Novak Djokovic maintained his perfect streak in six Australian Open finals with a 6-1, 7-5, 7-6 (7/3) victory yesterday that consigned Andy Murray to a fifth defeat in championship deciders at Melbourne Park.
Djokovic equaled Roy Emerson’s long-standing record of six Australian Open titles and increased his career haul to 11 Grand Slam titles, including four of the past five, to join Rod Laver and Bjorn Borg at No. 5 on the all-time list.
“First of all I need to pay the respect to Andy and his team. Tough match, tough luck tonight,” Djokovic said. “You’re a great champion, great friend, very committed to this sport. I’m sure in the future you’re going to have many opportunities.”
Photo: EPA
Murray became only the second man to lose five finals at one major — Ivan Lendl lost five and won three US Open finals in the 1980s.
The 28-year-old Murray had his share of distractions, leaving his pregnant wife in Britain — their first child is due this month — and his father-in-law being rushed to hospital by ambulance during the tournament.
“It’s been a tough few weeks for me away from the court,” Murray said, thanking his support team, before turning his attention to his wife, Kim.
Photo: AFP
“You’ve been a legend the last two weeks. Thank you so much for all your support,” Murray said, choking back tears. “I’ll be on the next flight home.”
Djokovic had won 10 of his previous 11 matches against Murray and was 21-9 in their career meetings — including four finals at the Australian Open.
Again, he was just too good.
Photo: AFP
World No. 1 Djokovic broke to take a 2-0 lead and, after he had hit a perfectly placed drop-shot, a fan yelled: “Give him a chance Novak!”
He did not, racing to a 5-0 lead and serving out the first set in 30 minutes.
The second set contained long rallies and plenty of tension. Murray was yelling at himself and swiping his racket in anger, while Djokovic waved his racket in frustration as well.
After an exchange of breaks in the seventh and eighth games, Djokovic broke again in the 11th and closed out the set, before taking an early break in the third set with a forehand winner around the post.
Murray broke back in the sixth game and the set stayed with serve until the tiebreaker, which Djokovic dominated.
He raced to a 6-1 lead, helped by a double fault from Murray, and clinched on his third match point with an ace.
He dropped to his hands and knees and kissed the court, slapping it with his right hand, and went to the stands to hug Boris Becker, his coach since 2014.
Murray was at Rod Laver Arena after 1am ni the morning yesterday, watching his elder brother, Jamie, win the men’s doubles title with Bruno Soares.
Brazilian Soares, fueled by numerous cups of coffee, produced a doubles double yesterday afternoon when he and Russian partner Elena Vesnina won the mixed doubles title.
Soares clinched his second title in a little over 16 hours when he and Vesnina beat Coco Vandeweghe of the US and her Romanian partner Horia Tecau 6-4, 4-6, 10-5.
The Brazilian said after they clinched the trophy in the super tiebreak that he had not slept well after he finished his official duties at 4am and had sent Vesnina a text message at 4:30am saying he was “ready to go.”
“Been living on coffee ever since. So I had 22 coffees already today, but now it’s all worth it,” Soares told reporters. “It feels amazing. It was long days, tough days. Last night, I finished really late. It’s tough. A lot of adrenaline going on. Tough to sleep, but I knew I had another important day. You don’t get the chance to play many Grand Slam finals. I think you got to make the most of it. To get the chance to play one and win one, it’s already extremely special. I mean, I got two in the same day, so... it’s special.”
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