SERBIA’S WORLD NUMBER one Novak Djokovic won a fifth Australian Open title by beating Britain’s Andy Murray in four sets in the final on Sunday.
Djokovic won 7-6 (7/5), 6-7 (4/7), 6-3, 6-0 in 3hr 39min for his eighth Grand Slam title. The first two sets were riveting as both men broke each other regularly.
There were two service breaks each in the opening set before the Serb took the tiebreaker 7-5 to claim the first set in 72 minutes.
Murray was a break down in the mammoth 80-minute second set but the Scot fought back to win a fiercely-contested tiebreak 7-4 to level the match.
Murray looked to be in the ascendancy after taking a service game from the Serbian early in the third but Djokovic rallied to break Murray twice to win 6-3 in 39 minutes.
Murray appeared spent after giving so much in the first three sets as Djokovic routed him 6-0 in the fourth set to win his fifth Australian Open title, which is a record in the open era.
It was also Djokovic’s eight Grand Slam title, which moves him level with Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl and Andre Agassi for joint-fifth in the open era.
Additional reporting by Will Slattery