Melbourne, 30 January
Rafael Nadal was dismissed for the first 21 runs. The 35-year-old Spaniard broke the men’s record for most Grand Slam singles titles but had to do it the hard way by coming back from two sets to beat Daniil Medvedev in the Australian Open final that lasted 5 hours and 24 minutes. ,
He broke while serving at 5-4 for the championship in the fifth set but made no mistake the next time around.
In 2012, Novak Djokovic defeated Nadal in five sets in 5 hours 53 minutes, the second longest Australian Open final.
Nadal now has one more than his longtime rivals Roger Federer and Djokovic in the so-called Big Three.
The second set began with a 2-6, 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-4, 7-5 victory that began on Sunday night and was briefly delayed when a protester jumped onto the court, Nadal also became the fourth person in history to win all four of the sport’s major titles at least twice. —ap