Matthew Ebden and Jarmila Gajdosova have become the first local winners of the Australian Open mixed doubles title in eight years with a straight sets victory over Czechs Frantisek Cermak and Lucie Hradecka on Sunday afternoon.
The duo came from a break down in the first set to claim the advantage after 28 minutes and then broke twice more in the second before Gajdosova served it out to become the first Australians to prevail in the mixed doubles final at Melbourne Park since Scott Draper and Sam Stosur in 2005.
Both born overseas, Ebden in Durban and Gajdosova in Bratislava, it was a maiden grand slam title for each of them following the 73-minute final.
Ebden was hoping the result will spark a singles surge for both of them in 2013 while Gajdosova will look back on the triumph with plenty of pleasure in years to come.
"You know, it feels amazing, I guess (it's) extremely exciting to be given the chance to play a grand slam final, first of all, and then to win it," said Ebden.
"So I think it's one of those things in life, you never know how many chances you'll get to play a grand slam final, so to come out with a win in our first final and get a title straightaway and to become grand slam champions is an amazing feeling and something we'll always have.
"Hopefully we can both use this is as a springboard and give us some confidence looking forward to Davis Cup and Fed Cup, and for the rest of the year for singles, too."
"I think it's something that every person, ever girl or guy are dreaming when they are little," added Gajdosova.
"I know it's mixed, but it's still a grand slam title.
"To get that far, you have something that you can talk about for a very long time, you can tell your kids, 'Oh, I won a grand slam and I won in Australia, especially, which is very special.
"I think you will have something forever and you will have something you can remember, so it definitely means a lot. Let's hope it's not the first and let's hope it's not just the mixed."
Gajdosova had previously been to the semi-finals of the 2011 mixed doubles at the French Open with Brazilian Thomas Bellucci while Ebden's best result at a grand slam was a quarter-final berth at the same tournament last year with American Ryan Harrison.
The triumph also follows on from the all-Australian junior boys' final on Saturday, when Nick Kyrgios beat Thanasi Kokkinakis 7-6 (7-4) 6-3, and Friday's women's doubles final in which Ashleigh Barty and Casey Dellacqua went down in three sets to Italian top seeds Roberta Vinci and Sara Errani.
Gajdosova gave up the first break of the match in the third game but the Australians hit straight back on Hradecka's serve in the next game and after both Ebden and Gajdosova held to love another break in the eighth game secured them an advantage they would not relinquish.
The second set did not begin well for the Czechs when Cermak was broken in the first game but they retrieved it and pulled level at 4-4 when Gajdosova surrendered her serve for a second time in the eighth game.
Cermak held as he and Hradecka went ahead briefly but after Ebden levelled the contest at 5-5 Hradecka was broken yet again and Gajdosova was able to serve out the match as she and Ebden secured victory with their third championship point.