slam as a doubles pair is often the hardest thing to do, but Dodig and Mladenovic could well have opened the floodgates.
Both players have won the Wimbledon mixed doubles title with different partners in recent years, and they have both reached at least the last four at both the US Open and French Open in mixed doubles, which suggests that they both have what it takes to add plenty more doubles titles to their respective collections.
