Djokovic beats Nadal to win Australian Open

Novak Djokovic wore down Rafael Nadal in the longest Grand Slam singles final in the history of professional tennis Sunday, winning 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7 (5), 7-5 after 5 hours, 53 minutes to claim his third Australian Open title.

AP Novak Djokovic holds the trophy aloft during the awarding ceremony after defeating Rafael Nadal in the men's singles final at the Australian Open tennis championship, in Melbourne.

Djokovic sealed victory at 1.37 a.m. local time and became the fifth man since the Open Era began in 1968 to win three straight Grand Slam finals.

The 24-year-old Djokovic tore off his shirt in celebration after one of the most dramatic finals in the history of the game. He went to his support camp and repeatedly thumped the side of the arena in delight and relief.

Djokovic’s win mantained his mastery of Nadal, who has lost seven straight finals against the Serb since March last year.

In the most devastating of circumstances, Nadal became the first man in the Open Era to lose three straight major finals. He lost in four sets to Djokovic at last year’s Wimbledon and U.S. Open.

After coming from 5-3 down to win the fourth-set tiebreaker, Nadal was up a break at 4-2 in the fifth set against Djokovic, who seemed to be tiring.

But the No. 1-ranked Djokovic, who needed almost five hours to win his semifinal against Andy Murray, somehow responded. He broke for a 6-5 lead and saved a break point before finally claiming the win.

The previous longest major singles final was Mats Wilander’s win over Ivan Lendl at the U.S. Open in 1988, which lasted 4 hours, 54 minutes.

The longest Australian Open final also involved Wilander in 1988, when the Swede beat Pat Cash.

Greatest ever debate starts as Nadal beats Federer

PARIS: Rafael Nadal's win over Roger Federer in the French Open final on Sunday will reignite the age-old debate about who is the greatest player of all time.

Spain's Rafael Nadal holds the cup after defeating Switzerland's Roger Federer, right, in the men's final match for the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium, Sunday, June 5, 2011, in Paris. PIC/AP

Both men are scathing of any such comparisons, but that will not stop the arguments which are set to escalate as Federer, approaching 30, enters the twilight of his career and 25-year-old Nadal, fitness permitting, enters the prime of his.

The Spaniard's thrilling four sets win at Roland Garros means he now has 10 Grand Slam titles, with six French Opens, two Wimbledons, and one apiece at the US and Australian Opens.

He is now in sixth equal place on the all-time list level with 1920s American star Bill Tilden and just one behind legends Rod Laver and Bjorn Borg.

More pertinently he is now just six Grand Slam titles shy of the record currently held by Federer, who is five years older.

Having proved that he can play well and win on all surfaces, Nadal looks set to at least match Federer's total which would give him a statistical argument to claim he is the best player ever.

Not that it seems to matter much to the player himself.

"When you talk about these statistics, when you try and make these comparisons, really it's not very interesting to me," he said.

"I'm very happy with what I have, with who I am. I'm not the best player in the history of tennis. I think I'm amongst the best. That's true. That's enough for me."

Sentiments echoed by Federer, who long laid siege to Pete Sampras' record of 14 Grand Slam titles which he equalled with his crucial win in the 2009 French Open and then followed up by winning at Wimbledon the same year and at the Australian Open in 2010.

"Who cares where you stand," he said.

"It's when it's over that you can't do anything any longer, that's when you're proud of what you accomplished.

"That's why I'm happy for him (Nadal) that he's won these Grand Slams and these tournaments. He can prove to people that he can play a good type of tennis. This is what counts."

If both men are unwilling to enter the debate, they certainly are acutely aware of the intensity of their rivalry, one of the greatest in the history of any sport.

To date the two have met an incredible 25 times, 14 of these on clay, since a teenage Nadal shocked Federer in straight sets on the Miami hardcourts in early 2004.

The Swiss star grabbed his first win over the Spaniard at the same tournament the following year when he bounced back from two sets to love down to win.

