Melbourne: Novak Djokovic came from a set down on Sunday to beat Dominic Thiem in the final of the 2020 Australian Open. This is the Serb's eighth title at the Rod Laver Arena and 17th Grand Slam win overall. Djokovic beat Thiem 6-4, 4-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 in a match that lasted four hours.
He remains the most successful men's singles player in the history of the tournament, having overtaken Roy Emerson's record of six titles in 2019. Djokovic is also the first male player in the open era to win Grand Slam singles titles in three different decades and the second overall after Australian great Ken Rosewall who titles in the 1950's, 1960's and 1970's.
Djokovic also comes two within Rafael Nadal's record of 19 Grand Slam titles and is three away from Roger Federer's 20 titles, which is the most for any male singles player.
The Serb won the first set but looked out of sorts in the second and third. He struggled with his service. However, he did better to hold in the third set to make it 2-5 after Thiem had strolled to a love hold in the previous game. He then managed to get up to a breakpoint but Thiem edged him out to take the third set.
However, Djokovic kept up the momentum after that. He held on and managed to break Thiem in the eighth game of the fourth set, thus leading 5-3. A routine hold followed and Djokovic pushed the match into the fifth set.
Djokovic got a break in the third game of the fifth set after which two tense holds followed for both players. He almost got another but Thiem held somehow to keep his deficit down to one set at 4-3. No breaks came after that and Djokovic won his eighth title in Melbourne.
The win also means that Djokovic will pip Rafael Nadal to move back to no.1 on the ATP rankings once again.
(IANS)