Gadecki, Peers win the first all-Aussie mixed doubles final in 58 years at the Australian Open

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Olivia Gadecki and John Peers combined for a 3-6, 6-4, 10-6 victory over John-Patrick Smith and Kimberly Birrell on Friday to win the first all-Aussie Australian Open mixed doubles final since 1967.

The two wild-card pairings faced off on Rod Laver Arena to start the action on Day 13 at the year’s first major.

Gadecki hit an overhead winner to secure the match and claim her first major title. Peers added to his collection which already included an Olympic gold medal and an Australian Open title in men's doubles, and a mixed doubles title at the 2022 U.S. Open.

“It’s so nice to play an all-Aussie final, so congrats," the 22-year-old Gadecki said during the trophy presentation. To Peers, she added: “Thanks for letting me ride the wave, and just having a great time out there.”

Peers responded: “You’re a class act — keep going. This is just the start for you.”

For Smith, the loss coincided with his 36th birthday, something Birrell didn't forget, leading off the singing of “Happy Birthday” during the presentation ceremony.

Gadecki and Birrell played women’s doubles together at the Australian Open and reached the third round.

Later Friday, 10-time Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic was scheduled to play No. 2 Alexander Zverev in the first of the men’s singles semifinals. Defending champion Jannik Sinner faced No. 21 Ben Shelton in a night match.

Olivia Gadecki and John Peers of Australia hold their trophy aloft after defeating compatriots Kimberly Birrell and John-Patrick Smith in the mixed doubles final at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Friday, Jan. 24, 2025.(AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

Olivia Gadecki and John Peers of Australia hold their trophy aloft after defeating compatriots Kimberly Birrell and John-Patrick Smith in the mixed doubles final at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Friday, Jan. 24, 2025.(AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

Olivia Gadecki and John Peers of Australia pose with their trophy after defeating compatriots Kimberly Birrell and John-Patrick Smith in the mixed doubles final at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Friday, Jan. 24, 2025.(AP Photo/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake)

Olivia Gadecki and John Peers of Australia hold their trophy aloft after defeating compatriots Kimberly Birrell and John-Patrick Smith in the mixed doubles final at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Friday, Jan. 24, 2025.(AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

Kimberly Birrell and John-Patrick Smith of Australia in action against compatriots Olivia Gadecki and John Peers during the mixed double final at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Friday, Jan. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake)

Olivia Gadecki and John Peers, right, of Australia are congratulated by compatriots Kimberly Birrell and John-Patrick Smith, left, in the mixed doubles final at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Friday, Jan. 24, 2025.(AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

Olivia Gadecki and John Peers of Australia celebrate after defeating compatriots Kimberly Birrell and John-Patrick Smith in the mixed doubles final at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Friday, Jan. 24, 2025.(AP Photo/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake)

Olivia Gadecki and John Peers of Australia pose with their trophy after defeating compatriots Kimberly Birrell and John-Patrick Smith in the mixed doubles final at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Friday, Jan. 24, 2025.(AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Olivia Gadecki and John Peers of Australia hold their trophy aloft after defeating compatriots Kimberly Birrell and John-Patrick Smith in the mixed doubles final at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Friday, Jan. 24, 2025.(AP Photo/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake)

A weekend BASE jumping accident in a Utah canyon killed two people, one of them a daredevil athlete best known for performing onstage with Madonna at the 2012 Super Bowl, authorities said.

The sheriff's office in Grand County, Utah, confirmed one of the dead was Andy Lewis, an extreme athlete known for feats in BASE jumping, a dangerous sport that involves parachuting to the ground after jumping from a tall fixed object such as a building, a bridge or a desert cliff overlooking a deep canyon.

The victims had been conducting a tandem jump in which two people are harnessed together, according to a social media post by Aerial Arts Moab, an acrobatics company that described Lewis as “co-owner and best friend.”

Lewis also owned BASE Jump Moab, a business that offered tandem jumps to inexperienced customers who would be harnessed to a guide wearing the parachute. Promotional videos on the company’s website show pairs of people stepping off the edges of towering cliffs and briefly plummeting before their parachutes open.

In BASE jumping circles, Lewis had a huge following and a reputation for pushing the envelope — leaping into tighter spaces or deploying his parachute later than his peers would dare, said John McEvoy, a BASE jumping instructor in Twin Falls, Idaho, who has jumped with Lewis.

“He had an incredible level of athleticism and skill that was developed over years of practice,” McEvoy said. “But then he would take an incredible amount of risk.”

Grand County Sheriff Jamison Wiggins confirmed the other person who was killed was Danny Joe Kregle, a father and grandfather who was described by a family member as an accomplished businessman.

“Danny had a wonderful sense of humor and was always looking for ways to make people laugh," relative Sydney Laverty told The Times-Independent. “One of his greatest joys was performing magic tricks alongside his granddaughter.”

Lewis was also a prominent figure in the niche sports of slacklining and tricklining, which combine elements of high-wire walking with aerial acrobatics — sometimes at perilous heights.

He went from obscure athlete to overnight celebrity when he appeared onstage in Madonna’s 2012 Super Bowl halftime show. Dressed in a Roman toga, Lewis bounced and executed tricks on his inch-wide line like it was a trampoline while Madonna sang behind him.

“My phone actually rang itself to death three days in a row,” Lewis said soon afterward in an appearance on Conan O’Brien’s late night show.

Emergency responders were dispatched Sunday to a report of people injured in a BASE jumping attempt at Mineral Bottom, a remote desert area near the Utah-Colorado line, according to the sheriff's office.

Though there's no official tally of BASE jumping deaths, a list compiled by the website BASEaddict.com shows 540 total fatalities worldwide since 1981 — including 30 people killed last year. Prominent deaths include BASE jumper Dean Potter and his climbing partner, Graham Hunt, who were killed in 2015 while attempting a wingsuit flight in California's Yosemite National Park.

A study focused on BASE jumping in Norway, published in a medical journal in 2007, estimated that BASE jumping carried risks of injury or death five to eight times greater than skydiving.

Lewis openly acknowledged the sport’s inherent danger.

“It’s weird to think about how many people are dead, because it’s like a normal thing,” Lewis told documentary filmmaker Ella Warnick in an interview published last year.

Tandem BASE jumping carries additional risk because it straps together two people, one of whom generally lacks experience, under a single parachute, McEvoy said. But because they involve novices, they also tend to be the most low-risk, basic types of jumps.

“Within BASE, it’s a very controversial topic,” McEvoy said. "There’s a lot of people who say it's the stupidest thing in the world and others arguing: `No, we’re giving people the experience of their lives.'”

No one immediately returned phone, text and Facebook messages left Monday for BASE Jump Moab.

Lewis won four straight world championships in competitive slacklining from 2008 through 2011. Lewis set a Guinness World Record for slackline surfing, swaying his feet side to side in a rocking motion that mimics surfing, while keeping his balance above China's Diaoshuilou waterfall in 2011.

In 2014, he walked a slackline suspended between two hot air balloons more than 4,000 feet (1,200 meters) above the Nevada desert.

FILE - Andy Lewis appears during Madonna's halftime performance at the NFL Super Bowl XLVI football game between the New York Giants and the New England Patriots, Feb. 5, 2012, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)

FILE - U.S. slackliner Andy Lewis of Calif. balances on a slackline in Bangkok, Thailand, July 23, 2014. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit, File)