Melbourne, Australia, 20 January 2025 | Sean A'Hearn

With a new partner in both women’s and mixed doubles, Ellen Perez is hoping to take her game to the next level.

“Numbers-wise I’d love to crack top five; I got to [world] No.7 last year. Obviously chasing a [WTA] 1000 title and a [Grand] Slam, they’re the ones I haven’t been able to do,” Perez said.

Pairing with Germany’s Kevin Krawietz in mixed doubles at AO 2025, Perez came up against fellow Australians Priscilla Hon and Alex Bolt in the second round.

In a tight opening stanza, third-seeded Perez and Krawietz were the first to pounce, breaking late before serving out the set.

There were some beautiful net exchanges with great reactions and precision volleys from all four players. With not much separating the teams, it was Perez and Krawietz that took their chances, eventually prevailing 7-5 6-4.

Sporting a nasty bruise to her right eye sustained during a women’s doubles match with Belgian Elise Mertens yesterday, Perez said the black eye didn’t affect her performance.

“I maybe wasn’t 100 per cent but I knew I could do pretty much everything to at least 90 per cent to give us a good chance,” she said.

“And even today the swelling’s gone down. It’s pretty purple but it didn’t affect me today.”

Perez noted the bittersweet feeling of playing fellow Australians, revealing a little-known secret concerning one of her opponents.

“Playing Aussies especially at home, it’s a weird feeling ‘cause you want to get the Aussie fans behind you but I know (Alex) Bolty and Pri (Hon) really well and they’re big servers, big ball-strikers.”

“Bolty’s my housemate now so we had a bit of banter, a bit of back and forth between us. I told him I’d cut the contract if he beat me,” she laughed.

https://twitter.com/TennisAustralia/status/1881295906328498421

Perez and Krawietz next face another Australian pair in John-Patrick Smith and Kim Birrell – a potentially challenging match-up according to Perez.

“It’s not going to be an easy match. I know JP’s a lefty. He’s going bring a lot of different spins and he’s always been handy,” she said.

“I know he’s played semis, or maybe even finals here with Astra [Sharma] … he plays great doubles and he’ll set up the court well,” she said.

“Mixed is always about just that one little break, that one opportunity. Who lets up at the wrong time. Each of us know each other’s games pretty well, so it’ll just be who can capitalise at the right moments.”

Contesting their first tournament at AO 2025, Perez explained how the first-time pairing with Krawietz about.

“Kevin asked me to play at the US Open and at the time I’d already committed to another partner but I said, ‘let’s keep the chats open’. I don’t have a long-term partner going forward, I’d love to play if we get the chance,” she said.

“I left it a few months and then said, ‘hey what about the Aussie Open?’ and he said, ‘yeah, let’s do it’.”

Perez expanded on why she believes the major-winning German and women’s doubles partner, Mertens, will help propel her career.

“Everything’s going great. He serves well, covers most of the court. The biggest part for me is just feeling comfortable and happy on court and he makes it super easy. Not one to get angry and rolls with the punches,” she said of Krawietz.

“That was the key move to switching partners with Elise Mertens. She’s won a few Grand Slams, so she knows what it takes.

“I wanted to find that partner that had that experience and even game-wise matched and gelled with some of the things I was lacking.”

In a last-minute court change to Margaret Court Arena, Olivia Gadecki and John Peers defeated Hungarian Timea Babos and El Salvadorian Marcelo Arevalo 6-4 6-4 in just one hour and four minutes.

Gadecki is looking to reach her third successive mixed doubles semifinal at the AO, while Peers also made the semifinals in 2022.

“That was a good one. Liv carried me in that one,” said a humble Peers

“We’ll just relax tonight, enjoy the win and get ready for tomorrow because in this format anything can happen.”

Find your way to play: Visit play.tennis.com.au to hit the court and have some fun!