Dabrowski-Pavic take Aust Open mixed title

Gabriela Dabrowski and Mate Pavic have claimed the 2018 Australian Open mixed doubles title.

Canada's Gabriela Dabrowski and Croatia's Mate Pavic celebrate.

Croatia's Mate Pavic hugs Canadian Gabriela Dabrowski after the duo won the mixed doubles. (AAP)

Croatia's Mate Pavic has claimed two grand slam titles in less than 24 hours after he and Canadian Gabriela Dabrowski were crowned Australian Open mixed doubles champions.

Dabrowski and Pavic defeated Hungarian Timea Babos and India's Rohan Bopanna in Sunday's final 2-6 6-4 (11-9) under the closed roof on Rod Laver Arena.

Pavic took out the men's doubles title with Austrian Oliver Marach on Saturday night in a match that was played after Caroline Wozniacki defeated Simona Halep to claim the women's crown.

"I have to say I did not imagine that I'm able to do that," Pavic said of his dual celebration.

"If somebody would have told me, I wouldn't believe him before the week.

"I was playing good throughout the week and I'm just happy the way things went."

The men's doubles final ended in confusion for Pavic who admitted he didn't know that he and Marach had won as the Austrian celebrated.

"This time I was aware," he said with a broad grin.

"We were match point down, so I was already aware of that, too. I was following the score.

"Not like yesterday (when) I just got lost for a bit."

Fifth-seeded Babos and Bopanna had a championship point at 9-8 in the tiebreak, but two aces by Pavic set up their own championship point.

With Babos serving, Dabrowski crushed a forehand return winner to seal the championship for the No.8 seeds.

"I just tried to somehow condense everything that I thought of and have been working on in practice into one shot," Dabrowski said.

"It worked. I had a short swing and I hit it clean.

"It went exactly where I wanted it to."

It was a stunning result for a pair who were playing their first tournament together.

Dabrowski had previously successfully partnered with Bopanna, the pair claiming last year's French Open.

She only realised she needed to find a new partner when she read Bopanna was pairing with Babos in a newspaper two weeks before the Open started.

"After I read that article ... within a day I messaged some people, Mate was one of those people, and he responded almost immediately," Dabrowski said.

"That's how that happened.

"I wasn't about to go find another partner without talking to (Bopanna) first.

"But this is the business, and this is the industry that we are in, and you kind of just have to have a tough skin.

"That's the way it happens sometimes."


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Source: AAP



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Dabrowski-Pavic take Aust Open mixed title | SBS News