But since then it is Nadal who has dominated their head-to-heads and he now stands at 17-8 with a Grand Slam finals record of 6-2 against his arch-rival.

Despite the arrival of Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and Juan Martin del Potro at the topmost level of the sport, Nadal and Federer both agree that in any tournament their greatest adversary is the other.

That rivalry will now switch over to London where Nadal will try to defend his Wimbledon crown with six-times former winner Federer desperate to equal the seven titles won by his great idol Sampras.

"That's obviously the huge priority right now, to win Wimbledon in a few weeks' time. That's always, for me, the number one goal in the season," Federer said.

"This is where it all started for me back in 2003; or even with Sampras earlier in '01. So that's why I always really enjoy coming back." — AFP

Nadal into final as Murray crashes

PARIS: Rafael Nadal moved to within one win of equalling Bjorn Borg's record of six French Open titles with a hard-fought yet convincing 6-4, 7-5, 6-4 semi-final win over a battling Andy Murray on Friday.

In pic: A jubilant Rafael Nadal reacts after beating rival Andy Murray in straight sets at Roland Garros Photo: GETTY IMAGES

It was a perfect way to celebrate his 25th birthday for the Spaniard, but he was made to scrap hard by the Scot who shrugged off the effects of an ankle injury to produce his best ever performance on clay.

The win sets up the five-times defending champion and top seed for a mouthwatering final on Sunday against the winner of the other semi-final opposing second seed Novak Djokovic and third seed Roger Federer.

For Murray, seeded four, his feisty performance was a fitting way to end a brave campaign that saw him battle through illness, a twisted ankle and a broken tooth as he continued his quest for a first Grand Slam title.

His only regret could be only converting three of the 18 break points he had on the Nadal serve.

"Andy is a fantastic player. He deserves to win a Grand Slam very soon," said Nadal.

"I saved a lot of break points at important moments. The conditions were not easy with the wind changing a lot.

"I will be playing next against the best player of all time (Federer) or against the best player at the moment (Djokovic), so we shall see."

Nadal went into the match as a strong favourite having taken his record at Roland Garros to 43-1 with an impressive straight sets quarter-final victory over Robin Soderling, the only man to have beaten him here.

Murray was playing his first French Open semi-final in his fifth campaign in Paris and he had lingering doubts over the right ankle he turned in his third round defeat of Michael Berrer.

The first four games were closely fought and took 28 minutes to complete but by the end of them Nadal had taken a 3-1 lead after Murray failed to convert the three break points he had.

More worrying still for the Scot was that he twice winced in pain when turning and twisting on his right ankle and was clearly not fully fit.

Nadal turned the screw to take a 5-1 lead but played an uncustomary sloppy game when serving for the set as Murray got back one of the service breaks.

He had to save two break points two games later, but dug deep to take the opening set 6-4 in 62 minutes, leaving the Herculean task facing Murray looking even tougher.

Still it was Murray who was mostly dominating the rallies going into the second set as he dragged Nadal about from side to side with his angled drives from the baseline.

But the Spaniard typically flung up his peerless defences and it was Murray who ceded serve first with an error-strewn fifth game.

A Nadal double fault gave Murray the break back to level at 3-3, and he rattled the Spaniard further in the following game before double-faulting himself on game point to allow Nadal to break again.

Murray made it four breaks in a row to level at 4-4, but despite some heroic resistance against a rampaging Nadal, he dropped serve again in the 11th game and Nadal served out for a two sets lead.

That seemed to break Murray's spirit and after dropping his serve to open the third set there was no way back for him as Nadal stormed through to his sixth final in seven years at Roland Garros.

Murray said that the gusting wind had made it difficult for both players.

"It was a very close match, there wasn't too much in it," he added.

"I had a lot of break point opportunities, but Rafa played well at those moments. Some of them I didn't play that well.

"I'm happy with the way I played but I still have a ways to go to be as good as him on clay.

"I look forward to that next year, but I now have got to look for ways of beating Roger and Novak an him on grass." — AFP