The Australian Open is over for another year, and what was the 200th Grand Slam tournament of the Open Era has ended in Roger Federer and Caroline Wozniacki claiming the men’s and women’s singles titles respectively.

Once again, Federer is the undisputed king of men’s tennis after claiming a record-equalling sixth title at Melbourne Park, and 20th major singles title overall.

He becomes the first man in tennis history to hit the milestone, and now trails only Serena Williams (23) for the most Grand Slam titles won by a man or woman that is still playing today.

Quite appropriately, his 20th Grand Slam singles title comes exactly eleven years to the day since he won his 10th Grand Slam singles title, at the 2007 Australian Open, in which he defeated Fernando Gonzalez in the final.

The Swiss Maestro entered his 30th major final without dropping a set, but, as was the case last year, he would be stretched to his absolute limits, taken to five sets by Marin Cilic in a rematch of last year’s Wimbledon final, which Federer won in straight sets on that occasion.

A double break from the 36-year-old was enough to see him secure the opening set 6-2 in just 24 minutes, and it looked like it would be a short night in the office for the Fed Express.

However, Cilic would raise his game in the second set, taking it to a tiebreak which he would win by seven points to five and leave Federer to lament dropping his first set for the tournament.

Order appeared to be restored when Federer took the third 6-3, then took a 3-1 lead in the fourth, before Cilic turned the match on its head, winning five games in a row to take it 6-3 and force a one-set championship shootout.

After holding his own service game to start the final set, the 36-year-old would break Cilic’s serve in the next game en route to a 3-0 lead.

Cilic pegged back a game to make it 1-3, but that would be as good as it got for the 2014 US Open champion, as Federer won the final three games of the set, the final one to love, to confirm his status as the greatest male tennis player mankind has ever produced.

But despite the win, the Swiss Maestro will remain second in the world behind Rafael Nadal, but with the gap between the pair having been reduced to 155 points.

If neither Nadal or Federer play again until the first Masters 1000 tournament of the year, Indian Wells, in March, the latter will become the oldest man in tennis history to hold the world number one ranking.

That’s because Nadal has to defend 300 points in Acapulco, where he is on the entry list as the top seed.

Federer’s sixth win at Melbourne Park brought to an end what had been an intriguing men’s tournament, where all the pre-tournament talk centered around whether Nadal could go one better, or whether Grigor Dimitrov could take the next step up and win his first major title.

The Fed Express’ win aside, it was best remembered for being the breakout tournament for Korea’s Hyeon Chung, who became the first man or woman from his country to reach a Grand Slam quarter-final by way of his straight-sets win over Novak Djokovic in the fourth round.

It marked just the third time that Djokovic suffered a straight-sets exit at the tournament, the other times being on his 2005 debut when he was defeated heavily by eventual champion Marat Safin, and in 2007 when he was beaten by Federer who at the time was at the absolute peak of his powers.

To be fair, it was only the Djoker’s first tournament back from a six-month injury lay-off due to an elbow injury which he first suffered during his successful pursuit of a non-calendar Grand Slam in 2016.

Many believed that if Roger Federer could win his first tournament back from a similarly long absence last year, then there was no reason why Djokovic couldn’t.

However, it wasn’t to be, nor was it for Rafael Nadal whose recent history of bad luck at Melbourne Park continued when he was forced to retire at 0-2 down in the final set of his quarter-final clash against Cilic.

The world number one entered the tournament as one of the favourites to lift the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup, and all went well when he won his first four matches for the loss of just one set.

He then led Cilic by two sets to one before trouble struck at 1-4 down in the fourth set, during which he was treated for an upper leg injury which would ultimately cause him to pull the plug in the deciding set.

As far as local hopes were concerned, once again it was Nick Kyrgios who impressed, as he reached the fourth round where he lost a four-set thriller against Grigor Dimitrov, losing no friends in defeat.

Entering the Australian Open fresh off winning the Brisbane International, the Canberran won his first two matches in straight sets before defeating his idol, 2008 finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, in four sets before succumbing to Dimitrov.

The Bulgarian himself was upset in the quarter-finals by unheralded Brit Kyle Edmund, who kept his country’s flag flying in the absence of injured compatriot Andy Murray.

Edmund upset eleventh seed and last year’s US Open finalist, Kevin Anderson, in the first round en route to reaching his first major semi-final, where Marin Cilic ended up being too good for him.

But in the end, the men’s tournament will be forever remembered for the history created by Roger Federer, whose record-equalling sixth Australian Open title and 20th major title overall has all but cemented him as the greatest player in modern tennis history.

It marked the first time since 2004 that a men’s second seed won the Australian Open, when Federer himself beat Marat Safin in the final and became world number one for the first time the following week.

The five-set men’s final contested by Federer and Cilic came twenty-four hours after what can only be described as the greatest Grand Slam women’s final match ever contested.

Simona Halep and Caroline Wozniacki entered the first Grand Slam tournament of the year as the world’s top two players, with neither player having yet won a major despite both having topped the rankings at some point in their careers.

Both had previously reached two major finals each, with Halep reaching the finals of the 2014 and 2017 French Opens (losing both in three sets) and Wozniacki at the 2009 and 2014 US Opens (losing both in straight sets).

In a tournament that was highlighted by some massive upsets, breakout performances and unforgettable matches, the seedings held and they both met in the championship match, which was to be one for the ages as both players fought desperately hard to avoid a third loss in a major final.

Second seed Wozniacki broke early for a 3-0 lead, and attempted to serve out the first set at 5-3, but Halep would peg her back to the point where a tiebreak would be required to decide the opening set.

The Dane dominated it, winning seven points to two, to win her first set in a Grand Slam final. But just when you thought she would run away with it, suddenly the top-seeded Halep would break at a crucial stage in the second set to take it 6-3 and force a one-set championship shootout.

