Djokovic yet again AO #9

Day Fourteen of the first Grand Slam tournament of 2021 - men’s final

2021 Australian Open - a Grand Slam tournament, on Hard, in Melbourne, Australia, 8-21 February 2021.

Defending champion:

Novak Djokovic (2) who defeated Dominic Thiem (5) 6-4 4-6 2-6 6-3 6-4

Men’s final :

Novak Djokovic (1) (Serbia) v Daniil Medvedev (4) (Russia)

Daniil Medvedev will be contesting his second Grand Slam tournament singles final following his loss to Rafael Nadal in the 2019 US Open.

Novak Djokovic has won the past two Australian Opens and six more before that. Eight championships from as many final appearances.

In the seven matches between the pair, Medvedev has won three of the last four, including the most recent - a round robin match at the 2020 ATP Finals, which the Russian won.

Medvedev is currently on a winning streak measuring 20, and included in that are 12 top ten victims.

Djokovic exploded out of the blocks, breaking Medvedev in the second game and leading 3-0. Then roles were reversed and the Russian took over, breaking back and after six games things were level.

Brutal rallies and strong serving saw games easily held to serve until the twelfth game. Medvedev served at 5-6 after the previous two games were love games. Here Djokovic stamped his authority, racing to grab three set points. Medvedev saved two but the top seed clinched it 7-5 on the third.

Strangely, Djokovic couldn’t maintain the momentum, being broken in the opening game of set two, but he picked up the pace immediately, winning four successive games to all but secure the set. At 2-5, Medvedev wandered further astray, saving one but not the second of two set points.

Djokovic led 7-5 6-2 and looked menacing.

As he’d done at the start of set two, Djokovic leapt into trouble.,This time, though at 15-40 he extracted himself and held serve, then proceeded to break Medvedev and that effectively sealed the match. No more break opportunities until Medvedev served at 2-5, and Djokovic’s final winner on match point gave him his ninth Australian Open title 7-5 6-2 6-2.