New golden girl Maddison Inglis will leave Melbourne Park as the highest earner in the family after fiance Jason Kubler lost the Australian Open men's doubles final.
Kubler, partnering with fellow Australian Marc Polmans as plucky wildcards, went down against sixth seeds Christian Harrison and Neal Skupski 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 in Saturday's tournament decider.
Becoming the fifth British man to win multiple major doubles titles, former No.1 Skupski defied nerves to serve out the match.
It ends an unforgettable fortnight for newly engaged pair Kubler and Inglis, who between them have pocketed a life-changing $902,350.
If Kubler and Polmans had won the doubles final, that figure would have ballooned to a combined $1.27 million.
But Inglis retains bragging rights after earning a monster personal cheque of $505,925 for making it through qualifying to progress to a career-best fourth round in the singles, as well as contesting the women's and mixed doubles events.
Kubler was vying for his second Australian Open men's doubles crown after teaming up with Rinky Hijikata to win the 2023 final.
Legionnaires hat-wearing Polmans was in his first major decider.
Admitting he forgot to mention Inglis when he won the title three years ago, Kubler gave his partner a shout-out when delivering his runner-up speech.
"Thank you so much for everything you do for me," Kubler said to Inglis, who was proudly watching on in the crowd.
"You had an unbelievable run here and so happy to see these great things happen to you. Let's keep this going."
Earlier, Belgium warrior Elise Mertens reclaimed the No.1 women's doubles ranking after partnering with Zhang Shuai to storm to the Australian Open title.
After a tough first set, Mertens and China's Zhang overcame some nervous moments to beat seventh seeds Anna Danilina and Aleksandra Krunic 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 in one hour and 48 minutes.
The pair were cruising to victory at 5-0 up in the second set, before losing four straight games.
But again serving for the championship, Mertens finished the job to secure a first major title with Zhang after the pair previously lost the 2022 Wimbledon decider.
For Belgian star Mertens it is her sixth major doubles title, taking her back to the top of the rankings she first climbed to in May 2021.
Zhang tasted success at Melbourne Park with Australian great Sam Stosur back in 2019, and also claimed the 2021 US Open doubles.
Stosur was on court to present the trophy to Mertens and Shuai.
It completes a productive fortnight in Australia for Mertens, who reached the fourth round of the women's singles, before being eliminated by eventual finalist Elena Rybakina.
The 30-year-old said she was lost for words when accepting the trophy, thinking back to the second round of the tournament when they saved three match points to progress.
