Djokovic topples Nadal to lift record seventh Australian Open title

Melbourne (Australia), Jan 27 (ANI): World number one Novak Djokovic clinched his record seventh Australian Open title with a straight-sets win over Rafael Nadal of Spain in the summit showdown on Sunday.
The 31-year-old, who secured his 15th Grand Slam title with the win, produced a flawless performance against Nadal and registered a convincing 6-3, 6-2, 6-3 victory in the final clash that lasted two hours and four minutes.
Djokovic made a sharp start to the match with his clean groundstrokes and accuracy. Winning first 12 of the 13 points in the first set, the Serbian kept Nadal behind the baseline to maintain his grip on the match. The Spanish player tried hitting back with some confident smashes but Djokovic did not lose focus and won the opening set 6-3 in 36 minutes.
The second set saw Nadal making a good comeback in the match as he made Djokovic lose one of his service points in the second game of the set. But successive backhand errors from Nadal brought Djokovic back in the game. The Serbian won 30 out of the 45 points to win the second set which lasted 40 minutes.
With Australian Open just one set away, Djokovic maintained his calm despite Nadal fighting hard to get the momentum to his side. Nadal earned first break point of the match at 2-3 but failed to cause much trouble to his opponent. As Djokovic broke for the fifth time, he completed his record victory at the Melbourne Park.
With the victory, the Serbian player surpassed American tennis legend Pete Sampras' record of 14 Grand slams titles. In the overall list, Djokovic is now behind Roger Federer (20) and Nadal (17) in terms of major championship trophies count. (ANI)