Djokovic beats Medvedev to bag 18th Grand Slam title

Serbia’s Novak Djokovic won his record-extending 9th Australian Open men’s singles title after defeating Russia’s Daniil Medvedev 7-5, 6-2, 6-2 in the final at Melbourne Park on Sunday. This is Djokovic’s 18th Grand Slam title win, and he is now two short of equalling his ‘Big Three’ rivals Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer’s record of most number of Slam wins. Both Nadal and Federer are tied at the top with 20 Slams so far.

Djokovic started the match with an early breakpoint, but Medvedev bounced back in the first set, stretching it longer than Djokovic would have liked. But the Serb completely shut off the contest in the next two sets, leaving Medvedev frustrated with his pace and accuracy.

Every time the Russian tried to find a surge of energy, Djokovic ended his hopes with smashing returns and bringing his own energy to the surface. Djokovic used superb serves and his usual relentless returns and baseline supremacy to grab 11 of 13 games in one stretch.

While Medvedev won 6 aces, and Djokovic could only make 3, the Serb won 73 percent points on 1st serve, and 63 percent points on 2nd serve, in comparison to Medvedev’s 68 percent win on the first serve, and 39 percent win on the second serve.

Eventually, Djokovic won the championship point with ease by winning his 7th breaking point in the match.

Djokovic has won six of the last 10 major tournaments and is assured of remaining at No. 1 in the rankings at least through March 8. That will give him 311 weeks in the top spot, breaking a mark held by Federer.

The No. 4-ranked Medvedev was appearing in his second Grand Slam final — he was the runner-up to Nadal at the 2019 U.S. Open — but is still left trying collect his first such championship.

Djokovic ended the 25-year-old Russian’s 20-match winning streak. Medvedev also had won his previous 12 matches against Top 10 opponents.