Local wildcards Jaimee Fourlis and Jason Kubler have finished runners-up in the Australian Open mixed doubles tournament following a straight-sets defeat to Kristina Mladenovic and Ivan Dodig in the final.
France's Mladenovic and Croatian Dodig swept to a 6-3, 6-4 victory in 1 hour and 17 minutes.
Playing under a closed roof on Rod Laver Arena, Mladenovic and Dodig got off to a solid start, securing a vital break at 4-3 before closing out the first set after some big serving from the Frenchwoman.
The Australians were broken again early in the second set as Dodig's exquisite play at the net proved too good for Fourlis on serve.
But Fourlis made amends right away and forced Dodig into an error to get the break back and level at 2-2.
Momentum swung back quickly to Mladenovic and Dodig, however, and they secured another break before a fine-angled volley from Mladenovic gave the fifth-seeded pair their first major mixed doubles title together.
"We texted each other many times to play mixed. What a way to end our first time playing together," Mladenovic said at the post-match presentation.
Fourlis and Kubler were bidding the become the first all-Australian duo to win the mixed doubles championship since 2013.
It was Dodig's fourth mixed doubles title at a major and Mladenovic's third.
She previously won the Australian Open championship in 2014 alongside Canadian Daniel Nestor.
Reuters/ABC