Due to the heat policy, a ten-minute break was mandated prior to the start of the final set to allow the players to rest their battered bodies, and in Wozniacki’s case, regroup.

The 27-year-old Dane broke for a 2-0 lead, but would lose four of the next five games to fall a break down 3-4 in the final set, and it appeared that Halep had the upper hand.

However, Wozniacki would break back to make it 4-all, then hold for 5-4, leaving 26-year-old Halep to serve to stay in the match.

Eventually, the Dane reached championship point in the tenth game, and would finally claim her first Grand Slam title after Halep netted a backhand, ending an 11-shot rally.

The match lasted just eleven minutes short of three hours, with the marathon final set lasting 71 minutes.

The commitment, determination and desperation shown by both players was strongly commended by the tennis public, and was without doubt the perfect advertisement not just for women’s tennis, but also women’s sport overall.

Wozniacki’s win also brings to an end several years of criticism and ridicule that followed when she first achieved the world number one ranking in October 2010.

During her 67 weeks at the top between then and January 2012, the Dane, then aged 20, could not justify her reign at the top of the rankings and suffered early defeats at the French Open and Wimbledon in 2011 in between reaching the semi-finals of the Australian and US Opens.

At the latter tournament, she was defeated in straight sets by 28th seed Serena Williams, who was on the comeback trail from a foot injury which had sidelined her for nearly twelve months between July 2010 and June 2011.

Wozniacki’s loss of the world number one ranking after the 2012 Australian Open, in which she lost to Kim Clijsters in the quarter-finals, would trigger what many thought to be the start of her slide into tennis mediocrity.

Apart from reaching the final of the 2014 US Open, which she lost to Williams, she would not reach another Grand Slam semi-final until the 2016 US Open, by which point her world ranking had dropped to 74th.

The Dane’s lowly ranking came about as a result of an ankle injury she suffered in the second quarter of 2016, which wiped her out of the clay court season, including the French Open.

But her run to the final four in New York would mark the start of her ‘second career’; she continued her career resurgence into 2017 by reaching the quarter-finals of the French Open, winning (what was then) the biggest title of her career at the WTA Finals in Singapore and finishing third in the rankings.

She then entered the Australian Open as one of the title favourites, with many commentators noting how fit she was after enjoying one of her most impressive seasons in recent years.

In the second round, Wozniacki nearly had one foot back on the plane to Denmark after facing two match points at 1-5 down in the final set of her second round match against Jana Fett.

After saving those two match points, though, the Dane would reel off the final five games of the match to win in three sets before going on to end her Grand Slam curse once and for all.

Wozniacki’s vanquished opponent, Simona Halep, also had to save match points in not one, but two of her matches en route to the final.

The top seed first had to save three match points at 10-11 in the marathon third set of her match against Lauren Davis in the third round, and then had to save another two in her semi-final match against Angelique Kerber.

Although she managed to win the second set in the championship match, and broke for a 4-3 lead in the final set, the two aforementioned marathon matches and an ankle injury she suffered in the first round eventually took its toll on the Romanian.

Despite her defeat, her third in a major final, she won the hearts of the fans for her gracious runner-up speech, and has promised to them that she will do everything she can to finally end her own Grand Slam duck.

The championship match that neither player wanted to lose was the perfect way to end what was one of the more memorable women’s tournaments seen in recent years.

Unheralded Belgian Elise Mertens became the Australian Open’s sixth consecutive first-time Grand Slam semi-finalist, her run to the last four highlighted by a 6-4, 6-0 demolition of fourth seed and pre-tournament favourite Elina Svitolina in the quarter-finals.

Our top-ranked female player, Ashleigh Barty, was the last woman standing, reaching the third round where she lost to Naomi Osaka and therefore missing out on a fourth round showdown against Halep.

Melbourne’s unrelenting hot weather also claimed the early scalps of Venus Williams, Johanna Konta and Garbine Muguruza, neither of whom were able to reach the third round.

But there was no stopping Caroline Wozniacki and Simona Halep, who put on a championship decider for the ages that is unlikely to ever be forgotten in the years to come.

Other stories to come out of the Open included Sebastian Korda winning the boys’ singles title, twenty years after her father Petr won the men’s singles title, and Dylan Alcott winning his fourth consecutive wheelchair men’s title.

But while the Australian Open may be over for another year, the Australian summer of tennis isn’t quite over – just yet.

This weekend, the Lleyton Hewitt-led Davis Cup team will go into battle against Germany in Brisbane, where Nick Kyrgios lifted his fourth career title earlier this month.

He, Jordan Thompson and debutant Alex de Minaur will lead the Aussies against the Germans who are expected to be marshaled by their top-ranked male, Alexander Zverev.

The weekend after that, Daria Gavrilova and Ashleigh Barty will spearhead the country’s Fed Cup tie against a Ukrainian side expected to be led by recent Australian Open quarter-finalist Elina Svitolina in Canberra.

Fans waiting for the footy to commence won’t have to wait long, with the second season of the AFL Women’s kicking off this Friday night between Carlton and Collingwood at Ikon Park, while the men’s season kicks off in March with the clash between defending premiers Richmond and Carlton at the MCG.

For those north of the Murray River, the NRL starts on Thursday March 8 with the highly-anticipated clash between the St George Illawarra Dragons and Brisbane Broncos at Kogarah Oval, in which Ben Hunt is expected to make his Red V debut against the club he represented between 2009 and 2017.

Men’s singles final result
[2] Roger Federer (SUI) defeated [6] Marin Cilic 6-2, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 3-6, 6-1.

Women’s singles final result:
[2] Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) defeated [1] Simona Halep (ROU) 7-6 (7-2), 3-6, 6-4.