Djokovic leaves Nadal no chance in the Australian Open final and is record winner

Novak Djokovic won the Australian Open. By an impressive performance he prevailed in the final against Rafael Nadal 6: 3, 6: 2, 6: 3 by. After a good two hours, he turned his second match point. The Serb is now the only record winner in the tournament with seven titles in Melbourne. Prior to that, he shared this top position with Swiss Roger Federer and Australian Roy Emerson.

With his overall 15th title, he also leaves Pete Sampras (USA) behind in the overall ranking, standing alone in third place. In front of him are only Federer (20 titles) and Nadal (17).

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Melbourne Park

In 2012, Djokovic and Nadal had once delivered the longest finale in Grand Slam history. At that time, the Serb prevailed in 5:53 hours. From a thrilling duel this year's final was a long way off. Nadal was against the number one in the world at any chance. In the previous tournament he had not made a sentence - unlike the Serbian (two rounds). But in the final Djokovic dominated from the beginning, while Nadal always allowed too many mistakes.

Only a break chance for Nadal

Even the start of the final messed Nadal, even world ranking second, by a nervous start. Djokovic took the first twelve out of 13 points and was ahead by an early break 3: 0 ahead. Also at his second serve Nadal had big problems, but fended off the next break ball of his opponent. He himself was never dangerous to Djokovic at his service. So the 31-year-old easily won the first round.

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Rafael Nadal

The second set began more balanced, but Nadal's game remained flawed. Only very briefly it seemed as if the Spaniard could now find a match. After he had again taken the first break (to 2: 3), it was at serve Djokovic at least twice over debut. But the 31-year-old brought his service through, then got himself the next break and shortly thereafter the second set.

In the third round Nadal had a break-ball for the first time - when he had already handed over his serve himself. The Spaniard lost the game anyway. Djokovic did not give up the lead then and celebrated his third major title in a row. In 2018 he had triumphed both in Wimbledon and at the US Open.

Nadal, on the other hand, missed his 18th Grand Slam win overall and his second in Melbourne. For the first time he won the Australian Open in 2009.