Rajeev Ram wins AO mixed title, reaches men's doubles final

Rajeev Ram's magical run at the 2021 Australian Open ended with two new pieces of trophy hardware: the mixed doubles title and the men's doubles runner-up plate.

The 36-year-old teamed with Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic to win the pair's second AO mixed title in three years, after Ram skipped the mixed event in 2020. The champions saved match points in Round 2 before advancing in a match tiebreak, then won their last seven sets on the way to the title, closing it out with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over the Aussie duo of Matthew Ebden and Sam Stosur.  

"It's phenomenal," Ram said in a post-championship press conference. "This is what we play for.  We play for Grand Slam titles, and, me, as a doubles-only player now, this [mixed doubles] is half of it.

"To be able to share this moment with [Barbora] and our teams and our families and all that, it's pretty special.  As a kid, this is what you grow up thinking about. For us to do it again is pretty awesome."

Also in the mixed, American Desirae Krawczyk teamed with Salisbury to reach the final four, before falling in a match tiebreak to Ebden and Stosur.

In the men's doubles event, Ram and Great Britain's Joe Salisbury reached the title match in their title defense. The 2020 Melbourne champions and this year's No. 5 seeds dropped just one set in five matches on the way to the final, but fell just short against Filip Polasek and Ivan Dodig, 6-3, 6-4.

Ram, who entered the Aussie Open as the top-ranked U.S. doubles player. at world No. 15, was full of praise for both his partners.

"I play my best when I play with people that I get along with and enjoy and you can feel like you can feed off their energy, they can feed off your energy. The great part about doubles is it's a team game.  In tennis, in singles it's not like that.  So when we get this situation where we can actually take help from somebody and you can help somebody else, I think it'simportant to have that chemistry and connection."

Ram's mixed title gives him three Grand Slam titles in his career, with all of the coming in Melbourne in the last three years—the aforementioned two in mixed (2019, 2021) with Krejcikova and the men's title in 2020 with Salisbury.

In the women's doubles competition in Melbourne, Nicole Melichar was the last American standing, reaching the semifinals alongside Demi Schuurs (Netherlands) as the No. 4 seeds. They took out the all-American duo of Coco Gauff and Caty McNally in the quarters.