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Novak Djokovic has taken his sixth Australian Open with a commanding straight sets victory over Andy Murray. However, it was far from smooth sailing for the world No.1 as he had to battle his way through the final two sets.
REPORT: DJOKOVIC WINS SIXTH AUS OPEN
It would take a tie-breaker to separate the pair in the final set, with Murray fighting gallantly all the way to the death.
However, he just never settled into his rhythm and the unforced error count – as he made 24 more than Djokovic – is the telling stat for that. While Murray hit 39 winners, 10 ahead of Djokovic, it just wasn’t enough to combat the barrage of errors.
In truth though, the game might have already been over after the first set. Murray came out and had one of the slowest starts he has ever had to a match, at one point 5-0 down in the first set. Murray would hold serve justonce in the first set, before going down 6-1.
Murray was going to need a massive turn around in the second set, and he got it as he worked his way right into the match. At the same time though, he never truly got on top of Djokovic.
Djokovic’s key weapon throughout both the second and third set was his ability to turn defence into offence in the space of one shot and Murray just had no answers.
Djokovic eventually broke Murray in the second set, taking it 7-5 but only after Murray had fought off several break points over the course of 80 minutes.
The final set, which also lasted 60 minutes, would as already mentioned end in a tie-breaker. Murray continued to fight hard and came back after being broken in his first service game.
Being down 2-0 in the third set, already down two sets the match looked dead and buried but full credit to Murray as he fought back time and time again.
From there, the set remained on serve with lots of long, brutal rallies before it reached a tie-break with Murray getting very close to creating an opportunity on the final service game of Djokovic.
In the tie-breaker, Murray would start with a double fault and be down three nil before he knew it. He managed to get back one point on his serve, but then came up with another double fault.
Serve was then held across the next four points, with Djokovic up 6-3 and back on serve. Djokovic then finished it off with a massive ace.
The win moves Djokovic equal with Roy Emerson on six Australian Opens, and equal with Rod Laver on 11 grand slams.
In the end, a dominant victory for Djokovic, and Murray again the runner up in Melbourne.
Final Score
Novak Djokovic 6 7 7
Andy Murray 1 5 6
For the second year in a row, the Australian Open will be decided with Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, the top two seeds, facing off on Rod Laver Arena. Can Djokovic continue his dominance? Find out as The Roar brings you live scores and coverage from 7:30pm (AEDT).
Djokovic has been in exceptional form at the Australian Open, as he has been for the last 12 months and it is just impossibly hard to see where he could lose the match. He has only lost three sets across his six matches so far at the Open, with two of those in the one game.
He started off with easy wins against Hyeon Chung, Quentin Halys and Andreas Seppi. From there, he was taken to five sets by Gilles Simon before rediscovering his straight sets dominance over Kei Nishikori.
In the semi-final, he took on Roger Federer. After two of the best sets of Tennis you will ever see played, he conceded the third set before moving through to the final in four.
Murray has also played strongly throughout the tournament, but at times has looked a little like he could have been in for a loss. After defeating Alexander Zverev and Sam Groth in straight sets, he was taken to four sets by Joao Souza.
Bernard Tomic was his fourth round opponent, against whom he took a straight sets victory, before he somehow managed to beat David Ferrer and come back from a set down to defeat Milos Raonic in five.
Andy Murray has previously made four finals at the Australian Open, losing each and every one of them including three to Djokovic. Djokovic meanwhile has won five Australian Open titles and is gunning for a sixth here.
Djokovic certainly holds the wood over Murray, having won 21 of their 31 meetings. They also met twice in grand slams last year, with Djokovic winning the final of the 2015 Australian Open and knocking Murray out in the semi-finals at the French Open.
In fact, Murray has only beaten Djokovic twice out of eight grand slam matches between the pair, and has been beaten in 10 of their last 13 matches.
Prediction
Expect a conservative sort of match here, with both players waiting for the mistakes rather than trying to go out of their way to force them. However, neither player will pass up the opportunity to hit a winner. Service games will be important most certainly, with either player being broken meaning the set could be gone. Djokovic though should have the goods.
Djokovic in five sets.
Be sure to join The Roar for our live coverage of the 2016 Australian Open men’s final from 7:30pm (AEDT) and don’t forget to add your own comments in the section below.
Follow Scott on Twitter @sk_pryde