World No. 1 Novak Djokovic beat No. 2 Andy Murray in straight sets – 6-1, 7-5, 7-6 – to win the Australian Open, his sixth title in Melbourne and 11th Grand Slam overall.
With today’s win, Djokovic has equalled a number of tennis milestones. He is now the only player apart from Australian great Roy Emerson to have won 6 Australian Open titles. With 11 Grand Slams, he has also now equalled the namesake of the arena he has been most successful at – Rod Laver himself, and Swedish legend Bjorn Borg.
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He has previously won the title here in 2008, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2015, facing Murray on three of those occasions.
Murray has himself reached the finals on five occasions – in 2010, 2011, 2013, 2015 and this year.
The Serb, reigning champion in Melbourne, came into the tournament the resounding favourite to win – and did not disappoint. With his only real lackluster performance coming against French 14th seed Gilles Simon - a match where committed 100 unforced errors, Djokovic has had a thundering run in Australia.
Murray has not had a strong head-to-head record against the Serb, winning only 9 of the 30 matches the two had played prior to today. He tends to commit a number of unforced errors playing Djokovic, and today was no different. The top seed dominated the first set entirely, quickly going up two breaks of serve – which Murray was unable to recover from.
The Scot came back strongly in the following two sets. The second could have gone the way of Murray, who completely outhit Djokovic with 21 winners to his rival’s 8 – but he committed 34 unforced errors in that set alone, which let him down completely.
Djokovic has in the past combated Murray with his backhand; today, he brought out a powerful forehand and some immense athleticism from the baseline to combat any late charge from Murray.
The Scot did well charging the net and had some luck with a few shots, managing to take the final set to a tiebreak. In the end, however, it was simply not enough, and Djokovic, who opened the tiebreak with an ace, won the match on his third championship point.
Watch highlights and key moments of Djokovic’s dominating game on SonyLIV.com or catch them on their app.
Murray is now the only tennis player in the Open Era to have played five Grand Slam finals at the same event without ever winning it.
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