Novak Djokovic claimed his 10th Australian Open championship after beating Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final at Rod Laver Arena on Sunday.
Djokovic triumphed 6-3, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (5) to land his 22nd Grand Slam title and has now tied with Rafael Nadal for the most by a man in the history of tennis.
The victory allows Djokovic to return to No. 1 in the ATP rankings.
The 35-year-old Serbian did not compete in the Australian Open a year ago after being deported from the country because he was not vaccinated against COVID-19.
Now Djokovic has run his winning streak at the hard-court tournament to 28 matches.
Tsitsipas also lost to Djokovic at the 2021 French Open.
Djokovic came into the match with his confidence high having won all nine of his previous Australian Open finals and with a 10-2 career advantage over the Greek.
Moving freely with only minimal strapping on his troublesome left hamstring, he opened with a comfortable hold after being greeted by huge cheers.
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Djokovic worked two break points on Tsitsipas’s opening serve, to no avail, but kept probing and the Greek handed him a break for 3-1 with a careless double fault.
Tsitsipas, in only his second Grand Slam final to Djokovic’s 33rd, appeared nervous, losing the first set in just 36 minutes.
But he battled back into contention in a much closer second set as his confidence grew, improving his serve and winning some pressure points.
He earned his first break point and set point when Djokovic blasted a backhand wide.
But the Serb clung on to keep the set on serve and it went to a tiebreak, where his greater experience came to the fore.
Against the odds, Tsitsipas broke for the first time on Djokovic’s opening serve in set three, only to relinquish the advantage immediately after a gripping rally.
It again went to a tiebreak, where Djokovic once again raised a level to claim another title.
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