Novak Djokovic has beaten Daniil Medvedev in three sets to win his ninth Australian Open championship and 18th Grand Slam title.
The No. 1-seeded Djokovic has won the trophy three years in a row at Melbourne Park.
He has won six of the last 10 major tournaments overall and his total of 18 Slams moves him within two of the men’s record of 20 shared by Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
Djokovic used superb serving and his usual relentless returning and baseline excellence to grab 11 of 13 games in one stretch and beat a visibly frustrated Daniil Medvedev 7-5, 6-2, 6-2 on Sunday for a third trophy in a row at Melbourne Park.
The 33-year-old from Serbia improved to 18-0 combined in semifinals and finals on the hard courts of the Australian Open.
Djokovic ended the 25-year-old Russian’s 20-match winning streak. Medvedev also had won his previous 12 matches against Top 10 opponents.
Djokovic began the second set with a fault into the net, then shook out his left arm and flexed his shoulders. That point ended with him missing a backhand into the net, and he hunched up his shoulders and stared over at his guest box. Another netted backhand gifted Medvedev a break and a 1-0 lead.
This was his 28th major final, even with Nadal for the second-most by a man in tennis history, trailing Federer’s 31.
The extreme experience gap certainly seemed to show.
