Novak Djokovic scooped his fifth Australian Open title after defeating former Wimbledon Champion Andy Murray in a thrilling four-set battle.
The world no.1 took his eighth Grand Slam title 7-6 (7-5) 6-7 (7-4) 6-3 6-0 where the first two sets took longer than more than half of the three hours and 39 minute match time.
It was the Serb’s first Grand Slam title since becoming a father and his third against Murray in Melbourne.
The British number one has lost four out of his eight Grand Slam finals in Australia but was positive in his attitude to come back stronger for next year.
“I would like to congratulate Novak – it’s a fantastic record and thoroughly deserved,” said Murray.
“It is probably my most consistent Grand Slam throughout my career but I just haven’t been able to win.
“I’m closer than I was a few months ago.
“I’ll try to come back next year and have a slightly different outcome in the final.”
Both players looked physically vulnerable at times, particularly Djokovic, who appeared to have hurt his hand after a fall and twist his ankle in the second set but when in the driving seat these niggles seemed to disappear.
The first set saw Djokovic race to a 4-1 lead before Murray came back twice from breaks of serve to force a tiebreak.
Murray led 4-2 in the breaker but a sloppy volley allowed Djokovic to turn it around and take it 7-5.
#Murray “I couldn’t have done anything more. I couldn’t have prepared better. So I can’t be disappointed.” #ausopen pic.twitter.com/zFohz7g18I
— Australian Open (@AustralianOpen) February 1, 2015
The Scot responded brilliantly after losing the 73-minute first set by breaking Djokovic serve to got 2-0 up but that lead was short-lived as the top seed broke straight back.
The sixth seed looked to be going two sets down as the Serb led 5-3 but he found some energy and fought back to level it at 5-5.
With more break point chances at 5-5 the Scot failed to capitalise and it was taken to a tiebreak to decide the outcome of the set.
Going 4-2 up in the tiebreak for the second time nerves in the Murray camp were evident but this time he hung on to take advantage of the mini break and levelled the score at one set all.
It looked as though the momentum was in Murray’s favour for the first time in the match with a break point opportunity at 3-3.
But the Serb hung on to hold serve and re-gain the initiative of the final as Murray began to fade and failed to win another game in the match.
#teamwork #ausopen @DjokerNole pic.twitter.com/IgaSI5RAjZ — Australian Open (@AustralianOpen) February 1, 2015
The early break in the first game of the fourth set for the world no.1 marked Murray’s mental fatigue as the set quickly unwound for the Brit.
Djokovic won 12 of the last 13 games to take the set 6-0 and secure victory once again to be one title away from equalising Australian legend Roy Emerson’s record of six Australian Open titles.
Image courtesy of Australian Open TV via YouTube, with thanks
