Day 14 of Australian Open 2019, and the mens final to conclude a fantastic tournament.
This was the only match in the night session on Rod Laver Arena, and what a match:
Novak Djokovic (1) (SRB) v Rafa Nadal (2) (ESP)
Novak aiming for his record seventh AO championship from seven finals
Rafa seeking AO championship #2, from this his fifth final.
The two met once in a final at Melbourne Park, in 2012, where Djokovic won in five sets taking almost six hours.
Djokovic won the toss and chose to serve.
A love game to Djokovic, an ace and forehand winner to start. 1-0.
Nadal hit a forehand winner, but it wasn’t enough to avoid facing two break points, because of two unforced errors and a Djokovic backhand winner. An unforced Spanish error and Nadal had dropped serve for the first time since round one. It was 2-0 to the six times champion.
A second love game, finished with an ace, and Djokovic had made the dream start 3-0.
An unforced backhand error from Nadal gave Djokovic another break point and the chance for an unprecedented four game jump, but Nadal won the next three points by forcing errors from the Djokovic forehand. The #2 seed was on the board 1-3.
A pair of aces and a backhand winner later, Djokovic had cruised to 4-1. Yet to lose a point on serve, the Serb was making Nadal work like crazy to earn a single scrap. Game six appeared better for the Spaniard as, after an unforced error to start, he pulled out a couple of winners and then forced Djokovic into error for the rest of the game. 2-4.
No chances to break through the brick wall which was the Djokovic serve, though, as two winning backhands ended his fourth straight love game, and brought him to within a whisker of grabbing the opening set.
Nadal forced the top seed to serve it out, following Spains best service game of the match. A backhand winner to open, and a forehand winner to close, and no points surrendered.
At 5-3, Djokovic lost the first point, but thereafter was without an issue, as a backhand winner was pulled out of his pocket, to combine with a string of Nadal unforced errors and agreement reached to register the game to Djokovic along with the set 6-3.
Nadal, despite his disappointment at losing set one, had shown marked improvement in general play, since his inauspicious entree to the final.
Beginning set two, his service game was highlighted by two forehands used for winners, and a serve upon which Djokovic could only lay a racquet. 1-0.
In response, Djokovic didn’t lose a point, which was the fifth time he was totally selfish out of six service games. 1-1
Down 15-30, the Nadal forehand helped him steer clear with successive winners and hold for 2-1.
Djokovic actually lost a point on his next serve, and his backhand will be disciplined over that unforced error. He won the game without further damage, a service winner polishing it off. 2-2.
Nadal struck trouble in game 5, as unforced errors saw him face 0-30. An ace mitigated things slightly, but another backhand failure introduced two break points to a grateful Djokovic. Not bothering with the second of these, the Serb simply forced Nadal into error on his backhand and broke the Spanish serve. 3-2 Djokovic.
For the first time in the match, Djokovic faced drama on his serve.
Down 15-30 because of Nadal forcing mistakes, Djokovic managed to rectify things and reach game point on two occasions, only for Nadal to bring it back to deuce each time. On the third game point, Djokovic finally broke through, Nadal’s backhand forced into problems. 4-2.
A Nadal double fault, followed by two Djokovic winning forehands and more break chances. Only one needed, and Djokovic serving for the set.
A forehand winner and three aces. Djokovic led 6-3 6-2.
In set three, Djokovic served up another love game to level at 1-1, then Nadal faced two break points after a double fault and unforced error. He was broken on the second, and Djokovic led 2-1.
Djokovic saved a break point to lead 4-2, and survived deuce to lead 5-3.
These games were under serious pressure as Nadal had been holding serve comfortably since the third game.
At 3-5, Nadal was serving to stay in the match.
Djokovic forced Nadal into a backhand error, in between contributing two forehand winners. Emerging from this were two championship points.
A Djokovic backhand unforced error saw one chance vanish.
However, a Nadal backhand unforced error saw the match end.
Novak Djokovic defeated Rafa Nadal 6-3 6-2 6-3 in one of the finest exhibitions of tennis seen in a Grand Slam tournament final in living memory, especially given the stellar form of Rafa during the past two weeks.
His win was Australian Open #7, a record, and Grand Slam title #15
Novak had now won the past three majors.
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