Peers won the AO 2017 men’s doubles with Finland’s Henri Kontinen, and collected a gold medal at the 2024 Olympics in Paris, partnering Matthew Ebden.
On that occasion, Gates was cheering the Aussies on against his own countrymen, US pair Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram.
“It was nice,” Peers said. “He didn’t feel as awkward this time because it wasn’t against Americans. It was good.”
The 37-year-old Melburnian was broken in the opening game and again in the fifth, as Mladenovic’s returns and Guinard’s net attacks gave the French pair control early,
The Aussies saved a couple of set points before Mladenovic and Guinard took the opening set in 39 minutes when Peers’ backhand return off Guinard slewed wide.
The local hopes were able to take advantage of Mladenovic’s off-colour serving in the second, while Peers rediscovered his radar on the forehand side.
Peers pumped his fist and revved up the crowd when he held to love for 4-1, before squaring the contest by finishing the 36-minute second set with an ace.
Both Australians struggled to land a first serve early in the match tiebreak before holding their nerve in style down the stretch.
“Today was my 17th Grand Slam final, but you still have to come out and execute your shots,” Mladenovic said.
“Obviously this one hurts because it’s just a matter of a few points.”
Guinard agreed.
“The margin is very thin,” he said. “It was just a couple points that maybe we could have done better. They played really well in the important points. We have to learn from this and be better next time.”