Melbourne: An imperious Novak Djokovic won a record magnificent seventh Australian Open title by routing Rafael Nadal 6-3, 6-2, 6-3 Sunday with a display of flawless tennis at the Rod Laver Arena here.
The Serbian World No. 1 dominated the Spanish second seed to win his 15th Grand Slam title in just 124 minutes at the Melbourne Park.
It put Djokovic, 31, out on his own ahead of Roger Federer and Roy Emerson, who both won six Australian Open men’s singles titles. Djokovic dropped to the court and kissed the ground after vanquishing his greatest rival.
No two men have met more often in the Open Era, this was their 53rd meeting, and no pair has pushed one another harder or further. Their only previous final in Australia, in 2012, developed into a record-breaking 5hr 53min slugfest – the longest in Grand Slam history.
A repeat of that epic never materialised with Nadal uncharacteristically nervous at the start and Djokovic taking immediate advantage.
The Spaniard had not had his service broken since the third set of his first round match but that streak ended in a flash as the Serb came sprinting out of the blocks.
On the other hand, Djokovic was in imperious control on his own delivery and won his first four service games without conceding a single point, even inducing Nadal to miss a forehand completely on the way to grabbing the set in 36 minutes.
The second set followed a similar pattern, with Djokovic racing through games on his own serve, while Nadal struggled to hold. The pressure told in the fifth game and Djokovic broke again when Nadal hit a lob volley long after an exchange at the net.
Djokovic had only conceded two points on serve in the entire match to this point but Nadal had his first sniff at breaking when he got to 30-15 ahead and deuce, twice. But that was all that Nadal could do as Djokovic closed out the set in style.
When Djokovic broke again in the third game of the third set it was just a matter of how quickly he would finish off Nadal. The end was swift, as Djokovic withstood one breakpoint at 3-2 before administering the last rites in a flurry of winners off both wings.
Victory extended his win-loss record against Nadal to 28-25 and squared the Grand Slam final count between the pair at 4-4.
AFP